Rajasthan Trip - Sand, sand, everywhere!

11 Jan 2009 People: Alpana, Chandan, Gayatri, Vedant, Fahim.

On the way to Jaisalmer is Pokaran. Well it is not really on the way, but this route has been used for ages and this is how it goes - the train goes all the way to Pokaran, where the tracks end, and then turns back to join the main tracks again. We got off at Jaisalmer at 1245 hrs and were welcomed by pleasant climate. The station itself is beautiful and once off it, a tourist is greeted by scores of agents holding hotel placards. You can get an idea of the rates by asking them and then hop on to your chosen hotel's vehicle free of cost. On getting to the hotel, there's no reason to fret if you don't like the place...you can just tell the hotel guy and if he's nice enough, he'll let you use the same vehicle to check out other hotels as well! After all the help, you may want to tip the vehicle driver Rs. 20 or 30.

Pick your hotel!!

So after checking out a few hotels, we fixed up with a Hotel Prince. And man, is Jaisalmer cheap!!! The 5 of us were to stay in one room (with a bed that was comfortably big enough for all of us) for Rs. 300 per night (and not per head!!). We also took a desert safari package which would cost us Rs. 1100 per head, which would include the following:

1. Ride to the desert which is about 30 kms away.
2. Camel safari in the desert.
3. Camping the night in the desert with evening snacks and a cultural folk show, dinner, beautiful tents and breakfast in the morning.
4. A ride back to the hotel.
   

Our rooms were nothing much to look at, but that's how our rooms usually are. As usual, we had clean toilets and that's all we wanted!

We decided to do the desert safari immediately, mainly because it is said to be best on full moons and we were just a day late. It would be the best time during our stay in Jaisalmer to do the safari. We packed enough for a night and took the hotel jeep to the camel stand at the edge of the desert.

The desert is beautiful and I personally think its the vast ocean-like feel to it that gives a sense of calm. Sometimes I just want to keep walking into it. There's something about how limitless, boundary-less beings pull you into them. Sigh!

The camels are well kept (except for the "nose piercing", do they have to do that??) and healthy, however I can't say too many nice things about the camel keepers themselves. They are greedy people who are looking for opportunities to squeeze more from the tourists. It starts with the point where you reach an area in the desert where all tourists get off the camels and start taking pictures, etc. At that point, the camel keepers will ask you if you want to go further into the desert, away from all the crowd, and where the sand is pristine. Of course, it'll make your wallets lighter by some 500 bucks more. Each camel. Nope, not interested. The moment they know that you are not giving them more income, they get a little hostile. When we were taking pictures, they kept pushing us to leave. "It's getting late." "The sun is setting." "Our camels need to get back." Somehow, these were not applicable if we wanted to go further into the desert. After an hour an a half from the time we left our jeep, we were at our camp site. We tipped the camel guys Rs. 50 and they were very vocally disappointed. They insisted, "Pachaas se kya hota hai. Yeh aap hi rakh lo." (What happens with 50. You keep it.) Pissed, we did.

Slow, bumpy ride. L-R: Fahim, Gayatri, Vedant, Chandan and me.

Note: Don't take the camel further into the desert. It's hardly too far from the main site where the crowds are, and if you keep a good eye around you, you'll find a lot of places with sand that's not been walked on and places where you can take a picture without anybody in the background. Also, don't tip the camel keepers too much. They are just greedy. they already make a lot of money from the safari. I understand that most large tippers are westerners due to the fact that currency conversion makes them think that it's a small amount. But it's not. Trust me, you are not taking food away from them, you are only encouraging bad behavior!

There are at least 4 - 5 camps, all a few feet from each other. All hotels have a tie up with any one of these camps. We were the last camp 'Oasis India', which was awesome, but there was a 'Dungaree Camp' that was playing loud dance music. At the beginning, we were really wondering if it would have been a better camp to be in, but as the night progressed, we totally fell in love with the place.

We went into our tents (we had 2 for the 5 of us) and set our stuff in. It was beautiful! A nice comfortable bed that was big enough for 3 people, 2 folding chairs and a coffee table with colourful Rajasthani art inscribed in the wood, a bathroom cum toilet separated by the rest of the tent by a curtain, and even electric plug points!

Note: When you book the safari package, you are given a choice of basic or premium tents. The next morning, we saw the premium tents and they are no different from the basic tents, just pointlessly priced higher. Go for basic.

Basic tent: Bed

Basic tent: Furniture

Basic tent: Bathroom - toilet

Once settled, we went outside to a cold evening and had some tea and poha, sitting on bedding set around a bonfire. We had brought some whiskey as well, and after a while, settled down to warming ourselves outside with some good alcohol. The folk program started with dances and singing. There was one man who played an instrument called the khudtal which is basically a pair of flat polished wood panels, usually made from the sheesham tree. It makes a rhythmic beat and is quite difficult to play...you really have to get the hang of holding it right!

Guy to extreme left is playing the khudtal. The guy in between was an amazing singer and also later played the khudtal with lightening speed! The two "women" dancers in the back are actually men - originally, women were not allowed to do performances in Rajasthan and although it is not like that anymore, the tradition of men dancing as women has continued!

All the other tourists in the camp were more interested in the food rather than the music and soon left. Thus, inadvertently, it became an exclusive performance just for us. The five of us are total music lovers and we had a ball of a time, making song requests and getting the "band" to sit right in front of us for that 'personal' touch! Chandan and I took many many pictures and videos of the music being played. If Chandan's in your Facebook friends list, check out the khudtal video. This was one group worth tipping and we did that graciously.

When it got late (in the desert, 9 o clock seems like midnight!), we went to the buffet tent for dinner. All camp personnel were courteous at all times and really treated us well. And to top it, it got even better when Vedant told the cook at one time that I write about my travels, and the entire staff just went gaga over us! Oh, and the food was awesome!

We were not sleepy yet and decided to take a walk in the desert since we were stuffed from all the food. Some staff volunteered to accompany us to ensure we didn't get lost or anything. In the moonlight, the desert looked a milky white, and the silence was uncannily ear piercing. To say it was romantic, would be an understatement, and I think Gayatri and Fahim felt exactly that while they walked together a few meters behind us.

In the moonlight. L-R: Chandan, Vedant, Gayatri, me, Fahim.

Back in the tent, we transferred the pictures taken into the laptop I was carrying and soon a tired Gayatri and Fahim went to their tent to sleep. Vedant fell asleep while watching the pictures and Chandu and I talked for a couple of hours before we fell asleep. None of us really remember much of what we said to each other. But I think the gist was how beautiful the trip was getting to be and how it was a good idea to not skip Jaisalmer in the trip calendar.

12 Jan 2009 People: Alpana, Chandan, Gayatri, Vedant, Fahim.

I can easily say that when it was finally the five of us remaining in the trip, it was only leisure. We didn't want to scout through tourist hotspots, nor did we want to pack our day with stuff to do. When we woke up on the 12th, it was almost 1000 hrs and we were supposed to leave by 9. All other tourists had left and although we had apparently received a wake up call (which is, btw, literally a guy calling out to us to wake up from outside the tent), we overslept. Since we were the only tourists there, we took our time getting fresh and going for breakfast. While I was in the loo, I heard a weird growl, followed by another kind of weird growl. I couldn't figure out what it was and I must say that for a moment, I was a little scared. Finally, I found out that one of them was an angry dog and the other was a sleeping Vedant!

The night before we had asked the camp staff if we could have camel milk in the morning. Unfortunately, we should have woken up anytime between 0500 and 0700 hrs for that, since camel milk has to be drunk fresh. Ironically, in a state full of camels, there are very few domestic female camels, and it is very difficult to find camel milk. We spoke in length to the chef while having breakfast and when we finally left, took really good memories back.

On our way back, we stopped at an old Jain temple. Chandu and I stood outside while the others went in - we were more interested in taking pictures of the temple and its surroundings...plus I didn't wanna take off my shoes. We also stopped by some village houses on the way and were cautioned by the driver not to get into anybody's house - just look from outside. He couldn't or wouldn't explain exactly why, but I guess it's either that they trouble tourists or we trouble them!

On the way, we found a store outside of which two men were playing carrom. One old guy told Vedant to play a game and whoever won bought the other a beer. I don't quite remember who won, but we did have to pay for some beers! Some unknown brand, but awesome beer! Made in Rajasthan and something we didn't get anywhere else in the rest of Rajasthan!

