Rajasthan is a popular destination India that gets extensive coverage in foreign countries. Palaces, Desert Camping, Festive colors, Safaris, Fairs, Religious circuits; the state packages everything that ‘The Land’ has to offer. Rajasthan has one of the best road and air connectivity in the country and tempts many in to taking road trips across the state. The blog below, authored by my daughter Rashmi, seeks to capture the beauty of Rajasthan through her eyes and words. The trip was organized towards the closing stages of the tourist season in the month of March. The weather is warmer than usual during the day but the evenings are pleasant with the hangover of winter. This road trip across Rajasthan was done over a period of 7 Nights and 8 Days.
In Part 1 of the road trip, we covered Udaipur. In Part 2 of the road trip, we covered Jodhpur and Ranakpur. Part 3 of the road trip was the experience from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer. Part 4 of the road trip was our experience was a Haveli at Nagaur which is en route to Jaipur.
Day 7 – Jaipur
Good morning! An early start would always annoy me but at the end, I’ve got to accept it! We started off with freshening up, Packing up our bags and heading to the restaurant for breakfast. Our breakfast was pretty early as we thought that if we left early for our last destination, Jaipur, we would get to relax more in the hotel and roam around in the markets more peacefully and be more energetic. We just had a bowl of cornflakes and fruits for each of us. We thought that we could fill ourselves by having some paratha but unfortunately, it took a little longer than expected to serve it to us. We instead asked them to pack them in a small box and give it to us, so that we could eat it during our journey. We then left the resort after breakfast, by checking out and straightaway headed to our car, departing for Jaipur.
We didn’t really stop anywhere, but we saw Pushkar on the way. I did read and find out that Pushkar is a holy city and is famous for its Camel Fair held every November. Also, the city of Ajmer is located just about 14 kms (9 miles) from Pushkar. Ajmer town houses the Dargah (resting place) of Saint Khwaja Moin-ud-din Chisti. This Dargah is visited by people of all religions. We didn’t stop in Pushkar because the weather outside was burning hot and we did not want to get more tanned!
We then finally entered Jaipur, an extremely lively city with the metro and various famous monuments and buildings. Our hotel was ITC Rajputana, which is a 5 star luxury hotel.
We checked into our hotel and surprisingly got an upgrade to a luxury category. We were escorted to our room which was extremely beautiful and elegant looking. It was almost afternoon by the time we settled down, we ordered some rice to our room because that is the only food that fills us! We also had the parathas(paneer and gobi), which were also delicious. We rested on the bed for a while..My mother wanted to visit the markets in the afternoon to buy some dress materials and gifts for relatives. I was really tired after all the journey and kindly refused to go with my mom, which she happily accepted. While my mom was between the clothes of the market, me and my grandfather had a tiny nap. By the time my mom returned, it was evening and we were scheduled to have dinner with one of my mom’s well known tour operator in Rajasthan. Unfortunately, he couldn’t turn up for some issue but his representative came to our hotel and gave us a bag of sweets and chocolates, on behalf of the head tour operator). That was nice… We roamed around the hotel for a while, saw the paintings put up as an art exhibition by someone on that day and spent some time in the lobby. We finally headed for dinner where we already had our buffet dinner package included. Dinner was super delicious and excellent. We had a slow an amazing dinner time at the restaurant, chit-chatting, listening to the music being played and seeing the people coming and going. Dinner filled us and we ended our long day, finally by getting into comfortable clothes and watching some T.V till late night…Hmm, That was indeed an awesome day!
Day 8 – Jaipur at leisure and Departure
This day was the last day of this beautiful work cum personal trip..The departure day! I was a little sad because I never wanted to leave any of the resorts and the trip was so enjoyable, meeting new people and visiting new places. We got ready and headed for breakfast.. The breakfast hall was full but we had been reserved a table which was very nice of the staff. Breakfast provided a wide variety of different cuisines and juices(including vegetable juices) which was very impressive. We had a filling breakfast and then left the hotel for some sightseeing. We just took a short ride in the city and we also saw the Hawa Mahal, Amer fort which is spectacular and visited the markets to buy some clothes for me with the typical jaipuri elephant print.
That was just a short ride and then we headed back to our hotel to pack our luggage and get ready to check out in a while. By the time we cam down to the reception with all our bags, it was nearly later than noon. Luckily, we got an extension for our checkout time as our flight was later in the afternoon and nearly evening. Till then, we did some time pass in the lobby and had some beverages in the restaurant. Time just flew and finally the moment came, when I had to finally say bye to the last and one of the favorite hotel of this trip. We left by saying goodbye to all the smiling faces and a goodbye to the city of Jaipur. The airport was about 15km from the city which was not much distance. We came to the airport perfectly on time and bid adieu to our driver, who was extremely good and warm, with a small gift. As usual, we completed all the airport procedures which I don’t think need to be explained! Rajasthan, a place nobody can forget was finally ready to welcome me next time…
Thank you so much to the Government of Rajasthan, which has made the state beautiful and the biggest amount of thanks to the people of rajasthan, who add the essence of love and warmth in the state..Good bye Rajsthan! Hope to see you soon !!
Getting there – Jaipur is well connected by air from all parts of the country. Jet Airways, Air India, Indigo and Spicejet are airlines offering connectivity to Jaipur. Jaipur has excellent rail connectivity and Indian Railways offers convenient trains from all major metros. Jaipur is just 5 hours driving distance from New Delhi.
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