Ranakpur and Kumbhalgarh

It's hard to beat the Hampi-Arambol trip for sheer difficulty, it even deposed Munnar-Ooty (which took two days and was psychologically draining)! But the Udaipur-Ranakpur-Kumbhalgarh triangle is a decent runner-up. The trip took its toll physically and mentally, because we had to make a choice between the two (we really wanted to spend the night at Kumbhalgarh). There is very little information about the two and the bus routes keep changing, so most people rent a car for the day and go back to Udaipur or go to Jodhpur, but wewere feeling cocky that day and thought we could do it the hardcore way, as usual. We got conflicting bus schedules at the bus stop so Henri left the decision up to me, and by instinct, I chose Ranakpur.

It was the worst place to stay the night, but in the end we realized the Universe put us in the right place at the right time after all. More on this later.

After half a day on the bus, we arrived in a road that was empty except for the bus stop (which was technically a chai shop), the run-down government guest house, and the Jain Temple. An elderly guide who was done working for the day told us to go to the government guest house on top of the hill because it's the most convenient. The government guys told us the other hotels and guest houses were 2 kms away, and since it was getting dark and the entire area is within a wildlife sanctuary (we walked for almost a kilometer after we dropped off our bags and there was nothing else ANYWHERE), we thought the wisest thing would be to spend the night at the overpriced government guest house. It was a far cry from the palace we slept in the night before, but that's what makes life funny.

The food was expensive and AWFUL, so the following day we started our day of sightseeing without breakfast. Henri also realized he didn't have a lot of money left, so we decided to do both Ranakpur and Kumbhalgarh in a day so we won't have to spend another night in that godforsaken place. We planned to leave on the same bus that took us there at 5:30pm.

Since Ranakpur's only attraction is its marble Jain Temple that is open to foreigners solely between 1 to 5 pm, we went to Khumbalgarh first by bus.

Not a lot of foreigners come here by bus so people were curious about us, and we were curious about this boy who had light blue eyes.

We needed two bus changes to get to Kumbhalgarh Fort, and we were lucky that the bus going there hadn't left yet, or else we would be stuck at the junction in a village Henri and I started calling "Shakira." But something we observed made me feel so mad... our bus going to Ranakpur stoped there yesterday! We could have stayed in Kumbhalgarh after all! Damn Udaipur bus people!!! They told us we had to take a 4pm (instead of the 1pm we took) from a different station, but the bus to Ranakpur stops here too! Arghhhh!!!! But I had to set my anger aside for the day so I could appreciate the beauty of the fort.

Some people compare it to the Great Wall in China, and I think it's unfair. Kumbhalgarh Fort is awesome in its own right.

The impressive fort with 36km-long preimeter walls, was buit in the 15th century following a ritual sacrifice to make the walls strong.

The view from the top is spectacular, you can see the mountain ranges and the fort walls rolling along the mountain tops.

Inside are paintings of elephants wrestling the animal symbols of other kingdoms.

There are a few people living inside, and 300 ancient Jain temples and 60 Hindu temples could be found within the walls.

Going down, we hitched a ride with a taxi driver and his Japanese passenger, only up to the bus stand. The bus going to "Shakira" was about to leave but the taxi driver honked hard and shouted so people could stop the bus. So that's how we were lucky enough not to wait 30 more minutes.

There was a young dad there trying to strike a conversation with Henri but his English was limited, so the conversation got nowhere. Still, he was a nice guy. The bus conductor gave us the English newspaper they were delivering so we'd have something to preoccupy us on the 2 hour ride.

After that we decided to ride a shared jeep to Ranakpur because we were in a hurry to get to the bus station by 5pm with all our stuff so we could get out of there. We counted the 19 people we could see, but not the people who could have been on the top of the jeep. The jeep looks like this:

So we got to Ranakpur at 4pm, plenty of time to see the most beautiful Jain Temple we had ever seen, constructed in marble and dedicated to Adinatha.

We left the temple at quarter to 5, took our bags to the bus stop and chatted with the old guide we met yesterday. He was really nice and taught us about symbols of Hinduism. Henri was so enthralled, he didn't notice the monkey pooping on top. Then the bus arrived and we said our quick goodbyes, but as we ran towards the bus, he shouted after us - "Hey, if you want to ride a taxi to Jodhpur, this guy is willing to take you for a small price!" We said no because we know what "cheap" means in taxi language.

When we got inside, it was plain that there were no more seats. Henri went to search for the bus driver to know if people would get off soon so we could hang on to the bars until someone leaves. But the taxi driver let the guide translate for him again and told Henri, "No, I am willing to take you for free because I was paid by the government to take passengers to Udaipur and I'm going back to Jodhpur empty."

Damn straight we went crazy.

The guide said he doesn't know the taxi driver and he gave his numbet to us in case something went wrong, but we had a good feeling about the taxi driver. He had an open face. He said he was trying to build good karma because of the sad things that happened to him: he was an orphan and his wife died from a gas tank explosion. He believes that in doing good, the gods would be more nice to him.

So we took our bags out of the bus and into the taxi, thanked the guide and left for Jodhpur with Madangi.

He took us to a temple on the way and gave an offering, offered us some chai and got me a bag of chips, then when we got to his house he offered us dinner. He was so generous. After all the bad people we met during the trip, we were humbled by the expereince of meeting Madangi. It is often the people who have nothing who are the most generous.

After that, he took us to the clock tower and we said goodbye to his whole family who came with us in the car. Then we walked in the abandoned streets of Jodhpur, close to midnight, and found a place to stay on our first try. Maybe it was the gods giving us a break after the hard time we had in Ranakpur, or maybe we just got our groove back.