Advertisement
Published: February 3rd 2014
Edit Blog Post
The night was pretty long as we heard all the various groups of travellers leave for the airport at all sorts of hours. After the call to prayer at 0530 we could hear the large security guy of the guesthouse talking in the marbled lobby - big people find it hard to whisper. We enjoyed a Idly and masala breakfast with our German friends and then simply hung out until it was our turn to leave. I was a little concerned about a scene given that we had already asked a tuk-tuk guy to take us to the airport and now a taxi had been ordered instead. Somehow the scene never eventuated. I was actually glad because it is a long way to Kochi airport, and the weather was hot. Not perfect tuk-tuk conditions. Also this driver had obviously been told to drive carefully for the tourists because he was the slowest guy on the road, with only conservative beeping.
Some minor complications at the airport and soon we were in smokey-old Mumbai airport. I can remember being amazed by the thickness of LA smog and how quickly taking-off planes disappear into the soup. Mumbai, and, I later discovered Delhi
are definitely worse than LA. We finally arrived at Udaipur's relatively modest airport at about 2040 and got a Pichola Haveli driver to take us into the old city. The streets were very dark with hundreds of stray dogs but still one could appreciate the illuminated City Palace, and the man-made lakes in the center of town.
Our daughter Elise was waiting for us in room 301 but she had heard us coming. The full-on reunion ensued in the stairwell. It was great to see her again after more than a year, and a number of major family events. I could tell that the Indian hotel staff were not used to such public displays of affection. Catherine had gathered and packed a care package which contained two tubes of Vegemite, Tim Tam biscuits, Arnott's Pizza Shapes and other Australian culinary icons. She was truly excited. Cameras were snapping.
It was certainly a lot colder in Udaipur than what we had been experiencing in Kerala, so both Catherine and I felt the chill. Nonetheless we dined at a roof-top restaurant. The view of the lake, and the Lake Palace Hotel planted in the middle of it, is spectacular above
any comparison. There was plenty of evidence that our daughter has been making friends in the town as people stopped her in the street to chat, and the roof-top restaurateur gave her imported French cheeses as a special gift.
We did so much over the next three and a half days that it is a bit of a blur, frankly. Here are some of the highlights though.
* Dinner at the Lake View restaurant on two occasions;
* The wonderful view from our room at the Pichola Haveli;
* Getting an Indian haircut - very thorough;
* An amazing early morning yoga practice with Prakash, where Catherine squatted on one foot with the other in lotus position, for the first time;
* Visiting the impressive City Palace and taking dozens of photos of one another;
* Having a bespoke sports jacket made;
* A Jain cooking class with the incomparable Meenu;
* Meeting several other impressive young people who are also volunteering at Seva Mandir;
* A guided walking tour of nearby billage called Delwara, which has to be counted as a success story for Seva M;
* A
trip to the Monsoon Palace to watch the sunset and
* an amazing shopping trip to Big Bazaar to pick up household supplies for Catherine's next month, and Elise's next five months.
No doubt some more stories will emerge as Catherine and Elise settle into the place. For me, it was time to head to New Delhi and join up with some colleagues from the Australian Trade Commission to promote Australia's R&D capabilities. We parted ways as I got into a white Hindustan Ambassador (archetypal Indian taxi cab) and the girls went back to the dormitories of the Seva Mandir campus. On the way to the airport the taxi driver hit me up for a contribution to his life insurance fund in addition to the agreed fare. Cabbies don't hold high status here, particularly after recent attacks.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.118s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 8; qc: 58; dbt: 0.0658s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb