Gold and Beautiful

After a three-year looooong hiatus thanks to COVID-19, we finally visited India in December 2021. This time we spent a few days in Jaipur, before spending time with family and friends in Mumbai and Pune. Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan and is known as Pink City, due to the pink hued buildings in the city. Rajasthan is popular among tourists and part of the golden triangle that many tourists visit. Probably due to COVID, we encountered fewer crowds than usual. We also went quite early everywhere and that helped combat the crowds. Most people spend 2-3 days in Jaipur and probably see more places than we did. But we were fairly jet-lagged when we reached there and were glad to have more days at our disposal. We stayed at Karma Haveli in Pink City and enjoyed the stay. It is in the older part of the city, which puts it in close proximity to many monuments. We used the rickshaw/tuk-tuk to visit the nearby monuments. The staff and the service are amazing, and the rooms are great too. We ...

In my previous post , I listed places in the city of Udaipur that are worth a visit. In this post, I am listing places outside the city of Udaipur that are equally beautiful and have a rich history. You will definitely need a car and the drive is long. You could easily spend a night in the nearby towns, if you like.  Kumbalgarh: Both the forts that we visited were my favorites and I would rate this as a hit. Getting here was a different story though. The car ride was a bit rough. The roads are OK and it is a 3 hour drive. Most rental car drivers also did not really want to drive this route. But, it is a lovely place. You can combine a trip to Kumbalgarh with Ranakpur Jain temple. Once you reach closer to the fort, you will start seeing resorts and hotels. The restaurant where we had lunch, had beautiful mountain vista views. They had tables set up outside, which was very inviting. The inside was also nice with typical Indian style seating (cross-legged). The fort is set in t...

Udaipur has always been a popular tourist destination in India. It is in the northern state of Rajasthan in India and is also known as the City of Lakes. There are many things to do in Udaipur and we had a long list of places to visit and food to eat. In this post I want to list a few places that we enjoyed in the city. A few things that I would recommend for anyone are: Staying in the city center and walking around feels great. Only rickshaws are allowed in the old city center near Lake Pichola, City Palace, Bagore ki Haveli and many lovely restaurants. Rickshaws don't charge according to meter, so haggling and agreeing on a price before starting the journey is important. If you can splurge, spend a night in one of the royal palace/haveli turned hotels. You don't really need a rental car to get to most places. But, will need it for some of the far away places such as Chittorgarh, Kumbhalgarh and Ranakpur Jain temple.  City Palace :  City Palace is by far the most ...