Touring Rajasthan - Palace on Heels!

This year's vacation plans were conceived sometime in August of 2010 and booked well in advance so that we got proper railway reservations. Flying turned out to be a bit expensive considering that there were no direct flights between Bangalore and Jaipur. Also for the fact that Pooja likes the train journey much better than the flights.

Starting the 19th Dec, 2010, 6 of us i.e. Harish, Lavanya, Sanjana, Soujanya, Pooja and myself explored the 3 J's of Rajasthan - Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Jaipur, during our 10 day trip, returning back on the 29th Dec, 2010.

Here are a few snaps that we took on our onward journey to Jodhpur.

Onward Train Journey to Jodhpur

21st Dec, 2010, Tuesday, Jodhpur:
The journey was quite comfortable except that we had to leave our belongings under the care of thousands of cockroaches in our compartment. It was nice to see that Railways now gives bedding for every occupant of AC coaches. Toilets were flushed, cleaned and vacuumed more frequently by some 3rd party company and Hand wash liquid was replenished more than often which really made us feel comfortable, considering that the journey was pretty long.

We also got good company from a family which lives in Jodhpur and during our conversations, we made sure we took notes of what to see, what to eat, and other nuances around it.

Getting down at almost every stop on the train was fun. Poori and Subjee at Ahmedabad, cup loads of chilled 'Rabdi' at Mt. Abu Road was simply Ummmazing!

After a full 48 hours of travel, we reached Jodhpur on 21st evening. Quickly got into a 'big' auto rickshaw and zipped to our hotel 'Chandra Inn'. Threw our bags there, freshened up and were ready to see the City under the lights. The first stop was to the 'Soazti gate - Nai Sadak' which is the most happening place of Jodhpur when it comes to shopping or dining. We got down right in front of 'Janata Sweets Home', supposedly the best place in Jodhpur for sweets. We tasted 'Mawa ki Kachori, Pyaaz Ki Kachori and Mirchi Vada'. While the 'Mawa ki Kachori was a bit oversweet, the Pyaaz Ki Kachori was outstanding and but the winner certainly was the 'Mirchi Vada', which demanded another try. Just too good. Half full, we quickly crossed to the other side of the street into Priya's Restaurant where we had Parathas, Gol Gappas and Rajasthani Thalis (another hotel on the top of the charts for Pure Veggie like us). Oh! - by the way, Rajasthan is full of Veg Hotels, and is a heaven for Veggies. Way to go Veggies!

The 'Nai Sadak / Soazti Gate' is a street tailor made for Tourists with wide variety of shops ranging from Rajasthani 'Bandhej' sarees, dress materials, Camel hide Joothis, Souvenir shops and others. Perfect place to go when you have 'Master Card in your hand' !!!

The City lights, Beautiful shops, Welcome chill weather, brilliant hues of Rajasthan left us all with a very warm feeling towards this part of India. After a pretty long day, we got back to our hotel and hit the sack, after striking up a deal with an Auto rickshaw guy for taking us out on a full day tour of Jodhpur for the next day.

22nd Dec, 2010, Wednesday - Jodhpur
After a quick breakfast at 'Sukh Sagar' we started off our day long Auto rickshaw tour of Jodhpur. First stop was the 'Umaid Bhawan Palace'. Situated high up on a hillock, this beautiful Palace is still being used by the Rajah of Jodhpur, 'Gaj Singh II'. Only 1/3rd of the palace is opened for public and the 2/3rds are held by the royal family. The palace has majestic halls, corridors and intricate carvings. As usual, a lot of exhibits belonging to the royal family are displayed in the halls. Situated over the hillock, this palace looks stunning from far and wide when the lights get turned on during the evening hours.

Next stop was the 'Mehrangarh Fort'. Again situated on a hilly terrain, the walls of the fort are as high as 200 feet! Simply gigantic in structure, very well maintained and has some great vantage points providing breathtaking views of Jodhpur city from over the top. One could see heaps of houses across far and wide of the city, painted in Blue and is why city of Jodhpur is called 'The Blue city'. Now you know!