Carrom anyone?

When we were back in Jaisalmer, we were hungry! It was 1600 hrs and we hadn't even had lunch! Most restaurants in Jaisalmer are vegetarian and we wanted some chicken. We found a rooftop restaurant while we were walking around and sat there, only to find prices as high as a good Bombay restaurant! So Vedant and I decided to look around some more, while the rest of the gang sat there, just in case we didn't find any other place to eat non-veg food. Asking people on the street, we found a place called 'Kalpana' where we called everybody else.

Some lip-smacking food later, we were walking back to our hotel when we found a private museum called The Thar Heritage Museum founded by Mr. L. N. Khatri. The man has been collecting items since he was a child - this includes things that have been thrown as garbage, old stuff that people don't want anymore, equivalent of garage sales by families, and contains coins, utensils, household articles, art, old documents, desert shells etc. According to the museum pamphlet, it has been "awarded the Sanskriti Dharmi Award 2007 by the district Magistrate of Jaisalmer for contributing towards ancient culture heritage of Jaisalmer" and also "awarded by Governer of Rajasthan on state level for conservation of folk heritage" in 2008. Entry to the museum is free and you may choose to give a donation when you leave, along with your name and some details. He's got some really amazing stuff in there and you just must visit this place if and when you're in Jaisalmer. it's right in the middle of the market with a very visible banner across the narrow street - you can't miss the sign! Read some good reviews here.

An eventful yet leisurely day passed, we crashed in our hotel sleep for some good sleep and another day beckoning!

Rajasthan Trip - Beautiful marble and crazy possessed people!

06 Jan 2009 People: Alpana, Manish, Roopali, Nanu, Pedro, Chandan, John.

We hired a car to take us to Agra and were off at about 1400 hrs. Agra is about 300 kms away from Ranthambore which is a 7 hour drive. At 1900 hrs on the highway, we were suddenly engulfed by dense fog so bad that we couldn't see more than a few feet ahead. And it happened so suddenly that we were caught unawares!

Pic of fog from the rear window

We had to reduce speed and eventually reached Agra at 2300 hrs. The whole town was asleep and there were hardly any lights on the street. We checked out a few hotels and finally found cheap accommodation at one Hotel Paradise. We still had the car with us from Ranthambore, which would stay with us till we reached Jaipur, our next destination.

Bad rooms, cheap price

Note: Hotel Paradise is an average looking building from outside and below average from the inside. But I'm still only talking about the hallways. Once you get into the rooms, it's even worse. The rooms end as they begin and have stained bedsheets. Not for anyone who wants even an iota of luxury! But for all this, the rooms were charged at Rs. 700 per night, for everybody in one room.

07 Jan 2009 People: Alpana, Manish, Roopali, Nanu, Pedro, Chandan, John.

The next morning we got up to see the only thing in Agra - the Taj Mahal. Somebody suggested that we should all wear white and I hesitated quite a bit, but I was overpowered by everyone's willingness and had no choice but to comply.

So there we were, all dressed up in white tshirts, but covered with jackets, so wearing white was really pointless.

At the Taj Mahal. L-R: (Men) John, Chandan, Manish, Pedro (Women) Roopali, Alpana.

Taj Mahal was wonderful and the only problem there really are the guides. Every guide has an ID that shows he is genuine and with a fixed price, but they don't really. The walk from the car park to the Taj is about half a kilometer and takes you some 10 minutes at leisure. The guides start pitching in for their services right from there and the prices vary from Rs. 300 to Rs. 150, along the way from the car park to the ticket counter.

If you take my advice, don't get a guide. They don't provide you with any information that you wouldn't have got off the internet anyway. The only advantage they have is that they can take you through each structure and carving and embossing in the Mahal and give you some history behind it. However, I suggest you take a virtual tour of the Taj Mahal and then take a print out of Taj Mahal's info from Wikitravel. Once you have this in place, go ahead and take a tour of the mausoleum at your own ease. When I took the virtual tour, I was amazed at how much the guide had not told us!

Also, don't take the horse rides from the car park to Taj Mahal, for two reasons - (1) They tell you its a kilometer but it isn't. You will pay for it pointlessly. (2) The horses are very badly kept and I persuade you to not encourage it.

