Jaipur lights on red
The trip from Jaipur to Bundi should take just under 4 hours, although we’re a little later than planned getting away, thanks to my extended haggling session. Still it’s only just coming up to 3pm so we should still be in Bundi by 7pm so no worries.
We start out on the main road and for some reason, all the traffic stops at the crossroads as the lights are red. This is strange, I still haven’t worked it out but most intersections, everyone just ignores the state of the traffic lights and sneaks across a busy lane of traffic until someone finally gives in and lets them past. For some reason this one requires its signals to be obeyed.
Green light. We’re off and we settle back to enjoy the journey, thinking about when we can have our first chai stop…
Initially we make good progress but then the stream of traffic coming the opposite direction clogs the road up. In England, this would result in smug faces as you whisk along past the other poor drivers queueing in the opposite direction. Here they just drive straight at you on the wrong side of the road, not good. As they’re also all mainly large lorries packed with people, we don’t stand a chance at this crazy game of chicken. We keep having to swerve off the road to avoid them or slam on the anchors as one of them misjudges an overtaking manoeuvre. This carries on for a while until we come to a small village and a huge commotion, the traffic is completely at a standstill. Apparently a group of women are waiting for a bus which hasn’t turned up, they are all sitting in the middle of the road in protest, completely blocking it in both directions. Doesn’t seem the smartest way to ensure the bus turns up, he’s probably stuck in this jam about a mile back.
Our driver has the measure of them however, turning off the road onto the pavement, he slowly drives up to the people stood in front of him, gently pushing them with the car. Eventually after a lot of gesticulating, shouting an agreement is reached and they slowly (very slowly) move aside just enough for us to squeeze through. They then close ranks again, preventing anyone else doing the same thing. I’m guessing they wanted the strange looking chubby white tourists out of there…
After all this excitement we all decide it’s gotta be chai time. Cue a complete absence of chai stops…
Jaipur - Bundi road chai stop
Eventually we find one and pull in. Now we can admire the queue of people-packed lorries coming the other way in comfort. Asking the chai vendor what’s going on reveals that apparently there is some sort of Sikh celebration happening which is the cause of this mass exodus. The road appears a lot clearer now in our direction at least. The sun is starting to set, it’s going to be dark before we get to Bundi.
Daisy the chai cow
The chai is excellent, probably the best so far since we arrived, the reason is pointed out by our driver. Daisy (not her real name) the cow, round the back, freshest milk possible for our chai, nothing but the best. The chai in India is good everywhere but subtly different each time depending on the ratio of the ingredients they use. The scruffy chai stops along the roadside between towns and villages seem to be consistently the best however. Similar to the tea and coffee at roadside service stations in England eh? NOT.Standing at the roadside sipping boiling hot chai, we almost feel Indian, we obviously don’t blend in quite as well as we think though, as everyone on the tops of the lorries is cheering and shouting and waving at us.
Sikhs on a lorry
At least they’re friendly. We carry on our way, rejuvenated, but we still want this journey to be over.
As darkness falls we try to get some shut-eye, but I can’t relax, it feels that at any moment we could be swatted out of existence by one of these lorries, they think nothing of overtaking on blind bends, hills, some don’t even have lights on despite it now being pitch black. If I’m going to die, at least I want to see it coming, so I decide to sit up and enjoy the rollercoaster.
Before long the lights of Bundi are visible in the distance and as we crest a small hill, we can see Bundi’s palace and fort, majestically towering over the town.
I’m really excited now as this was one of my favourite spots on my last trip, I hope it hasn’t changed too much.
As Bundi is so small, we have no trouble finding the haveli, it’s lovely although the name could be more imaginative, “Bundi Haveli”. The proprietor is very friendly and before long we’re settled in our room, having completed the ridiculously lengthy paperwork that needs to be filled in at each stop, in triplicate.
Eat, sleep – palace and fort tomorrow.
Wandering Geek 