Delhi – Pushkar – Ajmer – Chittorgarh – Kumbalgarh – Ranakpur – Udaipur – Bundi – Jaipur – Delhi Time taken – Left Kumbalgarh at 12pm, reached Ranakpur by 2:15, Left Ranakpur at 5pm and reached Udaipur by 7:15pm. Room at Udaipur – 1200 INR dirtiest room we stayed during the trip after 3hrs of searching. They should have paid us to stay in that room. Ranakpur Jain Temples – Undoubtedly the most well preserved Temples in India, and the finest Temples we have visited so far. The architecture, carvings are stunning. What also needs appreciation is the management of the temple. Audio guides at the Temples are very informative and they are the only option as there are no guides around. They have a strict policy regarding cameras. So you need to buy tickets for everything and be prepared for a proper security check. We tried to fool the staff by hiding our cell phones and he caught us like he knew where we had hidden them. Verdict – A must see on your trip to Rajasthan, easily accessible from Udaipur. You must get the audio guides and a ticket for the camera as what you see inside the main temple is breath taking. The audio guide is very informative and a tad bit interesting. Give yourself at least 2-3hrs to see this masterpiece. Sight Seeing – Udaipur Palace, Jagdish Temple and Hanuman Ghat It is a very huge palace. It took us about 4hrs at a brisk pace. Palace is beautiful and takes you on a journey in time. They have put a trip advisor rating in one of the showcases, wonder why a Raja who has 365 cooks to cook him meals so that no meal is repeated in a year would care about the Rating on TripAdvisor. Breakfast recommended at …

Delhi – Pushkar – Ajmer – Chittorgarh – Kumbalgarh – Ranakpur – Udaipur – Bundi – Jaipur – Delhi Distance covered 157 kms Time taken – 2pm – 6:15pm Room at (Karni Palace, Kelwara some 8-10kms from Kumbalgarh fort) – INR 1000, initially quoted at INR 1200. Basic clean rooms, a little over priced owing to the demand. Sight Seeing – Kumbalgarh Fort, Light and Sound Show in evening. Team aimed to see the light and sound show at Kumbalgarh Fort at 6:15pm. The lack of a proper map led us into the countryside and we saw some very pretty villages enroute to Kumbalgarh. We missed the first 10 minutes, rest of the show was fabulous. A simple yet artistic way to learn the history of the rulers who built the fort. The people who work as helpers duringthis show work as guides during the day and have memorized all the information by heart. Verdict – Not to be missed, contrary to the information online, the show starts at 18:15 and not 18:45. Sight Seeing – Our Guide was very informative yet boring. Went with the second best guide, as the most popular one called Salim was busy. Fort is very bland to be a part of such a rich royal lineage, some theories say it is so because the royals did not have a lot of money at the money the time, fort was being built. The vast jungles surrounding the fort add to the beauty of it. Surprising part was the Janana Mehal, where the rooms for the Raja’s wives have paintings of Fighting Elephants for decoration. We concluded that the pictures of fighting elephants were put there so that the wives would look at these paintings while they were conceiving future Princes. Expenses (all in INR) Food – Dinner , Breakfast – 750 …

4 friends (2 couples) went on a 8 day Road Trip to Rajasthan from Delhi. ROUTE Delhi – Pushkar – Ajmer – Chittorgarh – Kumbalgarh – Ranakpur – Udaipur – Bundi – Jaipur – Delhi EXPENSES They spent about about INR 38,000 for the entire trip. You can download detailed excel sheet here You can view parts of the Road Trip by clicking on the Links or Pictures below  Delhi – Pushkar Pushkar – Ajmer – Chittorgarh Smartest Monkeys in Town, They won’t eat nuts from the lady selling them but will eat them out of your hand with some etiquette  Chittor – Kumbalgarh Kumbalgarh – Ranakpur – Udaipur Udaipur – Bundi Bundi – Jaipur

