Mt Abu

The 5.30am bus never arrived (I found out later it had broken down), so I had to wait 2 hours for the next one. Just before it arrived though, I was offered a lift to the local train station (and then a train - much nicer than a bus the whole way), by two charted accountants, and it was a pleasant, and much faster experience (my train actually arrived before the earlier bus would have). The ticket was also the cheapest so far, 33rs for a 2 hour trip. Just to put that in perspective, a 2litre bottle of water is 25rs!

While on the train I was thinking about what people do, in different countries, based on my experience. In Japan, most people are either using their phones, reading comic books, or sleeping. In Kazakhstan, people slept and talked/ate/drank most of the time. In India, most people just sleep or talk. I am the only person I have seen reading!

Mt Abu is the only British era hill station in Rajasthan, and it must have been incredibly British back in the day - the polo ground still exists, although now its for football and cricket. There are still a number of stone and brick buildings that wouldn't be out of place in Surrey or the Lake District, and I spent a very pleasant hour walking around the old Christian cemetery. Protestants on the right of the path, Catholics on the left, it was a snapshot of British Raj life, with most of the people buried there being soldiers or their wives. A number of graves from 1857 also show that the soldiers (and wives) were not spared from the killings of the Mutany. What I was surprised about though, was a number of relatively recent graves, including 1 from 2011, which included priests, and what I can assume as being holdovers from the Raj.

The carvings at the Jain temple are even more intricate here, but the buildings in general are less impressive, with a more secretive feel to their building (no outward facing windows etc). It is also free, so I was even happier. There was an Indian tour going around when I arrived, and the guide was shouting a lot, which makes me wonder if the 'Hindi voice of authority' just sounds shouty, and the priest in Alwar might not have been that angry.

Both the guidebook, and everyone at the guest house, warned against going walking in the hills by myself, due to 'dangerous animals and tribal people', but it sounded like a load of crap designed to get me to pay 500rs for a guided tour, so went for a great 2 hour walk by myself. Didn't see any animals or people at all, but did get great views of the lake (the top of the mountain is a caldera) as well as views down onto the plains below (the mountain rises up from what once was sea). Sat reading, waiting for the sunset, and had a very pleasant evening. Topped off with an all-you-can-eat meal for 120rs of Gujarati food, which is sweeter than anything I have had so far, and very nice.

The next day, I DID pay for the guided walk, although not from my hotel, but from a guy I met the day before, who said he worked for an animal welfare group. I hoped to see some of the sloth bears and jaguars that are on the mountain, but of course, didn't see anything. The walk was good though, and got to explore a few caves, and the company was interesting - a German and 2 Canadians.