Next stop was the 'Jaswanthada', Cemetery of Royals. No big shakes here, as this was just one another spot with a small kalyani and a few cemeteries. After a quick pit stop for lunch, we visited the 'Kalyani Sarovar', a huge natural lake formed in the valley of 2 hillocks. The last one on the tourist map was the 'Mandore Bagh', a government park, with huge area of greens, trees and thousands of 'black faced, long tailed Langoors'. Pooja and Sanjana were greatly amused with the rendezvous with their tailed cousins. Mandore Bagh also features a few other temples in Jodhpuri and Jain Architecture. Just outside this park was the 'Jal Jeera' gaadi with a Earthen Pot fully decorated with Pudina, Nimboo, and various types of masalas. Just the look of it was mouth watering and not to mention that each of us slurped a gallon.

The sun just set, so we hit back to the hotel, freshened up and again hit the Nai-Sadak, for a second visit to munch the Mirchi Vada, Pyaaz ki kachori and the Rajasthani Special Thali!. Later that night, we boarded the train to Jaisalmer, our next destination.

Here are some of the snaps that we took during our tour of Jodhpur.

Jodhpur

23rd Dec, 2010, Thursday - Jaisalmer
After about 5~6 hours of overnight journey, we reached Jaisalmer by about 4:30 AM in the morning. Pretty Chill, it must have been around 5~6 Deg C. We were fully under wraps and literally frozen. Thankfully, the hotel folks where we planned to stay had sent across a cab to pick us up from the railway station. We stayed at the 'Siddhi Vinayak Hotel' (With 'Roof top Swimming Pool' as they advertised). Room was pretty cozy and neat, and the crew were very helpful, friendly and supportive. They helped us plan our day by making arrangements for the city tour of important monuments and also for the Package tour to the Desert Sands. A Chevy Tavera was given at our disposal for the whole day.

A heavy breakfast (complimentary) of Alu Parathas, Bread, Butter and Jam, we gathered enough steam to explore one of the most beautiful places of Rajasthan. Jaisalmer is also called a as the 'The Golden City' as a reflection of the colour if the sand, forts and monuments. Now you know again!.

First stop was the Jaisalmer Fort, (A.k.a. Swarnanagari). This fort was different in a way compared to that of the Mehrangarh fort in Jodhpur as this fort is a 'Living fort'. About 5000 families continue to live inside this fort and this fort is a City in itself, with its own Schools, Temples, Clinics and Bazaars. The entire roads and gullies of this fort has various vendors and hawkers displaying and selling their artifacts. One can see the rich colours of the Rajasthan heritage in their dressing styles, the items for sale, the colour of the walls of the fort and the soil itself. Amazingly colourful! It was a great sight to see Musicians singing, playing Sarangi (the famed stringed musical instrument of Rajasthan). Pay them a few rupees and they will sing the Rajasthani songs in perfect Hindustani Classical Style!. Wish these folks knew of reality shows such as 'Meri Awaaz suno / Indian Idol' etc ...). The streets are adorned with folks selling Jeweleries, Colourfull Puppets, Dress materials, Bedspreads, Bags, Chappals, Joothis, unmistakable Rajasthani Pagdis(head gear) in resplendent colours and many more, all in traditional Rajasthani style and culture. A treat for any visitor, Indian or otherwise. A great place to shop if you know how to bargain!. One will really feel delighted to walk these forts with so much to see and explore. The forts encircle a lot of shops, temples and housing colonies. We also visited the Jain Mandir with intricate carvings on all sides and from top to bottom. There are so many such things to see around that one will need to use the process of elimination in order to be satisfied with the choices at hand. A small gully lead us to a huge 'Bronze Canon' placed on the edge of the fort overlooking the city of Jaisalmer. This spot gives a panoramic view of this Amazing city of Jaisalmer from over the top. The feeling is such delightful that it can only be perceived can cannot be expressed in words. While the pictures speaks a thousand words, it still does not do justice to being there in person!

The next stop was the 'Ghadisar Lake'. A beautiful lake surrounded by temples all around. We hired a paddling boat and enjoyed boating under the warm sun. Great views of the temples built in the middle of the lake and at the entrance to the lake. Worth the visit as Kids enjoyed the boat ride to the maximum.

Next stop was at the 'Patwon Ki Haveli'. Apparently 'Patwa' is one of the tribes of the Royals of Jaisalmer and they have their Havelis / Bungalows constructed in the city. They are very similar to the Havelis seen in the movie 'Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam'. (Much more compact and crowded than that shown in the movie). Again, the kind of craftsmanship of the artisans who made such stunning bungalows is simply amazing. Its impossible to even describe the intricacy of the design and will let the photos do the talking.

