It's been long time since I wrote something about my experience in detail. I used to write in short in insta but here I am writing more about how to plan your backpacking trip in Rajasthan in a budget and more responsible way.
When I talk about responsible tourism it includes lot of things. Recently famous blogger Shivya mentioned about carbon foot print too. I will start with responsible tourism because you rarely find such travelers in Rajasthan.
1. Avoid plastic and reduce usage of packaged water bottle wherever it is possible. I almost had the water wherever I thought water is clean. I was forced to take water bottle in some places due to hygiene factor.
2. Budget Travel : If you have lot of money, you can spend on travel, but when you are spending more than the actual cost, you are making the place unfavorable for the common man to travel. I generally take care of this point and travel with as much as minimum cost possible. In some places I walked wherever auto or taxi costed more than it is supposed to be. Rajasthan tourism totally spoiled by rich people who are ready to spend to show off.
3. Respect the language and culture and mingle with the locals : Without understanding the local culture and language , if we enforce our language on people, we are setting a wrong trend. In Rajsthan I tried to understand the local marwadi language and tried to understand the music and culture.
4. Carbon foot print : Shivya mentions in her blog that she reduced traveling in flights to reduce the carbon foot print. Since I had limited time for travel, I used the flight otherwise I used the public transport. By using trains and other forms of public transport we can reduce carbon foot print.
5. Try local and small restaurants : I ate most of the time street foods. Poha, Aloo paratha, Kachori and samosa for breakfast.
6. Try to keep your surrounding clean : Whenever I checking out from hostel ot hotel, I kept my bed clean and checked out.
7. Respect waiter, street vendors or any one who meets. Greet them with smile. ( But still be careful with auto and taxi drivers in Rajasthan)
With these responsbile tips, I also add one more point.
8. Try to visit hidden treasures which has less tourists to explore the different flavors. That's how I visited Banghad and went to the lesser known , no luxury safari which turns into a memorable journey.
What are the things I generally plan while go for solo travel :
1. Backpack
- I check the climate and depending on that I pack my backpack.
- I also check my backpack in good condition before a week. Because that's the most important thing for a solo backpacking trip.
- I pack every thing in different compartment. I keep every thing in different bags. I rarely use plastic bags. I had kept one plastic bag. But that also I have to replace it with biodegradable plastic or some other thing.
- If you are going on a trek, please carry the lunch box.
- Water bottle (Steel) is mandatory. If needed you can keep water purifying tablets. But I don't use.
- I didn't carry medical kit but it is required.
- I generally book first day stay using hostel world if I find any hostel otherwise I will go with booking.com. If I am going with wife I use Airbnb too but I rarely go with this because it would be expensive. Since I spend most of the time outside,
- I give preference to distance of location from city bus stand or metro or railway station. Then I will check for rating. Generally hostel world will suggest good hostel or hotel.
- If I want to stay one more day in the same location, I would extend otherwise I will look for other option. By that time I would be having more idea on other options.
- I generally book a stay one day before except the peak holiday season. In Rajasthan I didn't face any difficulty in finding hostels in main cities. In Kota I didn't book hotel. I searched near railway station and stayed.
- In Ranathambore which was expensive, I booked the hotel through hostelworld. There were no hostel in Kota and Ranathambore.
- In Rajasthan, forts are the biggest attraction. Desert stay in Jaisalmer is the best experience. Jaisalmer is a place which you could enjoy with your friends. For solo traveler it would be expensive. Going to the border is little expensive. I couldn't arrange my travel partner and hence couldn't visit the border. Most of the people told 6-7k. I enquired with local and he was ready for 3500. But I wanted to go with travel partner so that we can share the cost.
- Rajasthan is highly commercial place. All the monuments entry fees are expensive. You need to identify the places to visit. There are combo entrance fees in Jaipur which covers 6-7 places but you should cover it in 2 days. If you start in the morning, then only you can cover it in 2 days. Otherwise don't go for combo ticket.
- The best place fort to visit in Rajasthan is Kumbalgarh and it takes a lot of time to explore the different shades of fort. Then comes the Gagron fort which is at a very remote place. Ranathambore is though expensive place to go but Ranathambore fort is must visit. Chittorgarh fort also has different architectural beauties.
- Amir fort is good when you see in terms of architecture and art. But it comes to me after the fort which I mentioned earlier. If you are looking for peace avoid Jaipur.
- 300 Rs ticket for Udaipur palace is too much expensive. Instead go and visit the lakes. Most of the palaces have glorified the kings but you rarely find the account of culture and history.
- Bikaner fort is good but that is the only good place in the city. Visit only if time permits.
- Roam around Jaisalmer fort but the museum you can avoid. There is nothing much to explore.
- You can spend 2-3 days in Jodhpur. The fort, Madore garden is really good. There is no entry fee for Mandore Garden.
- I missed the festival due to Corona situation but I want to visit again for the Desert festival.
- Trek to Jaigarh fort was a very good experience. There are 6 hill forts which together added as unesco heritage sites. Jaipur city is a unesco heritage site. Janatar manatar is also a Unesco Heritage site which you should not miss. I missed Keoladeo nation park
4. Apps in your mobile
- When I was in Bangkok , I installed Bangkok transit guide and city mapper to understand the bangkok metro and public transport. I installed their local taxi app and hostelworld app as usual.
- Similarly for Rajasthan I had installed IRCTC app to book train quickly. I had uninstalled OLA in Bengaluru but installed for ola bik taxi in Jaipur. Jaipur and Udaipur has ola and Uber.
- Hostelworld, Airbnb and booking.com are 3 apps I have installed for booking. You can install packpoint to organize your packing.
- Splitwise app for sharing cost and Spend Tracker for tracking all expenses.
- Since I had recorded lot of video, my mobile memory was full, I used to upload those videos in google drive in the night and delete once uploaded.
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