Another thing you should keep in mind, in case you do decide to take a guide, is to factor in other expenses within the Taj that the guide will not tell you about. This includes the money you will have to pay to the man who takes care of your shoes or alternatively gives you shoe covers. Shoe covers are given only to foreign nationals who pay Rs. 750 instead of Rs. 20 that Indians have to pay. For a price of Rs. 10 for your group, you can get shoe covers. Alternatively, you can leave your shoes there free of cost, but the guide usually asks you to tip the shoe caretaker with Rs. 10 for your group. You may choose not to pay, of course. Also, since you are not allowed to take any belongings inside the Taj for security reasons (not even water) except your cell phone and camera, the guide uses this to his advantage and tells you that he can show you the specialty of the stones used using a torch (that you obviously could not carry) that is owned by some insider. He borrows that fellow's torch and shows you how light travels through the stones (it is beautiful, by the way) and then asks you to pay another Rs. 10 to the fellow he borrowed the torch from.

Again, take my advice, don't use a guide! Use your cell phone to light up the stones and don't pay to keep your shoes in the free area.

Note: Because of this wonderful effect on the stones, the Taj Mahal looks very beautiful in moonlight. Night viewing is allowed on certain days, according to this chart. Try to plan your trip accordingly. We missed it, but you should not!

Oh and did I mention, the Taj has a "May I Help You" counter with nobody to help you!!

We then headed for Agra Fort later in the afternoon after spending quite a while at the Taj. Unfortunately, most of Agra fort was under renovation and as usual, nobody at the ticket counter told us of this. And shouldn't they be offering you a discount if you don't get to see the whole place?? Anyway, we were sick of guides by now so we didn't take one. We just pranced around coz the weather was so perfect and the place was beautiful. Decorative gardens adorned spaces overlooked by edifices with large corridors on all sides. I especially liked the towering fort walls coz they gave great accoustics, perfect for singing "Ain't no sunshine when she's gone". Which I did :)

And that kinda finished Agra for us. After the fort, we sat down for evening snacks and headed back to the hotel. The next morning, we were leaving for Jaipur.

08 Jan 2009 People: Alpana, Manish, Roopali, Nanu, Pedro, Chandan, John.

Jaipur is 235 kms or 5.5 hrs away from Agra. On the way, falls the famous Fatehpur Sikri, where lies the tomb of a saint Salim Chisti, who Emperor Akbar followed devotedly. The place is really peaceful and it's entrance, the Buland Darwaza is mammoth in size. The only problem is that there are quite a few bee hives in and around the place, and the most conspicuous are the ones under the dome of the Buland Darwaza itself! Not that the bees sting anybody or anything, but the entire marble flooring is strewn with dead bees. Ugh.

I did meet a very interesting man at Fatehpur Sikri. He said that he wouldn't charge anything to tell us a few things about the tomb, the catch being (that we would figure out later) that he would show us some marble artifacts which we could buy if we chose to. Fair enough! So he told us some interesting things and I got talking to him in general. So he was telling me that a lot of people from Agra, especially guides and such who help foreign tourists, get hitched up with some tourists and even get married. In fact, he said his best friend got married to a Spanish woman and was now living in Barcelona in Spain! How cool is that!!

Buland Darwaza. L-R: Me, Chandan, John, Roopali, Pedro, Nanu.

We then continued on our way to Jaipur and decided to make a short stop at Bharatpur Sanctuary. We didn't expect to stay there long, but we wished we would. It's a really calm and serene place. You get bicycles on hire for Rs. 25 each and you can cycle around the Sanctuary the entire day. We saw so many species of birds, small and big....and it was really romantic....it's worth having a one day picnic at the sanctuary and just looking around and absorbing the purity of the place.

Cycling our way through the sanctuary

We finally had to leave by 1800 hrs when the sanctuary shut, promising to recommend this place to everyone. So guys, if you're in this part of India, you HAVE to go to Bharatpur Sanctuary. We also thought first, "who wants to see birds???", but this place is more than just birds. It has a whole different aura around it...and you just must experience it!

So finally, late in the evening, we were on our way to Jaipur yet again.

While we were on the highway, we saw road signs to Mehendipur. Now Mehendipur was once a topic of discussion many years back when we were in college when our friend Saurabh Agarwal told us that it was a place where possessed people could not come back from. We decided that if it was on the way, we had to go there! And so we took a slight detour to go to Mehendipur....the temple that possessed people cannot leave!

