On the Road to Ranthambore!

Jan 10 Wednesday.  

Today is mostly a travel day, but we made a stop on our way outside of Agra to see the abandoned city of FATEHPUR SIKRI.  It was built and used from 1572-85 during the 3rd Moghul empire.  The city itself was in ruins, but the palace had been maintained over the years and was still in good condition. The houses of Emperor Akbar’s wives were built in replica of each of their family homes and all were quite different.  The emperor had 3 wives from 3 different religions - Christianity, Hindu and Muslim.  Emperor Akbar studied and understood many religions of his time and created one of his own, known as the Din-i-llani or Divine Monotheism.  He created this new religion because he wanted to bring about universal harmony.  (I’m sure his 500  concubines helped with the harmony). He was successful in starting this religion, but it mostly faded out after his death.  

After visiting Fatehpur Sikri, the sun finally came out for the first time on our trip, and we headed back out on the road for a 6hr trip to Ranthambore National Park. 

Our stay at Ranthambore was in a beautiful forest setting at a place called Kehm Villas.  They had winding trails, tents and villas, campfire for guests and they practiced sustainable living. For example, water was used sparing and heated at only certain hours and much of their food was grown on site.  They would show you what they did and how they did it, but we were not there long enough.  The first night we were there, we headed to the fire and were enjoying nature sounds along the way.  When we got there, the naturalist and other employees said that one of the sounds was a leopard calling and maybe that it was 10 yards away.  They were not too concerned, but some guests and employees hurried off to a higher point (right next to our tent), to see if they could see anything.  Sure enough,  in the field by the trees, they took a video of the leopard prowling around.  

The 2nd night, they walked us back to our tent in the dark and we thought that a little weird, but maybe with the leopard prowling around, they wanted us to be safe.  The next morning, there were tiger tracks from the campfires, down to the parking lot!  The whole staff seemed to be little excited about that.  So far, this was the best place that we had stayed!  

We got some great pictures from this day!  

We started seeing camels, a few just sitting on the side of the road, but others like this one either pulling carts or carrying something.  

Every town has multiple fruit and vegetable stalls.  They are quite colorful. 

With the roads being quite congested, there are all sorts of interesting vehicles.  Adding to the confusion for us was they drive on the left hand side of the road - mostly! 

This was the palace of FATEHPUR SIKRI.  Behind us is the “living rooms”.  They used the upper one in the morning or evening when it was cooler and the lower ones during the day when they needed more shade.  In the summer temperatures can reach over 120 degrees.  I know my scarf is on backwards, but I was trying the local method of wearing a scarf.  Mostly I feel that I look like a professor at graduation!

The house in the background was the largest house and it was for the Buddhist wife.  There was a courtyard and another building larger than the one you can see behind it. 

Silly us 

After leaving the palace we were on the road again taking in the interesting sights. 

These were pilgrims walking down the highway to a temple about 150 miles away. 

Throughout the countryside you can see mustard fields. They were pretty with their yellow flowers. 

When we arrived in Ranthambore, our driver took us to a texile shop that he said would not “rip us off”.  But he cautioned us that we couldn’t tell our travel company or he would lose his job.  The shop said that they taught local women who had no other means of income,  different methods of sewing and tapestry.  Here they are making a quilt out of used clothing materials.   

At the same place there was a man painting wall hangings. 

We are unsure if the story of the shop of bringing women out of poverty was true or a ploy to get us to buy more things.  So Christine and I don’t know if we got a good deal on the multiple things we bought or if we were ripped off.  It was a fun experience, but we probably spent too much since 15 people came out of the shop to wave goodbye to us.  We were too close to them to take a group picture, but here are 4 of  the women waving goodbye to us.  

Onto our glamping experience at a resort called Kehm Villas. In India, they say that they want to treat their guests like gods.  So in 2 of the different places, we were welcomed in with a candle and flowers as we walked through the door. They sort of wave it in a circular motion, wafting the smoke/incense, while saying “namaste”. 

We had a fabulous tent that was super comfortable.  Here is how happy we were to see the accommodations.  With Christine being an old Girl Scout, she really appreciated the “tent”. 

This shower looks outdoors, but it was in our bathroom in the tent. 

First night dinner!  Kehm Villas grew a lot of their own food, or sourced it locally.  They were 100% vegetarian, and the food was incredible.  

This was our “tent”. 

This deck was right outside of our tent. 

Just below the deck was this Nilgai, or commonly called a blue bull.  This is the largest antelope in Asia. This one is hidden in the grasses, but it is about as wide, but taller than a common cow. I am thinking that animals like this are why we had tigers and leopards stalking around at night. 

~ Mary ~