Apr 04 2009

Heading To Pushkar - by Emilia

Kamal, who wanted to us to leave at 9am, was pleased to see us on time, for once. Five minutes later we got in the jeep; I was on my four-hour journey to Pushkar. Three or so hours later, nearing Pushkar, we counted 18 camels; they were extremely tall. Some of the camel were pulling carts however others were just staying still.

 

(NOTE: this isn't one of my photos, I grabbed it from the interwebbythingy) 

Eventually we got to our hotel, the Green Park Resort, which is great because it has a lovely swimming pool; our first one so far. Finally, we went for a long-awaited swim in the pool; it was really cold; it was lovely. After that I had my lunch, my sister and I both had a Margherita pizza - as Pushkar is a vegetarian town and no eggs either - it was very fresh and very hot (out of the oven). After lunch we had another swim, after waiting 30 minutes of course.

Last of all, my family and I went for a walk into Pushkar town, which is a town centered around a very religious lake which is surrounded by 500 hindu temples and bathing ghats leading into the lake. We were dodging cows and motorbikes all the time; it was quite scary. Overall, I had a great day.

Emilia.

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Mar 30 2009

Emilia's Recap Of The Last 48 Hours - Delhi and Agra

Saturday 28th March

A driver picked us up from the Airport and took us to our hotel, the Apra Inn, in Karol Bagh, Delhi. We had a rest and ventured out on the streets to go to Pind Balluchi, a restaurant themed like a village, with a stormy sky like ceiling and it even had a tree in the middle of it. I ordered Tandoori Chicken starter and a Murgh (Chicken) Makhani, which I loved. The waiters, who were very attentive, served all the lovely food to us and a boy (about 3 years old) from the table near us kept coming and saying 'hello' and shaking our hands. It was funny.

Sunday 29th March

At 9am, our driver for the next 10 days (Kamal from Namaste India Tours) picked us up from the hotel; we then went on the trip to Agra which took exactly five hours and was very hot in the car, even though it had air-con. The roads are very busy and absolutely mad: cows wander the streets, there's bicycles and motorbikes everywhere, rickshaws and cars drive the wrong way up a busy road if they want to and the lorries are colossal - carrying heaps and heaps of sand.

At 3pm we went to the Agra Fort. In the Agra Fort, lots of people wanted to take photographs of Amy and me because we are white: Amy and I felt like we were princesses. Next we explored the fort, there were bats and geckos everywhere but that was okay; they didn't annoy us.

We ate dinner a Pizza Hut although a lot of the pizzas we're Indian pizza's, like Chicken Tikka Makhani: it was lovely.

Monday 30th March

Beep, beep, beep went the five thirty alarm, as we went to see the Taj Mahal at 6am. From far away the Taj looks like a speck in the distance however when you get close to it, it is actually really, really tall. I loved the Taj Mahal, especially the way the marble changed colour in the sunlight.

So far, I've had a terrific time in India and it's day three.

 

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Dec 06 2008

Booking A Car + Driver

The idea of booking a taxi (car and a driver) for a few days or weeks seem quite strange to someone in England. Once when I missed the last bus home from the local town it cost 20 pounds to travel the six miles, so how much would hiring a driver for a couple of weeks cost?

With the help of Indiamike.com I gathered together a list of reputable companies and eventually decided which ones to contact.

Aided by information provided by Namaste India Tours, I'd done my homework first, knew my exact route, when/where I'd arrive, what sort of hotels I preferred and what sort of vehicle was most suitable.

So a couple of emails to a few companies and I had quotes for the cost of the travel. All of the operators offer a travel+hotels option where you say which class of hotel you prefer and they come up with a list of suggestions. Some of them don't define the actual hotel you'll be in and that was fine with us, after all we've got a driver to take us wherever we want, so as long as the hotel is okay, we'll be fine.

The best thing about this service (from any of the operators we got quotes from) is that you pay absolutely nothing up-front, you just have to pay before the trip actually commences. Some don't even worry about this, you pay part way through your tour.

For those cynics out there, the cost of the trip includes wages, food and accomodation for the driver, he doesn't sleep in the car!

And the cost of all this:

  • 10 nights hotel, 10 days touring around including petrol/parking/taxes/driver: about £800
  • That's for all of us, not one of us. The hotels all have air-con, some have pools, some don't.

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