Once there, it was just like any other regular temple. We could not see any possessed people and Nanu, Chandan and I were the ones most interested to find out where they were. We asked a couple of people and they all feigned ignorance. We were almost about to give up hope as we walked out the exit of the temple when we heard groaning sounds coming from our left. I looked to my left and my eyes followed the stairs leading up to another level, at the end of which, there was a woman...no a girl...who was moving her head violently from side to side...almost headbanging...and making strange groaning sounds. I stood still and my heartbeats increased almost twofold. And then in a few moments i said to Chandan..."Let's go up".

Steadily, we walked up and past the girl. She was unfazed by our presence. We entered a dark room to see busts of scary gods to the right. Then suddenly, a noise from the left made me turn my head to see a girl somersaulting very vey agressively across the length of the room and falling on her back with loud thuds. Over and over again. In one corner of the room was a man mumbling things to himself. This was it! The possessed people! Ooh the adrenaline!

Nanu, Chandan and I stayed on while the rest of the gang chickened away. After a few minutes of walking around the room and looking at the "exhibits", we left too, as nothing new was happening. As we walked out of the temple premises, against the outside wall of the temple, we saw many people stuck to the walls, either mumbling real loud or groaning, moaning and grunting. How did we miss this while entering??? It was 2000 hrs and the temple was shutting down for visitors. As we stood and watched the people, the girls from upstairs started coming down the stairs and walked off right in front of us with their parents/friends as if nothing had ever happened to them. Eh? What was this? It was all an act! Lol. The men stuck to the temple wall though continued to groan at themselves. I stared at one man real hard and when his eye caught mine, I smiled, and he smiled in return. WTF! So now I knew this was a load of bullshit and I was ready to leave. I took some videos of the insanity and walked away.

We joined the rest of the gang at a streetside hot milk vendor and drank some steaming milk in clay cups. On the road again in the car, we had an equally steaming discussion on whether the temple was a hoax or not, again with two factions and some fencesitters.

By the way, immediately after I came back to Mumbai, I lost my phone and with it, all the Mehendipur photos and videos. Coincidence? Let the debate continue!

Still 08 Jan 2009. People: Alpana, Manish, Roopali, Nanu, Pedro, Chandan, John + Gayatri.

Anyway, we reached Jaipur at 2200 hrs finally. Accommodation was already booked as John has many relatives in Jaipur and somebody got us a reservation at a hotel for Rs. 1000 per room per night with 3 rooms for all of us. We checked in and Pedro and I went to the airport to pick up Gayatri who was joining us. The vehicle from Ranthambore was still with us, and after picking Gayatri up, we were gonna let the car go. Gayatri was waiting for us at the airport for a good half an hour at least and was not pleased at all. Apparantly everyone at the airport was glancing at her like they'd never seen a girl before. Well they musn't have seen a lone girl at the airport anyway. After going back to the hotel, we had a fulfilling dinner at John's friend's restaurant and went to sleep after many games of Uno, which was the official sport of the trip!

Rajasthan trip - We start at Ranthambore!

03 Jan 2009 People: Alpana, Manish, Roopali, Nanu, Pedro, Chandan, John.

It was one of those days. One of those days when we had to meet up again. Meet up again for another year and another vacation. The one we always do year on year. The one that keeps us ever so close even after all these years. It was one of those days :)

I had a lot of free time at work before we planned this trip and so I did most of the train ticket booking. Chandan and I spent most of our time mapping our routes and deciding which places to include in the trip and which to skip. Our final route was Mumbai - Ranthambore - Agra - Jaipur - Jaisalmer - Jodhpur - Mumbai.

We took the Jaipur Superfast from Borivali at 1615 hrs that would reach Sawai Madhopur at 0815 hrs the next day.

That's us in the train compartment. L-R: John, Pedro, Roopali, me, Manish, Nanu. Chandan's taking the pic.

Note: Ranthambore is a 15 minute drive from Sawai Madhopur. There are a lot of hotels just 5-10 minutes from Sawai Madhopur station, but ask for one very close to the jungle.

