Around the World with Hardy(T)Around the World with Hardy(T)
We spent the 28th to the 30th October cycling the dusty roads of Rajasthan, calling in at some very interesting villages along the way. Unfortunately, my camera broke in Jaipur and the "point and clunk" replacement I bought for the princely sum of 300 rupees wasn't quite up to the job.
We very wisely navigated the highway out of Jaipur by bus - have you ever been on Indian roads? - and picked up the bikes a few miles out of town. The bikes were, well, let's just say functional, and took a while to get used to, but once mastered, they sped us along straight, quiet roads through the Indian countryside. Women in beautiful saris worked in the fields, small children chased us through villages and, of course, there was the obligatory cow dodging. A furiously hot day saw one or two of our party take advantage of the support bus, but most of us finished the day wobbling down a very sandy track to our campsite by the temple at Nagar.
After some local entertainment round the camp
fire and a good night's sleep, we got up the next day and cycled on to Indergarh.
Again there was a good number of villages to explore. Today we had the added
bonus of watching some men 'squatting' at the side of the road and even
a small boy cycling past with a dead goat on the back of his bike. I'll
bet he was the envy of all his chums. The day ended at the magnificent
abandoned temple complex at Indergarh, where we set up camp in the ruins.
A few of us even slept out on the plinth of one of the temples, although,
as we were 'visited' a few times in the night by both canine and human visitors,
this was perhaps not such a good idea.
On the final day, we cycled to the village of Sawai Madhopur. An excited burst of energy took us over the bridge across the main highway and into the campsite at a local hotel. Here we thankfully got cleaned up and then took a jeep ride out into the nearby Ranthambhore National Park. Unfortunately we didn't spot any tigers, but it was a pleasant enough excursion. Back at camp, we had a final night of traditional Rajasthani dancing and singing whilst enjoying one or two hard-earned drinks. Certain people 'enjoyed' their drinks more than others, didn't they Judi?
From Sawai Madhopur, we made our way onto Agra and the Taj Mahal...