So long and thanks for all the roti
Our last week in India went by quickly with several days in the beautiful lakeside town of Udaipur and then 2 days in Bombay.
The train trip to Udaipur was our final Indian train trip and we finished the complete review of India Rail with a trip in the lowest class seats on a train that stopped every 15 minutes or so of the 7 hour ride. Rock hard seats but it's hard to complain when the ticket is half the price of the 8 minute train trip from our place into central Sydney. Sadly nothing as entertaining as people riding on the roof of the train.
Some of you might recognise the pics of Udaipur below from the 1983 Bond hit Octopussy. Sadly for Al the island populated completely by women in the film proved elusive. It is centred on Lake Pichola and surrounded by hills making it quite easy to spend a relaxing few days.
Our first morning in Udaipur was a little unexpected. One minute we were wandering up the road, when a spectacular gold suit jacket caught Al's attention (always on the lookout for a costume) - the next minute we were chatting with three English women and sharing a beer while being fitted for business suits. Our new best friend, tailor Rakesh, made several jackets for Judi Dench when she was in town filming for the Marigold Hotel. If it's good enough for Judi.... He's a very nice guy and spent hours looking after us so we're hoping that the suits match the service. We'll reserve final judgement until the suits arrive on our doorstep but the first fittings seemed to indicate good things with all limbs attached correctly and close to the right length.
Having almost reached Indian Palace Fatigue we nearly skipped a visit to the Udaipur city palace. But it was one of the more interesting palaces as the Maharaja and his family lived here until it was made into a museum just 30 years ago. He moved just next door to where he has opened up part of his home as a hotel. Unlike most of the other palaces in India, a lot of the interior decorations like stained glass windows and amazing mosaic decorations have been preserved.
Day two we headed back in to town to learn the art of making the perfect roti and a tasty masala. Michelle had been looking forward to the cooking class with Shashi for months and it didn't disappoint. A four hour class, making 10 different dishes for $11. Hard to beat especially when the hostess had a fun sense of humour and an interesting story about what led her to be teaching cooking classes to foreigners. Left as a widow at a young age she had two boys to support but her caste rules wouldn't allow her to remarry or work at any job except those for which she had no training (teaching, nursing). A foreign friend of her son convinced her to start cooking classes for foreigners even though she couldn't speak a word of English. She now speaks not just English but words in German and French as well! Some generous foreigners wrote down her recipes in English and sent her a copy; she now provides this to all students as a handout and it has been translated by other travellers into a number of different languages.
The romantic few days in Udaipur had some of the shine taken off as Al spent our 13th anniversary in bed with what Michelle assumed was man flu. Mich retreated to poolside to enjoy one of the last days of the holiday. No point letting the luxury hotel go to waste.
Our coast to coast adventure ended in South Mumbai (Bombay) which was quite the culture shock after the smaller cities we had been in. Wide tree-lined streets, no cows on the road, and even traffic lights! This area of the city is full of old colonial buildings, mostly in need of some serious repairs, but then others like the university are as grand as any university building in the UK. Two house calls by the hotel doctor and 'man flu' was diagnosed as a chest infection. Round two of antibiotics was India's parting gift to Al, along with the loss of over 6kg in body weight.
So what about our question in the first post? Are we enamoured with India or running away never to return? From the foothills of the Himalaya to the raw humanity of Varanasi and on to the wonder of the Jaipur and the cultural capital of Mumbai; it was an amazing trip, and a lot easier than we had been prepared for. In a few weeks Al may even be even be able to think of India without feeling ill. So yes we would go back, if it weren't for the fact that there are so many other places in the world to visit as well!
Photo 1. One of the more picturesque laundries in the world.
Photo 2. The mosaics of the city palace
Photo 3. Al getting in to make roti
Photo 4. Jagmindir Island where the celebs of India fly in to get married
Photo 5. Lake Palace Hotel, built 1754 as royal summer palace and site of the Octopussy's island of women
Photo 6 & 7. Mumbai
Photo 8. Lego exhibition in Singapore
Photo 9. This orangutang was playing it up to the crowd. He figured out if he hung upside down above the people with just his feet then people would clap. If not, then he clapped himself.