The train ride was expected to be comfortable coz it was winter and so we did not choose an AC compartment. But what we didn't realize was that there's also something like "too cold"! In the middle of the night, when Rajasthan arrived, it got freezing cold. And a few of us were not carrying any blankets or quilts. Big mistake! We only got a few hours of interrupted sleep.

04 Jan 2009 People: Alpana, Manish, Roopali, Nanu, Pedro, Chandan, John.

But when we reached Sawai Madhopur the next morning, it was all worth it. We exited the station to be welcomed by dense morning fog. It was a refreshing change for all of us Bombayites, for whom fog is an affair to remember!

The fog outside Sawai Madhopur station

Once we were finished being awed by nature, we had to get back to more humanly ways. We needed transport to check out a few hotels in Ranthambore. We haggled with one Jeep driver to fit us all in one Jeep with our luggage for Rs. 200. Its too much, but we had no option.

We checked out a place called Tiger Den first, which is a really beautiful place, but it's a more showy beautiful. Let me explain. The place had perfectly pruned lawns and a slightly palatial decor. It didn't bring out the raw beauty of the jungle - which is what we were at Ranthambore for! We then checked out a place called Tiger Moon resort which we totally fell in love with. Rustic looking cottages amidst trees and bushes. It was perfectly landscaped to look like the jungle. And the best part of it all? It is just a few meters from the jungle boundary! I'm not kidding - a few meters! In fact, later in the night, one of the hotel guys took us to a vantage point in the hotel with a large torch (followed by our mag light) to look inside the jungle boundaries. He said that leopard sightings were a usual occurrence there and sometimes in the resort as well. Though he quickly gave a disclaimer saying it usually happened at night and nobody was ever hurt in the resort. So while we were looking for a potential leopard or who knows, maybe a tiger, we saw a quadrupedal in the distance, looking straight at the torch, its eyes shining. Now we had two factions amongst us, those that thought it was a leopard, and those that thought it was a smaller cat or maybe even a dog! Anyway, I can safely say it was arguably a leopard and if it was, yay! We saw a leopard!

So anyway, my point is that the resort was stunning with its serenity and natural ambiance. Here's a picture of our cottage. Each structure like this one had 4 rooms - 2 on each floor. We had 3 of the 4 rooms in this one and the 4th one wasn't let out to anyone.


I must also take this time to appreciate the management and staff of this resort. Even before we got to this place, I was checking out hotels online and dropped enquiry emails to several hotels and was more than pleased with the response I got from Tiger Moon. The guy who replied, Ajith Nair, also mentioned his contact details and so I called him up. He was very courteous and understood that we couldn't spend too much and agreed on a discount. Eventually, when we decided that we would find a place in Ranthambore after reaching there, I called Ajith to tell him that it was looking a little too expensive for us even after the discount and so we would search for hotels when we reached Ranthambore. Ajith was cordial as usual and told me that we could come to Tiger Moon anyway to join him for a cup of tea anytime!

However, once we saw the place, we just knew that we had to stay there! It was a weird calling for all of us and we decided that it was worth how much we would pay.

Note: We paid Rs. 5600 per head for 2 nights / 3 days. This included, and I quote, "all meals – (02 Breakfasts,02 lunches,02 dinners ), 02 Park Safaris to Ranthambhore National Park by canter, Visit to Ranthambhore Fort, Nature Walk & Bird Watching Session, Visit to historical ruins, Barbecue dinner with folk dance / puppet show around bone fire, Wildlife film shows & indoor & outdoor games". This was Ajith's contact details:
Ajith Nair
Hand Phones - 098202 27737 / 09833788358
Indian Adventures Chain Of Wildlife & Adventure Resorts
257 S. V. Road Next to Movie Time Theatre,
Kader Furniture Building,
Bandra (W), Mumbai 400 050
Tel Nos : 022 26408742, 26406399, 26433622/ 26428244
Fax No : 022 26458401
Email : iawr@vsnl.com
Website : www.indianadventures.com

And we then unpacked our luggage in the rooms and sat out to have breakfast and tea by the poolside at Tiger Moon Resort, Ranthambore!

Poolside at Tiger Moon Resort, Ranthambore.

The same day, we took a canter ride to the jungle post lunch. Food at Tiger Moon is okay. Some dishes are really nice, but overall, its just average.

