TORDI GARH & JAIPUR

VILLAGE WALK, TORDI GARH

After the drinks the night before we were feeling a little rough but got up, wandered around and checked out all the animals at the palace we were staying at, which included these fantastic horses with ears that are so different to anything we’d ever seen before.  They turn in on themselves, so the ear faces outwards and the tips almost touch.  Aapji told us that the closer the tips were to touching the higher the value of the horse.  Unlike most other horses I had come across, these were really friendly and loved the attention we were paying them.  For the first time ever, I also saw a blue eyed horse, which was beautiful! Everyone met up for a beautiful home cooked breakfast before we went out and wandered around the village. 

Tordi is completely untouched by tourism and is a real special experience only available to Geckos travellers.  The streets were filled with the people going about their daily business, with women in stunningly coloured saris washing clothes, cleaning and spending time with the children.  The kids were gorgeous, as always and were very happy to pose for photos – and loved it even more when we showed them their photos.  People were quite shy, but always happy to give us a Namaste or even a Hello as we walked by.  After a long journey to get to Tordi Garh, I was unsure if it would be as special as it was, but it was beyond that.  To see a village that wasn’t filled with tourists and touts trying to sell their wares, was fantastic.

 Aapji gave us some interesting facts, including families who earn less than 1800 rupees a month (around $120 AUD) could be paid another 1000 rupees a month if they send their daughters to school.  They are also provided with school uniforms on top of this payment.  The Government determined that in order to break the traditions of women not gaining an education and working in the fields, as tradition has stated, they needed to offer incentives.  We saw a school that is partially funded by the visits made by Gecko’s travellers to Tordi, via the family that runs the palace we stayed at.

We also visited the local hospital, which provides a basic level of care to the residents, but should they require anything further they would need to travel to Jaipur, a little over 2 hours away.  Medication is incredibly inexpensive and was made so to ensure fair access to all residents.

I was touched by the way of life on display, from the children playing happily in the streets with nothing more than a stick and an inner tyre tube to the women happily hand washing their clothes in the street, to the dogs and pigs wandered around the streets. 

After we returned and enjoyed a cool drink, due to the temperature climbing to around 38 degrees, Aapji and Kuldeep decided we should do the right thing and have a game of cricket! Andrew got the Australian flag out and we pegged it up on the fence beside the pitch.  The pitch was nothing more than dirt, covered in rocks and rubble in the outfield.  Very typical of India – you play with whatever you have, wherever you can . Andrew, myself, Belinda, Evan, Courtney, Aapji and Kuldeep all took turns bowling and batting and for the record Kuldeep bowled me on a sneaky slower ball.  Courtney did really well considering she’s an American and cricket is really foreign to her, but she wanted to learn and have a go, and using her learned softball pitch, she threw a couple of fast impressive balls too.  By the time everyone had had a go, it was pretty warm so we retired to the total marble lobby to enjoy a cold water (or beer) and relax. 

The cricket ground was a bit rough - but typical of India

Aapji at the crease, not bad for someone who prefers basketball to cricket

Courtney from the USA at the crease. She was good too! 

Kuldeep, Andrew & Aapji pose after the game with our Aussie flag

Our accommodation in Tordi Garh

Camels, on Andrew's camel safari

More camels

Me being patriotic with the flag! 

The sunset after Andrew's camel safari

Andrew enjoying a beer after climbing a sand dune

The sunset from the top of the sand dune in Tordi Garh

Cool, curved ears on the horses at Tordi Garh

 

The cute dog at the accommodation in Tordi Garh

The rest of the afternoon was free time and Andrew and I both took the time to have a bit of a siesta after enjoying a lovely lunch of Indian food.  It was decided that at around 3.30pm we’d leave Tordi Garh and make the 2.5 hour 4WD jeep ride to Jaipur.  Evan and Courtney were staying in Tordi as their tour was a little different to ours, however we would cross paths again the following afternoon in Jaipur.