A super-duper lunch at 'Riddhi Shiddi' a hotel suggested by our Driver as the best of the best in Jaisalmer for having an authentic Jaisalmeri / Rajasthani lunch. The special lunch offered us 'Desert Beans curry, Bajra Rotis, Kadi, Lassi and other Subjees and gave us a sample of the Jaisalmeri dishes. We quickly got back to our hotel and got ready for the next big thing of visiting the Thar Desert, the acclaimed 'Sam Sand Dunes' and the Desert camp.

We got back on the car and left for the Desert. The land terrain changes drastically and suddenly turns barren with only little shrubs here and there. That too because Jaisalmer had received 'over the average' rainfall this year. A totally flat, wide and zero traffic road that took 45 minutes into the drive with no civilization in between and then we reached a point where we saw a huge gathering of camels and loads of people. We got down and our Camp co-ordinator gave each of our families a camel to ride! Soujanya, Pooja and myself jumped onto one of the squatting camels with hardly any difficulties. The camel's lift off was pretty scary as the tall animal that camel is, lifted its hind and threw us up in the air. While Pooja and myself enjoyed the lift off, Souji was petrified and had to be consoled to hold on and continue.

Sitting on the Camel was fun! The person in the front enjoys the view, but has nothing else to hold onto, other than a tiny grip. Souji was our captain-in-charge! (The reins of the camel anyways were in the hands of the Camel caretaker guy, walking next to us). Pooja was in the middle. Very safe and in a very comfortable position. I was sitting at the back and really had to hold onto the camel as at every step, I was feeling like I would be thrown out of the makeshift saddle anytime. Wish I had an ejection seat with a chute option. One thing I observed of the camel was that it lifts and moves the front left and hind left legs at one time and then switches to the right side pair. This causes a twist and turn effect on it's spine and the person at the end of it's spine (me), got the greatest twists. Now I know why 'belly dancing' is a famous with the Arabs. You don't have to learn belly dancing. Just ride the camel and it will teach you not just belly dancing, but a few Latino moves like Shakira did on that 'Whenever Wherever' track. Some camel ride it was. Amazingly entertaining. (Long live Zandu Balm!)

Our camel caravan took us about 2.5 Kms into the desert towards the Sand dunes. 'Sam' (pronounced 'sum') is a village, where the sand dunes begin. The brilliant colour of the golden sand was a delight by itself. Hundreds of Camels, touristers and locals throng the sand dunes starting from here and ending somewhere in other side of Thar desert of Pakistan. (The India-Pak Border is about 15 Kms from here). We had a wonderful time playing on the sand dunes and the kids enjoyed the sand thoroughly. Cameras came out in the thousands and you could see pretty much everybody taking a snaps. The sunset was viewed from the peak of a sand dune. The huge golden ball of fire slowly drowned into the horizon and that's when we started walking back from the sands to the village nearby (1 Km), where our Cars would have arrived through the road. We found our cabbie, who then took us to the maximum possible stretch deep inside the Thar desert and then returned back. We drove back almost to the point where we started the camel ride and were lodged into the night desert camp.



The name of our camp was 'Prince Desert Camp'. A warm welcome by a lady clad in rich traditional Rajasthani attire accompanied along with a Drum roll. The perimeter of the camp had about 20 tents pitched for overnight stay. A red carpet was laid out till the central area, which had a stage in the middle for performing musicians and we were seated across the inner perimeter with soft mattresses and comfortable cushions. We chose our spot and quickly tucked into the warm cushions to beat the chill breeze and getting as much warmth from the campfire laid at the center.

The musicians (Seasoned vocalists, a dholak, a Sarangi, and another hand held rhythmic instrument player), started rendering traditional Rajasthani tunes. The salted peanuts, hot tea and coffee made the guests comfortable while enjoying the performances. A couple of dancers danced to the high energy songs and on one occasion pulled all the guests onto the floor and got them dancing as well. Soujanya and Pooja enjoyed their stints in the middle and had a great time. A couple of hours of music and dance, the traditional Rajasthani Dinner buffet was ready and staged in one of the tents. We just had enough space in our tummies to taste and later bade good-bye to the musicians and dancers and hit the road back to our hotel, after an amazing, adventurous and long day at Jaisalmer. A truly memorable outing.



Supplementary information: The Desert Package costs Rs. 600 per person (all inclusive of to-and-fro transportation to the camp, camel ride, Desert camp, music, dance and dinner).


