Heavenly Heritage Hotels!

---

Fort Khejarla

After a long coach ride we finally pulled up at Kherjala Fort one of the many Heritage Hotels in the area. I'd already read up about these before we came away and had mentioned them to other people in the group but I don't think they'd realised quite how special they were going to be. This one is absolutely amazing and we had it almost to ourselves, just one family of 4 also there the night we were.

This Heritage Hotel is a proper fort with turrets and walls - a mini version of the ones we've seen so far on the tour. In the central part of the fort is beautiful marble swimming pool - only very small but wonderfully inviting after our long coach ride. After the usual random picking of keys we went off to explore our rooms. There were squeals of delight as doors were opened and the rooms revealed. Sammy and I had fallen on our feet and got one of the best rooms. We had a bedroom with lovely old Indian furniture, a shower room, but best of all a turret room with what can only be described as thrones in! Everyone went rushing around to see each others rooms and everyone had some quirky little thing that was different to everyone elses.

After exploring the fort and the rooms we spent a lovely afternoon relaxing in and by the pool. Later we went for a walk through the village and up to the local temple at the top of the hill. Everyone and his dog came out to see us along the way. The children would spot us and run out to wave or say 'hallo, hallo' or 'photo'. They love having their photos taken so they can look at themselves. We've noticed that Indian's tend to put on a serious face when having their photo's taken and the children were just the same. We met three particular little girls who were fascinated by all Tara's earrings, bangles and rings. She's also very pretty and I think they thought she was some sort of princess come to see them! They followed us all the way back from the temple to the hotel always keeping next to Tara!

In the evening the fort was lit up and looked magical. We had a lovely meal outdoors under the stars. Most people headed off for an earlyish night but some of us went up to the top of our turret to spend the evening looking up at the unpolluted night sky. Sammy and Joe have become best buddies and just set each other off giggling ALL the time. It's funny to watch them. This night's hilarity seemed to stem from the 'upside down saucepan' ie the plough constellation! Meanwhile me, Matt and Manu were debating religion and the differences between how people view religion here in India and back home in the UK. Very interesting to see how people seem to question things so much more back home. Religion is more a way of life here and there is no need to question it as it's just how things are. The same goes for the caste system that in many ways appears so unfair to us westerners but is just a way of life in India and accepted by the vast majority of people, but with some changes happening in the big cities like Delhi and Mumbai.

Chandelao Garh

We set off on the road again and found we were again the object of curiosity and amusement for the locals we saw along the way. Lots of pointing and giggling as we waved back. One lady I saw with a veil completely hiding her face quickly lifted it up to have a good look at us as the bus stopped near her and her friend.

The second Heritage Hotel wasn't as fort like as the previous one but still very beautiful. After more random key selections me and Sammy were lucky again and found ourself the only ones in the oldest part of the hotel on the second floor in an amazing room with loads of old antiques and black and white photos on the walls.

After settling in to our rooms a few of us decided to take up the option of a jeep safari to visit some of the local villagers. So it was Carl, Janene, Harriet, Charlotte and myself who squeased ourselves into this tiny open jeep and set off along the dusty roads into the wilds of Chandleo. We went onto smaller and smaller roads that became bearly visible tracks and again the locals were excited to see strangers and came out to wave. We saw an amazing deer with huge twisty horns and some smaller ones with a stripe (must check up on what type they were). Eventually we pulled up at the potter's place. We were greeted by loads of people and taken into the yard where there were huge piles of spherical water pots. We were given demo of a pot being thrown on an electric potters wheel and then shown the more old fashioned hand spun stone version. The guy let us have a go and I was pleased that I could remember enough from my pottery evening classes from years ago to fashion a passable pot. Harriet's first attempt was deemed no good and squished much to our amusement but her second attempt obviously passed quality control and remained intact! Again we were asked to take loads of photos of the family, especially the children who loved posing - stern faced then laughing at the results. A young mum with her baby asked to have her their photo taken - she was another one with her whole face covered, but just before I took the photo she pulled her veil away! The best, however was this little boy of about 7 years old who had obviously put a lot of thought into his poses and put his hands on his hips, struck a pose and even unbuttoned his shirt!! After our visit to the potter we set off again and eventually rolled up in front of an immaculately swept and tidied farm stead. We were greeted by and old man in white gear (imagine the Gandhi look) and a huge red turban that is traditional in this region and his elderly wife. They were all smiles and hugs as they welcomed us into their basic little home. We were shown the 'kitchen' which was in a circular building with a coned stick and straw roof. The floors and walls are plastered with mud and cow dung and there was a small cooking fire on the go. Charlotte (quite short) didn't judge the door quite right and banged her head as she went in (normally she doesn't ever have to stoop to get in anywherere!). The grandmother was so concerned for her and would stop hugging her and rubing her head. We also met some of the grandchildren who again wanted their photos taking. The grandfather then invited us outside to demonstrate the welcoming opium poppy brewing contraption, basically a set of conical filters to pour water through. It is traditional to welcome visitors to your home by offering a slurp of this brew from your hand. And yes we all had a slurp followed by a second slurp to catch a photo that was missed the first time! We were amazed when Harriet joined in as she is the most concerned and careful person in the group where water and food is concerned. Matt even managed to freak her out about drinking straws to the extent that she stopped using them - that's how paranoid she is. Afterwards when we were expressing our shock at her joining in she suddenly clicked about the local water rather than bottled water that would have been used. It was the opium factor that she'd been thinking about and forgot all about the water. Her face was a picture!! After saying our goodbyes we set off again and next stop was by a small watering hole to have a drink and admire the views. Some local girls came over to see us and it turned out that they had been working on a construction site - they were all only 14 or 15 years old. Amongst other things we found out that they all wanted to get married soon!! We arrived back at the hotel dusty, hot but really happy to have had the rare opportunity to meet such wonderfully welcoming, hospitable and genuine people. This has been one of the highlights of the tour so far for me. A priceless experience.

---

Photos

Eating out under the stars
From left to right - Carl, Janine, Charlotte, Harriet, Manu, Jen, Tim, Tara, Sammy, Joe and Matt.

Jeep safari to village near to Heritage Hotel at Chandelao
Harriet and Charlotte