Mathura to Pushkar

We left Mathura on the 30th October to continue on our way to Pushkar. Our plan was to drive to Jaipur in Ragasthan, stay the night and set off for Pushkar the next day. Instead, while on route, we decided that we were feeling a bit tired so we decided to make it a short day on the bike. We pulled over at a place called Mahwa and stayed the night in a government run hotel. At least we had reached half of our goal as we had crossed over into Rajasthan. 

We have saddle bags on the bike which increases the width the bike - something you have to be mindful of when getting through tight spaces. I wonder how this guy on his push bike manages it.

This load is being pulled by a very small tractor. No maximum load restrictions here.

A cycle rickshaw driver having, no doubt, a well earned break in the shade. It's unbelievable how many Indians pile into one of these at the same time - he can end up with 5 or 6 passengers. The cycle rickshaw drivers have a hard shift.

Underneath this 'walking bush' there is a woman. She had been collecting this foliage for animal feed, tied it into a bundle, hauled it onto her back and set off to walk the several miles home.

When we overtook this 'walking bush' we were glad to see it was being pulled by a cart with two water buffalo at the helm, and not a woman with that load on her back!

A cart with two buffalo pulling a more acceptable load.

A great place to sit and contemplate - right beside the rail track!

You can always tell when you're getting near to Rajasthan as the preferred mode of travel becomes camels.

We have came across many railway crossings on our journey and they're just mental. It's every man for himself. In this video the crossing barrier is down and the warning lights are flashing warn people to stop behind the barrier as a train is due imminently. Indians are so impatient it's unbelievable. They go under the barrier, lift the barrier and just barge across the tracks. The following post will have a video of the carnage that happens when the train passes and the barriers are open. I thought that one video per post was enough for the eyes to take in!

To carry on with the journey.....The next morning we headed off from Mahwa. We could easily have made it to Pushkar but decided to have another short day on the bike and stay in Jaipur for 1 night as we had originally planned. Jaipur is a busy and vibrant Indian city and forms part of the Golden Triangle that many tourists go to India to experience. You could spend several days in Jaipur as there is much to see and do but, as we have been there in the past, our priority was to get a room for the night and something to eat. It is easy to find a five star hotel in Jaipur charging five star prices for a room and not so easy to find decent budget hotels.

With the help of a friendly rickshaw driver and the exchanging of 100 rupees, we found a budget room. It was a run down place so when we were told the room had private toilet, TV, A/C and was very comfortable we took it with a pinch of salt. The room did have all the facilities as promised. The only thing was the A/C didn't work, the TV didn't work, the toilet didn't flush, the fan was as noisy as a fan can possibly get and the bed was hard as a rock. Oh well, it was only for one night!

Starving we headed out for something to eat. It was boiling hot and the first place we came to was a KFC. The deciding factor to eat there was that it had A/C. None of us had been in a KFC for a very long time and, after eating the food, we realised why. At night we fared much better by going to a street cafe and having real chicken cooked by Rajasthanis and served spicy with loads of salad in a big freshly made nan bread - yum. 

Here are some Images of Jaipur from google.