24th Dec, 2010, Friday - Jaisalmer
We had our early morning breakfast of Alu Parathas, Poha, Noodles, steaming hot coffee and tea at a nearby hotel called 'Aangan'. Next we set on foot to explore the city of Jaisalmer by foot and almost retraced our route around the Jaisalmer fort which gives a lot of shopping options. We tried the specialty sweet of Jaisalmer 'Ghotuan', a sweet made out of Besan and Milk. Walking the gullies of Jaisalmer was itself a pleasure and we whiled away a lot of time in looking around small shops. Pooja and Sanjana were dreaming of getting into the swimming pool right from the moment we reached Jaisalmer, so we returned back to the hotel and got them into the pool. We adults were completely sure that these kids would not have the courage to get into the freezing cold pool. Well, kids are kids and adults are not. Pooja was more than happy to shiver and get into the pool and enjoy half an hour in near zero temperatures. Harish helped Pooja do the swimming, and his lower part of the body was almost numb by the time he got out. I tried to get into the pool but was out in the first 3 minutes as I could not sustain. Not sure how the kids managed this feat! Amazing!

Here are some snaps taken during our Jaisalmer tour:

Jaisalmer

We packed our bags and left to the railway station to catch the 5:40 PM train to our next city, Jaipur. The compartment was neat for a change with 'less' number of cockroaches this time. We had skipped lunch due to our hectic schedules during the day and hence ordered a meals our night dinner. On our way, we got to know that the train does not have a Pantry car as well. Our train had to go through Jodhpur and then to Jaipur and terminates at Delhi.

We reached Jodhpur and so did the meals arrive. About 10 minutes into the halt, while we were having dinner, we heard from our Coach attendant that there were news of our train getting re-routed to Delhi and would not be touching Jaipur. Apparently, the Gurjar agitation was in full swing in one of the stations between Jodhpur and Jaipur and the fish-plates of the railway lines had been removed by the protesters and hence the train journey to Jaipur had canceled. Harish and I and almost the 90% of our train's commuters ran helter-skelter trying to understand what was happening and reached the enquiry section on Jodhpur railway station. The 'Enquiry' attendant had only one thing to say. Folks going towards Jaipur should make alternate arrangements to reach Jaipur as the train will now not touch Jaipur. Any other question regarding what will happen to our tickets, refund, cancellation, e-tickets, continuance of journey on other trains, arrival/departure of next trains to Jaipur, fell on deaf ears. I have always thought of Railways to be very responsible organization at least during situations like these but this time I felt very agitated and very embarrassing that they had nothing to offer us. Absolutely no support from Railways in times of crisis.

Harish and I ran back to the coach, where the rest of our families were still on and asked them to unload the already heavy luggages and sleeping kids in the middle of the night, under freezing temperatures. Just when we got our luggages on the platform the train marched and departed to Delhi. Many of the people inside the trains may not even know what was happening. We had 20 minutes between the time we got the info from the cabin attendants and the time the train left Jodhpur.

We counted our bags and found that one of Harish's luggage had remained on the train going to Delhi on a different route. Harish approached the Station Master and appraised him of the situation and Quick arrangements were made by the Station Master who asked the Station Master of the next station 'Merta Road' to unload the luggage so that we could go and collect the same from that station.

Next we lodged our folks in the station waiting halls and starting thinking on alternative plans. Harish and I went outside and found a Taxi operator with whom we struck a deal to get us to Jaipur for Rs. 7000 on a Chevy Tavera. There was a lot of confusion and chaos before getting onto the Taxi as there was another Taxi guy that we had enquired in parallel and got into a huge fight on who would be driving us. 2 hours later we finally managed to leave Jodhpur in the middle of the night towards Jaipur. Wait! We still had to pick up the luggage from an unknown, nondescript station called as 'Merta Road' in all assumption that the station master takes the initiative of finding our bag from the train and unloading it in the middle of the night. Thankfully, our road trip to Jaipur did cover 'Merta Road' which was about 15KMS off from the 'Merta town'. About 2 hours into the ride, we got a feeling that we may not be able to find the railway station itself, forget about the luggage!. It was pretty nervous as there were no directions to the railway station, freezing temperatures and absolutely nobody on the street. Somehow the driver was able to make calls to his base station and get us to the railway station. The biggest surprise and a breath of relief came when we found the missing baggage at one of the offices of the railway station. Talk about luck!

25th Dec, 2010, Saturday - Jaipur
We reached Jaipur in the morning by 7 AM, starved of sleep, and got lodged with the 'Jaipur Youth Hostel'. Much wanted breakfast and Tea arrived and we were ready for the day's proceedings by noon. We hired an Auto rickshaw for Rs. 600 and asked him to show all the important places and monuments in Jaipur.

