India December 2007

[palesa]

I will start to share our trip to India here. Our travel report is probably not as comprehensive as it could be, as neither of us are particularly good at journaling. We did divide the journaling duties between us, so you will also find different writing styles throughout.

Our first report is of Nairobi, and I considered posting it in the Africa branch, but it is really part of our trip to India, and was an unplanned stop.

I will try and include photos along the way.

[palesa]

After 3 years of planning, researching, replanning, setting itineraries, changing itineraries, 27 December 2007 arrived. It was 5:30 am and we were due to leave for our long awaited trip to India in a few hours. We would have enjoyed an hour or so more of sleep, but excitement and a lost of things to do, woke us early.

After our chores, we decided to be first in line at Kenya Airways, so off we set to Oliver Reginal Tambo International. We thought we had packed very cleverly, sending 1 backpack with all the liquids, pocket knives and other prohibited goods thoruhg for check in and packed the other pack with clothing and a few toiletries as carry one. Having checked the weight and size, we were happy that it conformed to Kenya Airways rules.

We had the backpack that was going through, shrinkwrapped, and off Zonker went to do forex and other chores, while Palesa waited in the KA line. When the KA staff arrived, the informed Palesa that they would not accept the carefully packed, weighed and measured bag as on board luggage, how can one argue. (The relevance of us not having this pack will become clear later).

In the meanwhile Zonker was struggling to get SA money to convert to Euro's, 7 ATMs and no money in any of them. He exchanged what he had and went back to a frantic Palesa who was wondering where Zonker was. Anyway, Palesa rushed off to have the other pack shrinkwrapped. After a very hectic 30 mins or so, we were ready to check in. While checking in we were told that the flight from Nairobi was 30 minutes late, so we would be departing at least 30 mins late. Considering we had 45 mins to get to our connector, that did not leave much time. We were assured that if we missed the connecting flight, they would re-route us via Emirates.

We went through passport control, having assured everyone that we were only in transit in Kenya and therefore we did not need yellowfever jabs. We got some magazines to while away the time. We had a slow News Cafe brunch and meandered to gate 7. We realised that the 30 minute delay was probably optimistic but we were still hopeful. But we decided to buy water in SAA for our first night in Mumbai to brush teeth etc.

Our plane from Johannesburg to Nairobi was a mighty mini 737, small, compact, good in it's day. We were seated next to a professional hunter who is originally from SA and had been home for Christmas, he was on his way back to Kilimanjaro.

After take off, Palesa went in search of some flight crew to find out what was happening and what our options were. They informed her that we would only know shortly before landing wether the connecting flight would wait for us or not.

Zonker's seat was underperforming, rather it was insistent that it be in the reclined position, not matter how much he wanted to be in an upright position. So we moved a few seats back, and ended up next to a bunch og young, suntanees, weather beaten SA blokes. It transpired that they are working on oil rigs in the Cameroon and had been for the hols. They also had a phenomenal appetite for alcohol, really, really phenomenal.

[palesa]

As we approached Nairobi, it became increasingly clear that we had probably missed our connecting flight. We were hoping for a miracle or some kind of intervention so that we did not miss our connector to Mumbai. The Chief steward read a list of connectors and where they should go. Regrettably, our Mumbai flight was not announced, which meant that we should head to the Transit Desk, not good news. (Amazing Race foreboding moment)

As we stood in line at the transit desk, we realised that none of our co-travellers, headed for Mumbai were in the line. Zonker went to check the departures board and our flight was listed at gate 14 for final call. Self doubt set in. We backed our carry on luggage and made a dash for gate 14. When we got there, the plane was not there! Should have stayed at the Transit Desk. We did find all 24 of our fellow passengers at gate 14, a little confused as to what had happened. So we all headed back to the Transit Desk, where we were processed like a bunch of sausages in a sausage factory and dispatched to the Grand Regency Hotel, with a voucher in hand that allowed 2 by full board and 2, 3 minute phone calls.

We called the number that we had for our hotel in Mumbai, who were sending a taxi to meet us at the airport, and we could not get through. We had arrived in Nairobi on election day and EVERYTHING was closed, not internet connections, no supermarket, no corner cafe open. We eventually phoned Palesa's brother who sent an email to the Residency in Mumbai, we hoped that they would get the mail in time.

So we decided that we would embrace our situation and explore Nairobi, without toiletries, jammies, clothing etc.

We went to dinner and the porter at enquiries offered to go and hunt down a 24 hour pharmacy and get us some toothpaste and toothbrushes, small victory ... we could brush our teeth.