Photo 10. Alan, al, al....hmm, maybe it's not Alan. Steve, Steve, Steve
The train trip to Udaipur was our final Indian train trip and we finished the complete review of India Rail with a trip in the lowest class seats on a train that stopped every 15 minutes or so of the 7 hour ride. Rock hard seats but it's hard to complain when the ticket is half the price of the 8 minute train trip from our place into central Sydney. Sadly nothing as entertaining as people riding on the roof of the train.
Some of you might recognise the pics of Udaipur below from the 1983 Bond hit Octopussy. Sadly for Al the island populated completely by women in the film proved elusive. It is centred on Lake Pichola and surrounded by hills making it quite easy to spend a relaxing few days.
Our first morning in Udaipur was a little unexpected. One minute we were wandering up the road, when a spectacular gold suit jacket caught Al's attention (always on the lookout for a costume) - the next minute we were chatting with three English women and sharing a beer while being fitted for business suits. Our new best friend, tailor Rakesh, made several jackets for Judi Dench when she was in town filming for the Marigold Hotel. If it's good enough for Judi.... He's a very nice guy and spent hours looking after us so we're hoping that the suits match the service. We'll reserve final judgement until the suits arrive on our doorstep but the first fittings seemed to indicate good things with all limbs attached correctly and close to the right length.
Having almost reached Indian Palace Fatigue we nearly skipped a visit to the Udaipur city palace. But it was one of the more interesting palaces as the Maharaja and his family lived here until it was made into a museum just 30 years ago. He moved just next door to where he has opened up part of his home as a hotel. Unlike most of the other palaces in India, a lot of the interior decorations like stained glass windows and amazing mosaic decorations have been preserved.
Day two we headed back in to town to learn the art of making the perfect roti and a tasty masala. Michelle had been looking forward to the cooking class with Shashi for months and it didn't disappoint. A four hour class, making 10 different dishes for $11. Hard to beat especially when the hostess had a fun sense of humour and an interesting story about what led her to be teaching cooking classes to foreigners. Left as a widow at a young age she had two boys to support but her caste rules wouldn't allow her to remarry or work at any job except those for which she had no training (teaching, nursing). A foreign friend of her son convinced her to start cooking classes for foreigners even though she couldn't speak a word of English. She now speaks not just English but words in German and French as well! Some generous foreigners wrote down her recipes in English and sent her a copy; she now provides this to all students as a handout and it has been translated by other travellers into a number of different languages.
The romantic few days in Udaipur had some of the shine taken off as Al spent our 13th anniversary in bed with what Michelle assumed was man flu. Mich retreated to poolside to enjoy one of the last days of the holiday. No point letting the luxury hotel go to waste.
Our coast to coast adventure ended in South Mumbai (Bombay) which was quite the culture shock after the smaller cities we had been in. Wide tree-lined streets, no cows on the road, and even traffic lights! This area of the city is full of old colonial buildings, mostly in need of some serious repairs, but then others like the university are as grand as any university building in the UK. Two house calls by the hotel doctor and 'man flu' was diagnosed as a chest infection. Round two of antibiotics was India's parting gift to Al, along with the loss of over 6kg in body weight.
So what about our question in the first post? Are we enamoured with India or running away never to return? From the foothills of the Himalaya to the raw humanity of Varanasi and on to the wonder of the Jaipur and the cultural capital of Mumbai; it was an amazing trip, and a lot easier than we had been prepared for. In a few weeks Al may even be even be able to think of India without feeling ill. So yes we would go back, if it weren't for the fact that there are so many other places in the world to visit as well!
Photo 1. One of the more picturesque laundries in the world.
Photo 2. The mosaics of the city palace
Photo 3. Al getting in to make roti
Photo 4. Jagmindir Island where the celebs of India fly in to get married
Photo 5. Lake Palace Hotel, built 1754 as royal summer palace and site of the Octopussy's island of women
Photo 6 & 7. Mumbai
Photo 8. Lego exhibition in Singapore
Photo 9. This orangutang was playing it up to the crowd. He figured out if he hung upside down above the people with just his feet then people would clap. If not, then he clapped himself.
Photo 10. Alan, al, al....hmm, maybe it's not Alan. Steve, Steve, Steve