First stop was the 'Jantar Mantar'. We bought a composite entry pass that covers Jantar Mantar, Hawa Mahal, Amber (Amer) Fort, Albert Hall and other points for Rs. 50, valid for 2 days. We marveled at the accuracy of these astronomical contraptions and how the accurate the readings were related to Time, Zodiac, and Planetary positions. Next stop was the City Palace where we saw many fine halls, Sheesh Mahals, 2 huge Sliver Jars weighing 135 Kgs each ('Gangajali') and many other artifacts.

A quick lunch at a local dhaba, we reached Amber Fort (Amer fort). When I saw Jodhpur fort, I thought it was the best. Then I saw Jaisalmer's Living fort, and thought that was better. Now I was on Amber fort and starting to think that this was better than the earlier ones. Every other fort seemed to out beat the other! Rajasthan has been simply awesome! This fort starts out with a small pond in front and takes you over a hill through multiple gates at varying elevations and providing great view of the city at each stage. Every landing has a huge open veranda the size of a half-football ground covered with pink porticoes and other buildings. Amazing fort. It took us at least 2 hours to get to see this fort and even after that we found that we still had a lot to see. Every other corner you had one or the other view or important sight to see or cover.

The sun was dipping as we got down the fort and the next stop was Rajasthan Tourist Development Corporation (RTDC) Shopping plaza. A huge building where one can do all the shopping from Bedspreads, Shawls, Razaais, Dress materials, Paintings, , Antiques, Marble items, Carvings, and other things. After about an hour and Five thousand Rupees lighter, we walked across the street to the Jal Mahal.

A magnificent Mahal built at the middle of a lake makes a beautiful sight. The evening lights made the palace even more beautiful with and we spent time taking a lot of snaps.

By this time, we were all mostly exhausted due to the long travel, lack of sleep the previous night and the full activity during the day. So we got back to the hotel and hit the sacks early.

26th Dec, 2010, Sunday - Jaipur
A good sleep overnight and heavy breakfast of Parathas, we set out for the day's tour of Ajmer and Pushkar. We struck a deal with a Auto rickshaw guy who led us to a Tata Indica travel agency for the day's tour for Rs. 1650.

We reached Pushkar by about 1:30 PM and had a full course meal before getting to the World's only Brahma temple (Attested by the 'original' Brahma himself, as there are other Brahma temples around India). I wish they have put a board saying 'We have no branches' board at the temple!. The road to the temple were adorned with a lot of small shops selling all kinds fancy and beautiful. The moment we got of the car, we were hunted by packs of the 'dalals' who would want to offer their services as a guide and explain in detail about the temple with stories, which we were not interested in. Entry to the temple was easy. Cameras, Mobile Phones and anything other than wallets are not allowed inside the premises. The temple is kind of old, decently maintained. As you reach the sanctum-sanctorum, the light and disciplined queue disintegrates into a chaotic confluence of human race as if the only standing Brahma temple is going to vanish in the next few minutes. Learning from the adage 'When you are in Rome, be a Roman', and going by the name 'Pushkar' which for a Rajasthani means 'Push - Kar' ('Start Pushing'), we got pushed from behind and we pushed the people in front to get the darshan of the most intelligent 1/3rd partner of the holy trinity, Lord Brahma. A major achievement it was to see a Temple with a Superlative attached to it. The temple itself is very ordinary, the Prasad ...Well, will keep my mouth shut here. Overall, it was fun.

We then waked past the gullies of Pushkar and a kilometer inside to get to the Pushkar Sarovar. A holy lake, very serene. Pooja loved this place as she was able to chase and shoo away the pigeons of Pushkar in hundreds.



We next left for Ajmer about 20 Kms from Pushkar and visited the Dargah there. The streets wore a festive look with beautiful lights coming in from the shops with hundreds of people buying flowers, sweets, offerings and head gears. Again, a huge rush inside the dargah. Very suffocating and no-order. No cameras, mobile phones inside the premises. Visiting a dargah for the first time was a unique experience as we did not know the nuances of visiting an Islamic place of worship. People from all religions converged here, mostly tourists and mostly Muslims. People who waited patiently till the end of the 'namaaz' suddenly rushed to the entrance of the dargah almost creating a stampede. It was very suffocating and was very uncomfortable.

