The next morning, we headed away from the tourist track once again. This time towards a town called Bundi. It was established in the 12th century after Chauhan nobles were pushed out of Ajmer. These nobles made Bundi the capital of their new kingdom.
Like I said before, driving through India has been my favourite experience hands down. It is just so different from anywhere else I have been. I love getting a peak into everyone’s day-to-day lives while driving through the towns.
I do need to admit, however, that the actual act of driving through India was starting to wear on me. The constant passing of cars, driving in the opposite lane and the speeding up and quickly stopping for scooters, cows, goats, sheep, dogs, oncoming traffic and random speed bumps. It all seemed very inefficient! Not to mention dangerous!
Although, I further have to admit I had not seen one accident. While I thought this all the time, I did not dare acknowledge it out loud for fear it would jinx us in the process. I still had a feeling it could happen at any moment…
After what felt like endless close calls of head on collisions with cars and cows, we stopped to grab some snacks in a village we were passing through.
While some locals gathered around to see what we were doing, we gathered around a local vender to watch him make some road side snacks. Sukhi picked some up for us to try. They were like deep fried sugar! And they were delicious!
A little further outside of the village, we made another stop in the middle of no where for Chai and more snacks.
I love how random India is!
As soon as we got to Bundi and got settled into our hotel, our guide Sukhi called us to come outside to watch a parade!
It was for the inauguration of the Jain temple and it was a great Indian celebration! Camels, elephants, horses and tons of people! We had arrived at the perfect time.
One of the locals found us a little more interesting than the parade. I love they want to take pictures of us as much as we do of them. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship, I think. Everyone wins!
After lunch, we jumped into tuk tuks and headed to the hills for a view of the city.
With its Brahmin-blue houses, surrounding hills and lakes, and view of the Taragarth Fort and Bundi Palace, it was a wonder why more tourist had not made their way here for a visit. On the plus side, it meant crowds were minimal leaving us more room to explore its streets and its sites.
After taking in the view, we were dropped off at the 16th century Bundi Palace. This palace is still privately owned, however, is open to the general public.
This quickly became my favourite palace!
Seemingly abandoned with very few visitors, it felt like a hidden discovery. While parts were beginning to decay, others were filled with brightly coloured murals. It really had it all!
In addition to the paintings and murals that decorated the palace, there was a preserved art gallery in a section of the palace that was surrounded by a beautiful courtyard with amazing views of the city.
After an amazing tour of the palace, we headed through town to explore on our way back to our hotel.
Seeing all the cows never gets old.
After a stroll through the streets, we stopped in for India’s best Chai. Seriously, this guy knew what he was doing. It was the best Chai we had our entire time in India!
Overall, Bundi had a feel that I had not yet found in India. It was a perfect day! Sukhi and Intrepid did it again!
Could they possibly beat this?