- Nahagarh Fort
- leaving Jaipur - Take Two
- (finally!) arriving in Bikaner
late rising after a thorough reboot, we threw caution to the wind and had a breakfast on the roof in the same seats as the previous day. we prevaricated a little as to whether or not we were going up to the Nahagarh (or 'Tiger') Fort, built - as seemingly everything in the area had been - by our old friend Jai Singh II in 1734. of the designated 'sights' in Jaipur, it was the one remaining still that we had an interest in seeing. by the time that we decided to go, it had somehow got to 10:30am and, of course, much hotter.
Nahargarh Fort, lording it over Jaipur.we bartered with the manager of a few auto-rickshaws for the fare to the base of the steep escarpment where a path leads up to the fort, balancing above the city below. although the light at that time of day was extremely bright, we still thought that the views would be worth it, even though we had read that the fort was generally in ruins. the auto-arranger's nose appeared to have been half sucked back into his face, which seemed to make haggling with him a little more difficult, but we got a reasonable price and set off with a man named Sharm. actually, when first asked he said his name was 'Dudley Moore,' so we may be wrong on that.
when we got to the base of the climb along the same Northern road that our Des Lynam-esque driver Ravi had taken, we decided that it might not be such a good idea to take the steep path up to the fort in the heat. the practicalities of defence make for impractical ascents to many of these forts! we renegotiated to be driven to the fort, which - a little gallingly - involved taking the winding hill road (the only one in the area) that ran right past the entrance to the Jaigarh Fort. if we'd known, we might have been able to visit it on the same day as when we toured Amber. but the road continued to offer spectacular views of the 'Water Palace' and surrounding hills, all of which seem to have crumbling rampart walls running along them like the spine of some giant stone snake.
view from the top, featuring the 'Water Palace'
Nahargarh Fort (detail)
Nahargarh Fort (detail)
Nahargarh Fort (detail)
Nahargarh Fort (detail)
gratuitous monkey shot
peering through those that were open and past the odd grooming monkey, Jaipur is laid out before you.
after a near vertical drop, a higgledy-piggledy conglomeration of grey and blue flat topped buildings spreads out until the grid layout of the Pink City takes over, with the yellow City Palace and Jantar Mantar observatory in the centre and the path to Galta in the haze in the far distance.
the extent and relatively good condition of the palace apartments were a pleasant surprise, contrasting nicely with the tumbledown nature of the rest of the fort.
some ramparts in particular had given way and slid in pieces down the escarpment, creating a more hazardous walk than we had intended as we toured their remains.
rooftop walkway, Nahargarh Fort, Jaipur
with a train to catch - again - we walked out to where Sharm was parked under a banyan tree, its huge branches hanging with bunches of roots way off the ground, a curious cross between a weeping willow and a mangrove swamp.
banyan tree and cows
then it was back down the mountain road for the last time, skirting goat herders with their flocks, many of whom were still making the highly arduous climb they had been commencing when we drove up, and would be for still many hours to come.
packing, resting briefly and checking out then followed in quick succession (the staff at the Sunder have been very good). we were pleased to also bump into Chris and Abby as we left; like them, we hoped - in the nicest possible way - that we would not see them again this day.
one auto later and we were back in Jaipur station, this time on a different platform, and again standing in front of a train with no English signage and already full of people. it took a lot of questions before we ascertained that it was indeed the Bikaner train; a lot more managed to locate our carriage; a final group got us in the correct carriage. we had not know it when we booked, and neither had we requested it, but we were in our first 2nd class sleeper carriage, arranged as two bunks facing each other crossways, forming 'compartments,' and another two longways across a narrow aisle.
the trick is to have the top one. only you may use that, whereas the bottom bunk seats three if all spaces are taken, and the back rest folds up to form a middle bunk as well. we managed to have one bunk and a seat right around in the next compartment, not great if either of us wanted to sleep and have the other nearby (although probably more of an issue for Philippa, due to Edd's size). we locked the bags together on the top bunk and sat next to each other, hoping there'd be room. three grey ceiling fans in each compartment spun continuously, rotating so fast that only the noise indicated the presence of any blades, otherwise invisible. all else was sky blue painted metal, with thin, plastic coated seats - good enough for short journeys, possibly, but seven hours lay ahead.
we set off at the appointed time with the train's horn blaring at length (unlike yesterday), still not 100% sure that we were on the correct one. the conductor stored his bag next to us, which was strangely comforting, although he had only just tried to turf out a whole family and their mentally disabled son so that we could have adjoining seats, something that we could just not agree to! although busy to start with, the train's passengers steadily thinned out enough that we didn't have to separate during the journey (aww!).
it felt like all of its seven hours. relieved to be mostly on the side of the train that was out of the sun's rays, we watched the landscape spread out through the horizontally barred windows. unlike other cities we had departed, the trackside communities on the route leaving Jaipur were few and short-lived, swiftly making way for a more parched landscape of strangely tufted trees marooned in fields of ploughed stones, each with its own small white painted shrine. at one point even this vanished, leaving only large salt flats, some coated in blue, red and purple coils of liquid. shortly after, we passed through a town that was given over to the processing and packaging of salt, full of many small yards containing precise pyramids of crystals laid out next to massive white mounds. still later, we cut through a mining town, possibly Makrana Junction, where women sold pot stands through the train windows from a pile balanced on their heads. exiting the station, the ground gave way next to the track and opened up into a huge, man-made valley, jagged edged and fringed with primitive pulleys and excavators. the reason for such large scale gouging was to be found in the rough hewn surface of the chasm and the constant dusting of stone chips at the edge of the track - marble. it was from here that the Taj Mahal's white marble originates and, from the numerous other, smaller quarries that we passed, it seems to remain a key part of the town's economy. many of the excavations came right up to the edge of the tracks.
even when full, the train was not a too unpleasant place to be. a street child got on at one point and danced up and down the narrow aisle, passing herself through a hoop that could have been
no more than a few inches in diameter before asking for donations. people cooked and ate while playing cards in family groups, others slept, more stood in the open doorways, catching the air or admiring the views. Edd tried this himself, but a lot more practice would be requored beforeyou could feel even remotely safe! as night fell, the train emptied with each relatively infrequent stop, but its passengers remained smiling and passing on goodwill gestures to us, the only visible Westerners on the train. one man also on his way to Bikaner asked us where we were going. 'Bikaner,' we replied. 'Why?' he said smiling, his voice filled with good natured bemusement. as we head further into the heat of Rajasthan, this is becoming more and more common!
as we neared Bikaner, the train's interior was coated with a fine sand spotted with mostly dead flies as it went through a couple of minor dust storms.
by the time we finally arrived, late, at 11:30pm, all our belongings were coated in it, even using the windows' storm shutters. we walked the short distance from the railway station to our hotel, the Marudhar Heritage. first impressions were not wildly positive, as the place at night exuded a certain charmless, municipal feel, but the room had powerful AC (even if it was carpeted, of all things) and the very busy city at night was extremely warm, at least 32C, according to the thermometer in reception. by the time we had checked in and cleaned up, it was past 1am. once again genuinely fatigued at the end of a day's travel, not even our room's inappropriate suburban Indian restaurant patterned wallpaper cold stop us falling to sleep.
our best to all readers!
edd & philippa
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