25 days. (Need help to knock my itinerary into shape)

Hi everyone
I need to start planning my November trip to India as soon as I can, overwise I'll not get the time off work. I should have about 25 days.
Here's a rough spec of what I have at the moment, comments & help are much appreciated.

01. Thu 8th Nov. Arrive Delhi (about 1pm) Evening flight to Indore (1800-2030). Overnight Indore.
02. Spend today in Indore sightseeing and stay overnight or could just skip Indore?
03. Travel down to Omkareshwar and overnight.
04. full day in Omkareshwar and overnight.
05. Visit Maheshwar on way to Mandu. Overnight Mandu.
06. Mandu
07. Mandu
08. travel to Ujjain. (Today is day 3 of Diwali I think?)
09. Ujjain
10. Travel to Orchha.
11. Orchha
12. Orchha.. will probably leave late evening for next train journey..Jhansi to ??
13. arrive today in ??

So then I have 13-14 days left..

I was thinking Jhansi to Varanasi but this won't be possible as I'll miss the Pushkar fair..

Other places I wanted to visit:
Varanasi - I've been before but cancelled it from last trip at the last minute. It Deserves 3-4 days.
Pushkar Fair - no I idea how many days to stay or which days are the best (for photography - I won't be buying any camels )
Jaipur - just to see a few things I missed from last trip.
Delhi - again, just to see a few things missed from last trip.

I've been to most of these places before (except Pushkar & Indore), Mandu & Omkareshwar are important visits for me as I've met some great people and want to see them again. Indore - is this a nice place you have to visit?

This will be a fairly low budget holiday but I would be willing to splash out of the occassional flight, private car if it makes the journey easier.

Spud- welcome again to India (third trip in as many years i suppose?).

Indore has a few attractions - the lalbaag palace, though not as impressive as a king's mansion in other parts of Martha ruled north /central india (Baroda and Gwalior spring to mind), is worth a few hours. That and Sarafa bazaar (if you have stomach for Indian chaat) were the two places that were good in Indore.

Around Indore are a few interesting spots. When you visit Omkareshwar, you may want to ask a boatman if he can take you to the Jain temple of Badwani (or Bawangajaji). No tourists there and not very well known either due to the smaller number of the Jains as opposed to the hindu majority that visits Omkareshwar.

The main attraction is an 84 feet high statue of Adinath, probably carved out from the hillside between 12th to 13th century AD. See here for some details: http://bawangaja.com/bawangaja/e/bawangaja.jsp. I googled it now (I went there only as a teenager in the 90s) and it looks like the current temple authorities have constructed a canopy around it which takes away a bit. However, the approach of Badwani from Omkareswar at the confluence of the narmada and another river should be interesting. This link speaks of Siddvar-Koot and Omkareshwar : http://bawangaja.com/bawangaja/e/pla...rbawangaja.jsp. The Siddhvar-koot temple is on a hill top (long climb) and about 7 kms from Badwani. We went first to Badwani, then to Siddhvar-koot and then took the boat to omkareswar.

In-between Indore and Mandu, lies the former parmar capital of Raja Bhoj at Dhar. There are many monuments in the city. The one place i recall visiting and was worth the time was the studio of Raghunath Krishna Phadke. He was a renowned sculptor (marathi) who came over to this small city in the 1930s and established his studio. You may see some details here: http://dhar.nic.in/visit.htm#tab=2 and http://www.indiatravelite.com/madhya...ightseeing.htm. The statues are exceptionally life-like.

I will post more if i recall anything else.

- Vaibhav

Hi Vaibhav
Yes, I think it's probably wise to spend a full day & night in Indore.
I love that statue of Adinath, and would like to see that for my own eyes.
Maybe Dhar too if only for the sculptors statues which I'd love to see.
Thanks for taking time to locate these sites Vaibhav, all bookmarked for reference.

Last night at work I got my November holiday request approved by the boss, so it looks like I can seriously start planning things now

Cheers

Pushkar fair is between 20-28 November this year and you will be needing minimum 3 days for photography. Make sure to go to the "Mela ground" around sunset and you will get beautiful pictures of camels in dusk.
Hotels are expensive as well as fully booked at the time of fair in Pushkar, even Rajasthan tourism's hotel charge premium rates. You can make Ajmer your base and to get more budget option there, its only 11 Kms from Pushkar and very well connected through frequent bus service at the time of fair. Make sure to book hotel in advance to avoid any last minute issue.

Hi Sapna
So 3+ days for the Pushkar fair (for photography).
Could you recommend which part of the fair I should not miss out on, ie The beginning (mostly for camel trading) or nearer the end for shows, competitions etc, Or maybe catch it in the middle would be best?
I will look into budget accomodation in Ajmer too, thank you kindly for helping.

In my view, three days are sufficient for Pushkar Fair.Fourth day (infact third day) onwards you tend to lose perspective (atleast in my case). If I have to classify the photography at Pushkar then it would be:

1) Photography of the camping ground of the camel traders at dusk.

2) Action Photography involving different competitions, which usually take place at the day time

3) Street photography of the the Pushkar Bazaar.