Delhi – Pushkar – Ajmer – Chittorgarh – Kumbalgarh – Ranakpur – Udaipur – Bundi – Jaipur – Delhi Pushkar – Ajmer – Chittor Distance covered 220 kms. Time taken – 3pm – 8pm Room at Padmini Palace – INR 1000 that was initially quoted as INR 2400. It wasn’t easy, and took us about 30minutes but we did it. It was fun. To be honest the right price should have been INR 700 but in India, accommodation prices are hitting the roof. Food Items tried – Imarti, Kesar doodh, Daal Baati Churma,kadhi kachori with heeng ka paani, mirchi k pakode. Sight Seeing – Ajmer Durgah, Chittorgarh Fort. Ajmer Durgah – For its religious importance, drive up the hill and view of Ajmer city Chittorgarh – Lazy Man’s fort as you can move inside the fortified area in a car from one site to another. 20,000people reside inside the campus and you will be welcome by hoards of guides at the ticket counter. Fort is Scenic and well preserved. Hire a guide as it saves you time in Navigating from one point of interest to the other. Information quotient of the guides are not very high. Places of interest inside the fort – Kalika Mata Temple, Vijay Stambh, Kirti Stambh, Rana Kumbha’s Palace and Rani Padmini’s Palace. The legend goes that Alauddin Khilji was enamoured by the beauty of Rani Padmini. When he defated her husband in the battlefield, she committed Jauhar along with other ladies of the fort to avoid abduction and dishonor at the hands of Alauddin. A temple dedicated to Meera Bai is located inside the fort. Our Verdict – Chittorgarh fort should be part of your itinerary and can be easily made a part of the Delhi – Jaipur – Agra Circuit. The Heeng ka paani after …

Delhi – Pushkar – Ajmer – Chittorgarh – Kumbalgarh – Ranakpur – Udaipur – Bundi – Jaipur – Delhi Distance covered (405 kms) Time taken : 10:30am – 6:30pm Sight Seeing – Brahma Temple, Various Ghats at Pushkar Food items tried – Kadhi Kachori, Malpuaa, Papad Pyaaz Ki Sabzi, Gatte ki Sabzi. The team started from Delhi with an aim to halt in Jaipur, but made it all the way to Pushkar. Room search for 45 min left us with a room for INR 700 with stunning views of the Brahma Kund. Team hung out at cafes catering to foreign crowds in a hidden alley and tried out a mix of Israeli and Italian dishes for Dinner. 5-6 hrs of wandering around the Kund, trying out many delicacies and visit to the only Brahma Temple in India. Our Verdict – Best Kadhi Kachori and Malpuaa in Rajasthan. Papad Pyaaz ki sabzi is a must eat, not easily found in other parts of Rajasthan. Pushkar is must visit on your trip to Rajasthan and can be coupled with Ajmer which is 15kms away. Expense Summary – Dinner – 572 Breakfast, Lunch – 880 Tolls on highway – 500 Snacks etc on the road – 300 Fuel Expenses will come at the end of all the posts.    

Two villages perched on the cliffs facing the Liguarian sea, Manarola and Riomaggiore, were connected by an erratic intractable trail that often got disrupted by landslides. Recently it was made into a permanent walkway. Lovers from the villages are said to have met midway in the past. They hid behind the coves, wrote graffitis of ever lasting love on the cliff walls and locked their love by putting locks along the railings. This tiny trail where lovers met up is the most romantic kilometer long stretch you will ever walk on. We visited in early February when tourists were absent, most businesses, restaurants and hotels were closed but the weather and quietude added to the romance.   In the absolute peace we walked along the cliffs and the silent sea on the lonely stretch of lovers by ourself realizing later that what is now a walking path for the village elders was once the spot where they hung out with their lovely maidens. When we returned from Riomaggiore, the sun was setting and the sky turned a lovely pink making it one of the most memorable walks of our life. This is one place where words fall short and the pictures will fill in the gap for you.     Location: Cinque Terre, Italy Time of visit: Early February Hiking Difficulty level: Easy Hope you enjoyed these photographs. Please share your comments and feedback with us at the bottom.

