I'm planning a 19 day self directed trip to Rajasthan in October/November this year. I have been corresponding with Ninex, a tour operator in Delhi which appears to be one of Horizons Unlimited sponsors. They have a flexible time schedule and plan the trip including making hotel reservations. Has anyone used this company and, if so, do you have comments?
RJB

My 2 cents suggestion,,
Well if I were in your place I would prefer to do it alone.
Rajastan is a very safe place and a relatively quite popular tourist destination( Many palaces, forts, hostorically significant places , etc)

As far as the knowledge about the place is concerned you will get all the info you need on the NET and a lot of it on the Traveller stories section on the HUBB.

Let me know if you need any specific info and I will see what best I can do, and Incase if you happen to choose the tour operator, let us know of the experience.

__________________
Red Bull
Ride safe, ride far, ride often,,,...
http://theroyalenfieldbullet.blogspot.com/
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hari_iyer_s/my_photos

Hi Red Bull,
Thanx for your reply and recommendation to go it alone. The only concern we (there are three of us) have is that we only have about 3 weeks to make this trip. We thought we'd go with a tour company simply to make sure everything was set up and we could make the most of our time. Nevertheless, all are experienced Asia travellers and two of us have been to India before (but not on bikes). Perhaps, though, you could answer a couple of additional questions for us:
- I have read different reports regarding hiring bikes in India. The main theme seems to be that you can't hire bikes in most states in India but, instead, have to buy a bike with a guarantied buy-back at the end of the trip. This sounds more like a technicality to get around some strange legal limitation, which is OK but still leaves us with trying to rent/buy three bikes when we arrive in Delhi. I have written to lallisingh@vsnl.com (mentioned in Lonely Planet and on Horizons Unlimited site) but have not been able to get a response. Do you have any other suggestions of reliable renters? We are all happy to ride Bullets and I, for one, am used to the reversed brake and gear shift as I have a 1958 Matchless which I ride regularly.
- the tour company we were going to use insists that hotels have to be booked well in advance for places like Pushkar (at least at the time of the camel fair) and Agra as November is the height of the tourist season. Have you found this to be the case? There seems to be plenty of good web sites for hotels of all price ranges so we could book in advance if necessary, but in a way I'd prefer to be totally flexible if we are going to be 'doing our own thing'.
Thanx in advance for any further info.
Roger

Do you have any other suggestions of reliable renters? >> Unfortunately not, I do not have any suggestions from personal / experiences of friends. Only one fellow in south India who had quoted about 10,000 Rs, / month(Which I thought is really expensive.
I have my bike here so have never felt the need to rent so sorry I do not have any information. I will keep my eyes open for any renters though.
.
- the tour company we were going to use insists that hotels have to be booked well in advance for places like Pushkar (at least at the time of the camel fair)>>> >>>Pushkar during the Camel Fair , yes, it might be advisable to book in advance. I think this year the dates are >> November 2nd to 5th 2006.

Though I have not been there during this fair, have heard a decent bit about it normally through other sources. Sorry I couldn't help you much in this. I myself have been to Pushkar only once around 5-6 years ago. Maybe if its around bombay / pune I can help somewhat with contacts or in Pune with accomodation.

__________________
Red Bull
Ride safe, ride far, ride often,,,...
http://theroyalenfieldbullet.blogspot.com/
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hari_iyer_s/my_photos

hi there i was in india a few years ago and found a whole street of bike shops with enfields to rent (all a bit manky) in delhi. i paid £60 for two weeks which worked out at the time (at 70 rup per £) as 4200 rup.
so red bulls friend paid about the same as me.
you can get cheaper if you haggle but be prepared for breakdowns, i went through 3 bikes on a trip up the himilaya and through the punjab.
you'll love Rajasthan, its a biking mecca!

madan motors is another option you can try for renting
the bikes he is in same area as lalli singh is. i could not find the address
one other site where you can get help on enfields is 60KPH. the last i heard
the bike rent was 400 rupees for a 500CC enfield. but if you plan to travel rajesthan 350 CC would be ok.

puskar is a small place and if you dont plan to rough it out then it's good choice
to book in advance. you can contact the hotels directly and get cheaper rates.
other wise you can stay at guest houses which would be cheaper and yes if you visit any of these places during festival time it's going to be tough finding a place.

contact me if you have any queries.

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Sameer
http://www.sameerthakur.com