4) Various cultural functions (with folk dances from different Indian states) that take place at night. Usually a couple of nights before the fair ends.

Sometimes they put up a fireworks show near Pushkar lake. So please enquire about that also.

Please be aware of thieves. My camera kit was stolen two years back at Pushkar Fair (at around 8 PM). They will try to divert your attention and nick whatever they can. Nothing to panic but please be careful.

In my personal view, try to book accomodation at Pushkar even if it is a bit expensive. I would not recommend the stay at Ajmer.


For Varanasi, three days are enough.

Hi Photofreak
I've been looking at the pushkar Fair website which gives a rough indication of what happen on which day over the period. I'll definately be missing the first few and last couple of days, but hopefully still be able to do some of the things you mention in your post - camel traders with their stock in particular and as you and Sapna both suggested, at dusk.

Sorry to hear about your incident with thieves at the fair, I will bear this in mind on my trip as well as the usual warnings about being careful of accepting eadibles/drinks from strangers.

Varanasi will definately get 3 days, but hopefully more, I do love the place, this time I'll try to track down a few of those wrestling akharas that are dotted all over the city.

My itinerary is slowly coming together and my holiday savings are growing faster than I thought, at this rate i might even be able to afford a wide angle lens, roll on November. Thanks for helping

Spud,

Given the timing of your trip, could you tweak it in such a fashion that you're either in Indore two days before diwali or in Jaipur? Both are big jewelry trading centers (Ok, so Indore's pretty insignificant but they do have a sarafa bazaar). Sarafa = Jewelry market. Two days prior to Diwali is Dhan Teras and it is auspicious to buy anything made of metal. I've written quite a bit about this topic earlier and within Jaipur i know certainly the areas one could go to for good photo ops. Indore (I have relatives there) is similar in it's observance of Dhan teras. Car showrooms, jewelery shops, metalware establishments all witness footfalls and that can make for interesting photo-ops. Here's a pic from Jaipur on that evening of the Jewlery market: http://www.indiamike.com/india-image...littering-gold

Just a thought ...

Spud @ You will get enough good shots at "Mela Ground" and Main Pushkar street. Weather will be good in November so you can roam around from morning to evening.

There is place called "Sunset cafe", you can have dinner there but you have to reserve the place in advance. Main usp of the place is view, you can get excellent evening/night shots with lake etc from roof top cafe.

Vaibhav, Thanks for your suggestions, Dhan Teras sounds interesting & your photography is really nice (all of it). I think Jaipur would have to be a no no as it would mean back tracking later on to get up to Pushkar, and now I'm trying to sort out Dhan Teras in Indore - but failing to because it would mean spending extra time in Delhi before flying down to Indore. I will try again.. maybe Delhi - Indore - Ujjain - Indore (Dhan Teras) The back tracking here isn't too far is it? I'm sure it will come together in the end THANK YOU for all your help.

Sapna - Sunset Cafe is a must then! Thanks for that suggestion.
I have also been looking at acommodation in Ajmer and Pushkar but not decided upon yet - some of the Pushkar prices were shocking, but I've found one or two that were within budget - just need to read about them a bit more (Hotel Satyam Palace, Hotel New Park) Maybe I should be deciding what I'm doing in Pushkar before anything else before everything is booked up.

Hi Spud,
It is some years ago that we visited Pushkar and were there just during the building-up phase of the Mela.
We noticed that the hotel prices went up 4 times for the next period, and that was back in 2005.

Hi Vonkla
Yes I've seen some pretty silly prices whilst looking, especially for accommadation involving a tent.
I think I'm going to stay inside Pushkar too, I've found one or two hotels near the lake with prices between £30-£40 per night (which is about the max I want to spend anywhere). Hotel New Park, Pushkar Royal Cafe Hotel & Hotel Kanhaia Haveli are the ones I've shortlisted. 4 nights are planned at the moment 21-24 Nov... I don't need to catch the end do I? Where people dip into the lake?

spud@ yes prices are crazy in Pushkar at that time. Its good that you are able to find something reasonable. Good luck.
It's ok even if you don't catch up the end. You can take holly dip on any day if you chose to do so :-)
Another though - As you are in India around Diwali / Dhan teras time, so if you get chance and you are happen to be in Delhi on any of the evening. You can take pictures of Indian president house with beautiful lighting.

Hi Sapna.
My only fear over Pushkar is booking/paying now... Then turning up in November and being told 'I'm sorry sir, we seem to have overbooked and have no room for you' (or in other words, although you booked/paid in advance, we decided to take in someone else who was willing to pay silly rate of pay.) Maybe I'm just being paranoid, I hope so.
At the moment I'm hoping to be with a friend in Mandu for most of Diwali, possibly Indore for Dhan Teras, so I'll miss Delhi this time.

Hi Spud,
I understand your fear, infect I wanted to voice this earlier but then decided against it
We stay in Rajasthan tourism's hotels in Ajmer becoz its much economical then Pushkar accommodation, now they take online booking also. Check this link - http://www.rtdc.in