Note: A canter is an open-air 20 seater vehicle that takes you inside the jungle. It's an alternative for the jeep, which you need to book at least 20 days in advance. Ranthambore jungle is segregated into 5 zones. You do not choose which zone you go into, before a canter enters the jungle, the driver has to randomly pick a chit at the gate which decides which zone he has to go into. This ensures that the canters are evenly spaced out between zones.

The jungle is an awesome place. I love the feeling of uncertainty when you don't know what you may see. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see a tiger in this ride either (like our time in Jim Corbett - "North Trip: Part III - Tiger? No Tiger.") though we did see a lot of monkeys, peacocks, deer and many birds. This was zone 1 and it wasn't very interesting.

Note: Zones 2, 3 and 5 are supposed to be the best. If you are in a position to choose, pick one of these.

Eventually, we got a little bored and ended up taking pictures of mostly ourselves.

Us in the canter

Later that night, there was a bonfire with (crappy) barbeque food and some random dance show which was just okay. That was then followed by a proper dinner (wow we were hungry!). Chandan had brought some Black Label from his recent trip to the US and he, John and I had a couple of drinks before the show. Nobody else was drinking this time....mannn... :( But we all talked while at dinner and spent the rest of the night discussing personal horror stories. Roopali has some spine chilling crazy ones to tell!

05 Jan 2009 People: Alpana, Manish, Roopali, Nanu, Pedro, Chandan, John.

We got up late and spent the next day whiling away our time by the pool side, talking general shit. In the afternoon, after some lunch, we decided to make a trip to Ranthambore fort, which is inside the periphery of the jungle. While inside, the guide told us that at the end of the fort, there is a place where leopards are seen many times. No guide was taking customers there, so we decided to give it a try. It was a beautiful place with a great view of the jungle from the top of a hill. No leopards though :( We decided to head back, which is when our guide came up with a brilliant plan of taking a shortcut. Result - we got lost! It was getting late and the sun was coming down. Bad time for us to encounter a leopard, we thought! We were stuck outside the fort...we could see the fort walls, but could not find a way to get inside it. We started walking along the fort walls. We were in the jungle, with itchy plants on one side and spiky ones on the other. We thought it best to endure spikes rather than itches, with potential leopards nearby! At one point of time, we found a way to get on top of the fort wall (but still not inside it!) and had to walk across 6 inch wall ledges to make our way through. We had to form human chains and walk sideways. Thank god nobody fell! This was almost like a trek! We have no pictures from here coz all our energies were channelized on getting back to the main entrance of the jungle before dusk! And it was nearing closer every minute!

Finally, we reached some village from where, a popular temple was nearby. Nanu and John went in for an aarti that had just started while the rest of us munched on something to eat. But it wasn't all over! We were still within the fort walls, which closed at 1730 hrs. It was already 1730 hrs and we were running out of time! Another race against time (and darkness) saw us groping in darkness towards the gate, which we managed to get through just in time. The main gate was already closed and we had to use a smaller entrance to get out.

We got into our jeep (given by the hotel, along with a driver, for the fort tour) and sped to the jungle exit where security gave a piece of their mind to the driver and the guide. You see, the entrance/exit closes at 1800 hrs while it was 1900 hrs when we got there. With wild animals around, its quite dangerous to be in the jungle after dusk. But we said sorry and were on our way to the resort with yet another day gone by.

06 Jan 2009 People: Alpana, Manish, Roopali, Nanu, Pedro, Chandan, John.

We had another canter ride in our package so off we went the next morning. It was very very very cold and we had to pack ourselves in woollen and then use the hotel's blankets on top of all that to keep ourselves warm. We would be shivering in the jungle!

This time, we went to zone 3 which at least had more fauna than zone 1. Apart from the regular deer and peacock sightings, we saw crocodiles and jackals. We also saw this one species of bird that followed us everywhere! Apparantly, they liked biscuits as much as we do and one of them even gobbled up Manish's Halls when offered!

Monkeys

Peacock

Parrots

Food loving bird with Chandan

No tiger yet again. Disappointed, we decided to leave Ranthambore and head to Agra to see the Taj Mahal since most of us hadn't seen it before.

By the way, 2 months later, Nanu's colleagues went to Ranthambore and saw a tigress with cubs on their first canter ride in the jungle. Were we jealous or what???