TORDI GARH TO JAIPUR

Everyone piled into the jeeps and as usual Mrs Nufftard insisted on not sitting in the back but had to sit in the forward facing seats (a bench seat behind the driver and front passenger where the rest of the group were in the side facing seats in the rear), as she had monopolised for the 4.5 hour trip the day before.  I grabbed a spot next to her, so whatever nerve I pinched the day before wasn’t exacerbated and loudly declared that anyone else in the back who didn’t sit up the front yesterday should be on the bench seat up front, but she didn’t take the subtle hint and held her ground.  Rude!

The 4WD jeep

The journey from Tordhi to Jaipur was hot and dusty and because of his height Andrew was sitting directly in front of me in the front passenger seat.  He was happy and snapping away some fantastic photos of the sights we were seeing, from women working in the fields harvesting wheat, to mud brick huts amongst the dusty plains.

Coming into Jaipur

About 45 minutes from Jaipur we stopped at a petrol station to have a leg stretch and Mr and Mrs Nufftard complained to Aapji that Indian petrol stations do nothing but sell fuel, because they wanted a cold drink.  Mr Nufftard started a rant to Aapji about how ‘in the UK, we are smarter and have a Starbucks at all our garages along the highways, so India should too’.  The look Aapji shot towards Andrew and I said he was at breaking point, but calmly asked Mr Nufftard how he figured that would be better for all the stalls and shops that are along the highway selling drinks and food if they were pushed out of business.  Mr Nufftard had a smart-arsed remark back for every valid response Aapji calmly delivered and after we got back in the jeeps he continued on, saying he disagreed with Aapji and how India should be more like the United Kingdom.  You can imagine everyone else’s feelings on this remark.  I doubt I need to go into detail, but everyone else was polite and just listened to his rant, as there was no point continuing to try and make him consider any other way but his own. 

The streets began to fill quickly as we entered Jaipur and both Andrew and I were mesmerised.  Jaipur was absolutely stunning.  It is known as the ‘pink city’ as many of the buildings in the older section are a faded pink colour.  Jaipur is in two very different sections, the new part which was wide highway like roads dotted with western hotel chains and super sized shopping malls, before reaching the old section which is like stepping back in time.  The shops are very basic, everyone is on the street trading their wares including an area of town that at a certain point in the day (around 6pm) all the gem stone dealers converge to obtain the latest market data from the western world on the price of gems.  Gems are a precious commodity and Jaipur is very well regarded for the quality produced here.  At the area where the gem prices were being advised the street was absolutely packed to capacity and our jeeps had trouble getting through the crowd across both sides of the road.  As our jeeps travelled through, people would look and occasionally smile, I guess we must stand out so much, two jeeps full of western tourists in a city of 3.5 million people. 

Gates to old Jaipur

We arrived at our accommodation in the old part of Jaipur,  another marbled old palace.  The hotel was around 300 years old and very beautiful.  Upon getting out of the jeeps were were adorned with rose petals from a woman on the balcony above us, and presented with flowers to wear around our ne k and a bindi (the red colour mixed with a grain of rice) on our foreheads.  It was a beautiful way to be welcomed and we were also given a welcoming drink of sweet buttermilk. 

Our accommodation in Jaipur

Beautiful coloured glass at our hotel in Jaipur

After arriving at the hotel in Jaipur

We were shown to our rooms, with the lovely porters carrying our hefty bags on their small frames. The room was fantastic, and quite large.  On our travels we are yet to see a bathroom that has any kind of shower screen, but at least at this hotel there was a bathtub.  Everywhere else was just a one big room that had the basin, the shower and the toilet and the water could go anywhere, which was kind of fun – like colouring outside of the lines!

Everyone was pretty tired after a dusty bumpy slow ride to jaipur so we decided we’d grab a group dinner after a freshen up and rest of about 90 minutes.

Around the corner from the hotel was the most beautiful restaurant – again of marble with high ceilings and even an internal balcony.  The food was excellent, I enjoyed some potato cooked in the tandoor oven, with some paneer over the top and a raita on the side.

We didn’t have a very late night, as everyone wanted a good nights sleep before heading off to the Amber Fort in the morning.