It took the sleeper bus from Udaipur to Bundi last Friday night. I was dreading it because it's an 8 hour bus ride. I hate sleeping vertically on a bus. To my surprise, I passed out for 5 hours and when I woke up we were two hours away. I could feel the roads were terrible but I slept through it. I must have been really tired or I'm getting used to the travelling thing.
We got to Bundi at around 5AM and headed to the hotel I had reserved the day before. It was dump of a hotel but was a good place to sleep until the town woke up. I couldn't sleep so at around 7AM, I started walking around town and looked around for other hotel. I found a couple of good one. I returned to my hotel, paid 150 rupees for a dump of a room and transfered to a better hotel.
Later that morning, I agreed to let one of the sons of the hotel to be my guide. We first hiked up the hill to the fort. It was big beautiful abandoned fort. We walked around for over two hours. It was really cool because I saw only one tourist the whole. I pretty much had the fort to myself. The rest of the day he took to to other sights...none of which were very impressive.
I was supposed to stay one more day to chill but I decided to make my way to Pushkar last Sunday. I needed a day or two to just chill and decided that Pushkar would be a better place to chill...I was right. When I got here yesterday, I immediately decided that it was second favorite place in Rajasthan...Jaisalmer being my favorite. It is such a chill place and I love the food here. After checking in, I walked around and bumped into a couple I met in Udaipur. I joined then for dinner and hung out until it was time to sleep.
Today was such a chill day. I woke up late, did a short practice and had breakfast. I meet up again with the couple and did a hike to a temple up the hill...I forgot the name. It was a steep kilometer from the base of hill but when we got there the view was breathtaking...this is exactly what I wanted. The couple headed down the hill after half and hour. I decided to stay a couple of hours just to soak it in. I really needed the chill time. I've traveling from one city to another for over two weeks now. I hope to do another chill day tomorrow...no more sightseeing. I've reached a point in my trip wherein I'm forted-out, templed-out and palaced-out.
My trip is slowly coming to an end. I can't believe that time has flown by so quickly. Before I left for Rajasthan, I was hoping to convince a friend in Mysore to travel with me. When I realized that there were no taker, I almost backed out. I went anyway and now I'm very pleased that I traveled alone. I learned so much about myself that I surprised myself. There is something special about traveling around India alone. It's nice to travel with other people but traveling alone has not only been a visual journey but an internal journey as well. I now look forward to do more traveling alone in the future. I am no longer the same person I was when I left Mysore a few weeks ago. I have a confidence about myself which wasn't there before I left. I was able to meet a lot of other cool travellers and also had time to reflect on my life. I am anticipating more drastic changes in the near future...it's going to fun...a little scary but fun. I don't know what life has in store for me but I know it's all going to be good. I'm a much stronger person because of this trip. I went out of my way to get out of my comfort zone and survived...that's a great feeling. I can't help but smile. Thank you India for being such a wonderful place and helping me discover who I am...I love this place!!!