We started our journey back to Jaipur on our car and we had already put ourselves into Panic mode as we had gotten the news that our train to Bangalore from Jaipur may have been canceled due to that Agitation. Sitting in the car, we made hundreds of calls to every one possible back in Bangalore so that we could make alternate arrangements to reach Bangalore in case it got confirmed that the trains were confirmed to be canceled. We headed directly to Jaipur railway station and got the confirmation that the trains will not be canceled but will be re-routed through Ajmer and will be reaching Bangalore late up to 12 hours. The mere confirmation that the trains would run and are not canceled gave a lot of cheer as we could not risk getting stuck in Jaipur for longer.

26th Dec, 2010, Monday - Jaipur
We got up early and had a breakfast of Poha and then picked up an Auto to go around Jaipur for those places we could not cover on the first day. First stop was the 'Hawa Mahal', an important Landmark of Jaipur, right in the center of the Pink City. Surrounding it was the shopping areas called as the 'Pink City Shopping area'. A whole set of Streets tailor made for the wandering tourister. All things that were found in Jodhpur, Jaisalmer could be found here at almost the same cost. We shopped for some bedspreads, bags and other small stuff. Next on the line was the Johari Bazaar where the ladies tried to their luck with Jeweleries (mostly imitations). The gullies around these shops lead into the vastly unexplored heavens, apt for a foodie of Jaipur. Innumerable Sweet Meat Shops adorn these streets. From Jamoons, to Bhujias, Mirchi Vadas, to you name it, you have it.

While the rest of the herd was busy helping themselves, I got into the by lanes of this gullies where another heaven opened up!. The lane that sells 'Kites' in wholesale! Thousands of them. Man! I was overjoyed looking at the umpteen colours, ranges, sizes and shapes of Kites, being sold in thousands. A sight uncommon to the people of the south. Varieties of kite threads ('Manjas') wound over 'Lathis' was stored in various sizes and prices. Me being a devout of kite flying, this was one of the points of pilgrimage that I happened to visit by chance. I bought 'mini kites' just 3 inches X 3 inches, made of plastic and guaranteed to fly! How cool!.

The next stop was the Laxmi Mithai Bhandar (LMB Sweets) on Johari Bazaar. We tried the 'Paneer Ghewar'. Apparently LMB is the most renowned and internationally acclaimed for this sweet. We packed half a KG back to Bangalore, as I seemed to enjoy the taste of this sweet. We also tried the Dodha, Dhoklas and a few Bakarwadis as well.

We tried the famous Gol-gappas of Jaipur before we walked over to the Albert Hall Museum. An important landmark of Jaipur, it houses many artifacts worth seeing. The most interesting for me was the 'Mummy', which has been kept on display. It is authentic (certified by the Museum that it is authentic). Different musical instruments, Pagdis, Illustrations of Kings of Rajasthan are some of the nice things on display.

We reached back the Youth Hostel by 4 PM, packed up and checked out by 5 PM to catch our final train back to Bangalore. As expected, the train did take a re-route and after a long, long, really long travel of 51 and half hours (2 days and 3.5 hours) later, we touched down in 'Namma Bengaluru' at 11.20 PM on 29th Dec, 2010 (Wednesday).

Here are some snaps that we took during our tour of Jaipur.

Jaipur, Pushkar and Ajmer

A fantastic tour of Rajasthan. A full 10 day extravaganza of beautiful places, amazing food, good and warm people of Rajasthan, breathtaking views and great company of Harish, Lavanya and Sanjana, made this trip a grand success.


Supplementary Information:
The total cost of the trip for 2 Adults and 1 child came to about Rs. 32,000 for 10 days. Inclusive of Train travel, City Travel, Entry and Parking charges, Food and Lodging, expenses. Not inclusive of Shopping!

Auto Rickshaws generally demands between Rs. 70~80 for point-point, but should be negotiated to Rs. 40~50 (For a distance of 4~5 Kms). An approximate charge Rs. 10 per KM.

Rajasthan is a state where Vegetarians hotels are in abundance where ever you go. Jain hotels and food is available everywhere. On an average, Rs. 75~100 per person per Lunch/Dinner in a decent hotel.

Temperatures during the Day across Rajasthan was between 20~25 Deg C during last week of December. Thermals are not needed. During the nights, it would go down to 7 Deg C or a bit lower.

Did not see many Cybercafes kind of shops, but every hotel has its own Internet Kiosk.

Below is the map of Rajasthan: