Tiger Safari – Ranthambore National Park

Over the course of two days, we took three separate game drives into the park, searching for Bengal tigers. We struck gold and saw one tiger during our second drive!

At the park, we learned about the slim chances of seeing a tiger this time of year and had each come to terms with the fact that we may not see one. One guide even said there was only a 20% to 30% chance we would actually see one. We were shocked and excited when a lot of commotion started happening and the guides all started speeding in the same direction!

The fact that we saw one tiger made it all worth it – the pictures (which Mike gets credit for) look fake! 

12-Day Driving Tour of Rajasthan!

As our stay in Udaipur came to a close, we hopped in a car and began a lengthy, multi-step tour of the region!

For nearly two weeks, we toured the whole Indian state of Rajasthan by car and driver. In retrospect, it was a little more than we bargained for and a lot of moving around for our typical travel style, but we saw more than we would have ever seen on our own! 

Our driver, Suri, picked us up in Udaipur and eventually dropped us off in 12 days later. He was an awesome resource and guide, especially when he loaned us money because our bank started denying all of our purchases and ATM withdrawals! 

The state of Rajasthan is huge – some of our drives between cities were 6-7 hours long. We listened to lots of podcasts and audiobooks, passing the time looking out the window at the eye-opening rural, Indian countryside. Although some of these cities are more off the beaten path for some foreign tourists, they were teeming with domestic tourists due to lots of people having time off for the Diwali holiday. 

If you’re thinking about visiting India, we’d recommend the company we used to plan this road trip and we would recommend picking three or four of the eight cities that we visited. The car was very comfortable and there isn’t a super-easy way to navigate between the cities, plus you miss a lot of the countryside by only going in and out of regional airports. Check out India By Car and Driver here!

Jodhpur – The Blue City

In Jodhpur, we visited Mehrangarh Fort (forts were kind of the unintentional theme of this part of our trip) and toured the old, blue part of the city.  In fact, the Hill Forts of Rajasthan, together, make up a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Favorite part? The walk down from the fort, through narrow, winding streets, into the bustling city market. 

Jaisalmer – The Golden City

Jaisalmer is located in the desert and was the westernmost city that we visited, located about 60 km from the Pakistani border. The fort here is a “living” fort, meaning that it is a town. People own homes and businesses built within the historic fort.  This was amazing to see, but unfortunately, this leads to a lot of problems in preserving the fort.

Favorite part? A desert camp that we spontaneously decided to stay in during our second night instead of the hotel we had previously booked! We rode camels and watched the sunset over the Thar desert, the second largest desert in the world.

Bikaner

We stopped in Bikaner mainly because the distance from Jaisalmer to Jaipur is a little too long to tackle in one day. This was a quick one night stop, but we did get to stay in a converted palace-hotel! 

Favorite part? Since we got in pretty late and left early the next morning, we didn’t do a lot here! We saw the fort/palace which was great, but it was swarming with people, and we were ready to hit the road for Jaipur!

Jaipur – The Pink City

Jaipur was the first “big” city we visited in India. We could feel the change immediately, mainly in terms of traffic and in the number of other foreign tourists we saw. We were “fort-ed” out at this point, meaning we skipped a lot of the main attractions in Jaipur. We mainly just enjoyed a few local restaurants, visited a couple of sites from the outside (avoiding the tour), and our hotel!

Favorite part? The City palace was great. We especially liked learning about the 20-something-year-old King of Jaipur. He actually just listed the City Palace in Jaipur, where his family still lives, on Airbnb. We heard it’s a whopping $6,000/night.

Ranthambore National Park – Home of Tigers

Between Jaipur and Agra, we spent two days in Ranthambore searching for Bengal tigers. 

We got lucky and spotted one…

🐅 [Click here] for all the details, and a few cute (?) photos! 🐅

Agra – Home of the Taj Mahal

We will admit that as obvious and as cheesy as it sounds, when we crossed through the gates to see this iconic building for the first time, we were taken aback. Saying it looks like a painting doesn’t feel like enough. 

We woke up at 5:20 a.m. to head to the Taj Mahal. Even at that time, we found crowded ticket lines, tons of selfie poses, and serious smog that burned off with the sunrise.

Favorite part? One surprise was that you can actually go inside the Taj itself, but no photos are allowed inside. In the middle of the building, which was built as a mausoleum, you’ll find the tomb of Queen Mahal and her king, Shan Jahan. 

Delhi

Delhi is one of the most densely-populated cities in the world.  While it would have been a joy to tour around and see some of the famous landmarks, we arrived at a time where it happened to have been declared one of the most air-polluted cities in the world. When we got there, the air quality index was at a “severe” level, which left the streets looking smoky and foggy. 

In an effort of self-preservation, we mostly just sat around our hotel for our 36 hours in Delhi. We arrived after our early morning at the Taj Mahal, and that coupled with two weeks traveling around nonstop left us exhausted anyway! We got a lot of sleep and got organized for our next stop: Thailand!

Celebrating Diwali in Udaipur, “The City of Lakes”

In Udaipur, we stayed in an Airbnb with a host, her family, and a few other guests. We intentionally timed this part of our trip to celebrate Diwali with our host and her family, which turned out to be a great decision!

Udaipur was a highly recommended, smaller city that we chose as a place to settle down for a little longer and attempt to acclimate to Indian culture. We started to get used to the crowded roads, with cows, people, tuk-tuks, scooters, and cars. We noticed and started to understand this interesting nod that is not quite a yes or a no. Our stomachs got accustomed to the food, which is spicy and delicious. And we learned that some Indian people love to take photos with foreigners. The lighter your skin and eyes, and the taller you are, the more photos requests you’ll receive. So, that meant quite a bit for us.

By the end of our week there, we’d learned so much about the Indian people and felt a little more comfortable navigating on our own. We really think this long stay in Udaipur allowed us to enjoy the more hectic parts of our India trip even more.  

Bouncing Around the City

Indian Cooking Class with Hari

Our Airbnb host, Hari, led a cooking class for us and it did not disappoint!

Her cookbook is available here!

Diwali – “The Festival of Lights”

Diwali is the biggest celebration of the year for Hindu, Jain, and Sikh people all over the world. Since we were celebrating with our hosts, we experienced the Sikh traditions, including offering small foods and coins to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity. We helped decorate the house with sand art, flowers, and candles, with the hope that that Lakshmi would feel welcome in the home and bless the family with good fortune in the coming year.