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Published: December 4th 2013
Christmas won't be the same this year as we four set off for India for the next 4-5 weeks, we don't suppose they will cook the brussel sprouts like our Mum's did!
Our Indian adventure begins with Jane and Pete leaving behind all the Christmas cards that were written and stamped ready to go, so, if you were expecting a card from them.... It won't arrive!
Coming in to land at Mumbai was an eye opener, flying over acres of shacks where 1000's of people were living, our guide the next day told us that there were hundreds of these slums, all over the city where there might be one toilet between 5000 people. Our guide made the point several times that these people don't pay tax, use the fire hydrant for water and tap into any lamp post for electricity, he wasn't impressed.
The other thing that made us laugh as we came into land was the work that was going on next to the runway, dressed in flip flops and t shirt, their angle grinders were cutting through the Tarmac! Health and safety.... Ha!!!
Mr Narbi the handling agent was at
Mumbai airport to meet us with driver and sign holder who also became bag lugger, we had a little coach all to ourselves to take us to the hotel, The Mirage which was to the north of the main part of Mumbai, bearing in mind it was Sunday it was reasonably chaotic on the roads though the airport was quite sedate. How we didn't take out a few tuk tuk drivers on the short journey, heaven knows, there were hundreds of them. One piece of advice we had gleaned from Daily Telegraph travel section was to keep the black out eye shield which the airline gives you as it would come in handy as a blindfold when on the road!
The hotel was good, the beer was good and we were really impressed with the food, Jane is vegetarian and the rest of us had decided to be vegetarian for the month but both Pete and Col failed on the first night!
2nd December
Our bus turned up the next morning and eventually our guide turned up, he probably should have retired a few years ago and he was a bit difficult to understand but we set
off battling with the traffic, the tuk tuks to our driver was like swatting flies. Population of India is 1.1 billion and 21 million live in Mumbai and it seemed like they were all on the road at the same time but the jams didn't matter as there was so much to look at as we went along, acres of slums, people living or existing by the side of the road, everybody going somewhere and noise, so much noise. To drive a vehicle you have to be able to honk the horn, talk on the mobile phone, honk the horn, light a cigarette, honk the horn and ensure that if a space appears, you get there before the other half dozen cars who are aiming for it get there, whilst, of course, honking your horn.
Our first stop was the laundry, which was something else, divided up in to many concrete pools, each one owned by a family. The washing seemed to consist of soaking in murky water and then beat the hell out of it on the concrete, we would think if you started out with a size 12, short length leggings, they would be an 18 extra
long by the time they were finished!
We visited the house where Ghandi lived and the hanging gardens, not quite Babylon. Our guide had a nice long sit down at both places and left us to it. In the gardens was a large group from Gugeratt and they all wanted photos with us which felt a bit odd, we know how 'celebrity' feels now!
Lots of kids selling stuff we don't want or need every time we got off our coach, no doubt we will feel the need to buy some stuff we don't want at some point. We saw several tiffin men, either on foot, on bikes or if they had a full load with a hand cart. Their job was to go to houses to pick up lunches, usually hot that the wives had made for their husbands and drop it off at his office/shop/work place and before mobile phones, they would carry messages from wife to husband as well. We visited the fruit, veg and spice market.
Our guide needed lunch as he was diabetic so he took us to this dingy looking cafe, we had coffee and a plate of chips as we
didn't feel sure about it and saw someone else eating chips which looked ok. We ordered black coffee which they couldn't work out so brought white which we sent back and caused much consternation. Once we had acclimatised to the cafe, it was probably ok as very busy and the food looked good but not sure if our stomachs were ready for it yet, it was full but Jane and I were the only females. The guide and driver seemed to be at odds with each other and we guess it was because he didn't want to walk anywhere and insisted on the driver dropping us off as close as possible to each site. We were disappointed we weren't walking far as we felt we would have got much more of a flavour for the city, however from our elevated position in our personal coach we had a great view and once we had dropped the guide off and started the journey back to our hotel which was about an hour, we saw much more of some of the dreadful poverty, people who made their home under a bridge or at the side of the road though Mumbai itself, or
at least the central parts that we were taken to were a cleanish, buzzing, busy city, full of people on the move and had been quite different to what we all expected, though of course we only saw a tiny part.
3rd December
On the move to Udaipur today much to Pete's surprise, he thought we were going to Delhi. They insisted on picking us up quite early to take us to the airport which was just as well as it took an age to get sorted. The internal baggage allowance was only 15 kgs, we had that weight in toiletries and Imodium alone! We had to pay excess baggage, so whilst our suitcases trundled off we had to wait at a desk for an age for an older lady to take our money, she couldn't work the computer, then she was in the wrong programme, Pete had a conversation with her that was confusing as she told him her husband was a postman in London, which turned out to be that he had a posting, as in government posting in London!
After the short flight, we were met by the local agent and our driver for
the next 10 days, Mr
Harinder, who took us straight to the lake for a boat ride. Udaipur Palace is by the lake and in the middle is a hotel and event area used for functions, weddings etc. it was being prepared for a ring ceremony for the Prince of Udaipur the following day. We then got in tuk tuks together with our luggage for the journey through the narrow cobbled/bumpy streets to our hotel, our driver was Usman, a real character thinking he was James Bond in Octopussy as it was filmed here 30 years ago. It was a case of hold on to your hats...... Here we goooooooooooo!
Hotel was amazing, the Jagat Niwas Palace with these fabulous rooms overlooking the lake with a huge cushioned window area to sit and watch the boats go by and the sun come up and go down. Loads of pigeons roosting which were a bit of a pain.
Good food again plus an amazing view. Next morning trekking, Sal and her creaky back gave it a miss, thank goodness, as it turned out to be longer and harder than they had led us to believe but the others
really enjoyed it as you got to see a bit of rural India, a working farm and some lovely families, and the kids both 2 legged and 4 legged were gorgeous.
Heritage tour in the afternoon was curtailed as the palace was closed due to the ring ceremony so we went to the 5 fountain garden and artist school which was interesting. Sal had booked a massage for late afternoon as there were lots of massage shops close to the hotel but as they weren't very forthcoming about where it would take place, chickening out seemed the best option! However, returning to the hotel, Col said he would come too so we went in this place and we didn't really understand the form and lack of language made it difficult but after some pointing and smiling, we were taken up the road to this dingy building, it felt like going in a brothel said Col, hastily changing that statement to this is how it must feel if going to a brothel........
Col had a head massage and Sal had a stream roller driven over her and we will see if any joints move tomorrow or seize up completely!!!
Col was in the same room divided by a curtain with this odd bloke watching him, whilst waiting for Sal, he just stood staring most of the time, occasionally saying the name of a tennis player or cricketer from years ago, very odd chap.
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Bill
non-member comment
About time....
... I was just about to send out the Bengal Lancers to look for you lot. You've been out there for hours and haven't blogged yet. Sound's like you're having fun and it takes me back to our time there.. noise, car horns and the whole spectrum of human life on display. Lovely to hear from you... can you put a list the places you're visiting in the next blog so we can envisage the journey. Have fun and if you go to Delhi take a ride on the rickshaws in the old town. Bloody cold here.... and set to get worse. Brrrrr. Cheers for now Bill n Sue