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The sunsets of Oia are world famous. People gather on the cliffs of the beautiful island of Santorini and watch the sky turn pink. But when we arrived in Oia to check out its beautiful sunset, we found crazy picture taking, total restlessness and complete chaos. That was the day sunsets disenchanted us. Sunsets were not for us least of all famous ones. But in Luang Prabang, out of boredom, we decided to give sunset another chance. We climbed several stairs to a temple famous for its sunset views. At the entrance we were greeted by an entrance ticket which we were not willing to buy (because we never paid an entry charge for temples back home. While the crowds continued to swell, we decided to descend back and spend the evening by the Mekong repenting the lost sunset to save 20,000 kip and a rule we often break anyways. The next morning we decided to head to Vang Vieng. The sky was clear and we wondered how beautiful the sunset from Phusi would seem this evening.   Midway journey, we halted in a tiny village on a hill with a view to a beautiful valley. That evening sky turned golden and colored everything in its hue. There were no picture clicking crowds, no fuss, no restlessness just peace and the blessing of golden sunset pervaded all but was noticed by few. We quit our jobs and traveled for months but it would be months before we realized: That sunsets are beautiful everywhere and everyday, That most beautiful sunsets are those that are not check listed That you need peace of mind to enjoy the sunsets and simply quitting your job doesn’t mean that you have it. That no matter how much money you have made in your life, you still …

We stay up night after night and prepare for our dreams – our dream college, our dream job, our dream promotion but even as we work and work hard we draw a few lines and set our own limits to how far we can go. We unknowingly decide where the comma must be placed or a full stop must appear on our everyday life adventures. There are, however, times when you are enthralled by an idea so spectacular that what you are capable of is a question that evaporates, all that remains is the idea and you and how it must come true. For us, that idea was Ladakh. Even before we realized we loved traveling or we wanted to quit our job for full time travel, we knew we loved Ladakh. How many passes can you cross? How many knee deep water puddles can you traverse? How many cold winds can you tolerate? Can you really sleep on 4500+ meters? Can you really ride for hours and hours in wilderness with no end in sight? How would you even convince your parents to let you hire a bike and go to such trying conditions?These were the answers we didn’t have, all we knew was that Ladakh must be chased. And it was Ladakh we blindly chased riding 15 hours to get straight to Manali from Delhi meeting head aches and breathlessness at Pang and basically three days in the cold of Leh-Manali highway followed by many additional days’ travel exploring the region. Nothing mattered then, but Ladakh. Ladakh taught us that when there is a passion flickering in your heart, its glow hides away all your limitations. So, if you have a passion go chase it, do not sit back or work on your limits for the best way to know your …

It was at 3,800 meters out in the open where not another sign of life could be seen that we were camping at for the night. Our companions, our guide and helper, who made our adventure possible for us were running around while we were sitting cosy in the sunlight. Even, the blades of grass in the distance were all covered in snow. We had reached at the top of Sunderdhunga at 12:30 in the afternoon while the sun was still shining. But, a few hours later, the fog and mist came down. It was in this mist that we spent the rest of the day…watching the sunset? No way! The mist wouldn’t budge and fog wouldn’t lift. But as soon as the sun set, the mist cleared and we sat down on a stone wall, put together by the past trekkers for a small kitchen area, watching the moon rise and shine. We were all huddled around the fire where our evening khichri was boiling. We knew that tomorrow morning, when the sun would rise from behind the mountains that would light up the 6000+ meter peaks that were surrounding us, it would be spectacular and all this hardship would make sense. After dinner when the fire outside was doused, we all snuggled up inside the tent. Even though, it was warm inside, we could still not get our feet to be warm enough. Vikram and I covered ourselves with all the warm clothes we had brought. All our thermals, mufflers, gloves were stuffed at the bottom of our sleeping bag but we still woke up from time to time with cold feet. When even to snuggle, be inside the tent  and sleeping was challenge, the nature called. To attend the call of the nature in this ass freezing cold …