We had a comfy night's rest and woke up ready to hit the shops in Nairobi. We desperately wanted clean shirts, undies and a bit of deo. We had washed our undies (sort of) and dried them with the hairdryer, but somehow, they still felt like yesterday's undies.

We enjoyed our breakfast and headed out to find the markets, only to be told that it was still elections and public holidays. We may find the 24 hour supermarket had reopened, but not likely. So we took at stroll in the direction of the 24 hour supermarket and we literally stumbled into a darling little market where we bought shirts and other things that we did not need.

Well, not really. Alex, our "personal shopper", explained how the market works, it is a small community of artisans that have come together to sell their wares. Anyway, Alex takes you to each stall and behind him is a basket carrier, and you selections/purchases are places in the basket. No prices are mentioned. At the end of the "shoppers dash", we all sit down for a negotiation session. Very business like, Alex writes down a total price and draws a line for you to offer your price. Heated debate and many more number and lines were drawn. Eventually, everyone walked away happy and we had clean shirts to wear, and a few other bits and bobs.

We also managed to find the supermarket and managed to buy the few things we needed.

After a refreshing shower and a change into our new locally aquired undies, and lunch at the hotel, we caught the no-stress shuttle to the aiport. We were reassued that our luggage, which had spent the night at the airport, was fine and would be in Mumbai when we got there. And we mounted the 767 to Mumbai ..... at this stage, the boarding clerk raised concerns about us not having yellowfever certificates, a requirement when travelling from Nairobi to Mumbai. We hoped yellow fever and all other officials in the food chain would understand that we did not WANT to stay in Nairobi for 24 hours ...

[palesa]

After an uneventful flight and not more than 40 winks of sleep, we landed in Mumbai at about 2:00am on Sat 29 December.

After immigration (no questions asked regarding yellowfever certificates), customs etc, we exited the airport at about 3am to a sea of faces, bright lights, rows and rows and more rows of taxis, a new smell, a new taste and NO taxi to meet us. The e-mail that we had arranged to be sent through, had clearly not been received. Back into the arrival hall and booked a prepaid taxi, painless really, considering how stressed we were about this particular challenge. We arrived at our hotel at 3:30am and they had not kept our room. So there were were at 3:30 in the morning with no room in the Inn. Tired, irritated, weary and unsure of what to do next the receptionist offered to call a sister hotel and he managed to arrange accomodation there, for a few hundred more rupees of course. Not much choice, off we went to get a taxi driver .... well all we had to do was walk out our hotel and choose one of about 20 taxis in the street, knock on the window to wake the sleeping driver up and ask him if he would take us. The first one said, no, he is sleeping. Second one took us graciously. Luckily the hotel sent their porter with us to make sure we got to the right hotel. We later realised that the look he gave us when we paid the taxi driver and not him, was becasue we had not tipped him. Sorry dude, we were really tired and not thinking straight.

We hit our beds before we closed the door, but not before we had sent an alarm for 8am. Did not want to sleep our day in Mumbai away!

Mrs. Nokia (the time is 8 O'clock. It's time to get up) made her first of many annoying appearances of the trip. Tempting as it was to hit her, or snooze, we got up and had a tea and toast at the hotel. We then took a walk around Colaba, stumbled on a lovely fruit & veg market, saw a lady hanging her colorful saree out to dry from a hole in the roof of her house.

We touched, smelt, tasted India, we were overwhelmed, excited and weary. We bought a Punjabi for Palesa, sorted out a SIM card, got some cash, and were on our way to the domestic airport to travel to Udaipur. We were still deciding whether or not to cut our visit to Goa short and spend another day in Mumbai. We think this will be one of many trips to India; maybe we will leave Mumbai for one of those. Or not.

The trip to the airport was as colorful as the rest of our journey. Seemed shorter than the previous night, we then realised that we were next to the sea. (We *knew* that, but had not *seen* the sea); the difference night and day was, well, like night and day! The streets, that at night (and early morning) had been lined with parked taxis and people sleeping on the pavements, on the streets (the tar!) and on doorsteps, was now a hive of trading activity.

Check-in, flight and arrival at Udaipur was calm, no tense moments, except Palesa forgot that she had packed a few liquids in her hand lugage, realised as they were about to search her and, as the men and women are separated for security checks, did not even have Zonker to strategise with. Turns out, no worries!

[palesa]

Arrived at Udaipur airport and called our guest house to confirm the reservation, while waiting for luggage only to be told that our reservation had not been confirmed. Turns out that a reservation does not mean much in India. So we called another entry in our guide book; yes they have a room. We got a prepaid taxi (best invention EVER) and off we headed to our newly booked accommodation. Turns out a reservation does not mean much in India! (new mantra) Sorry we are full. Fortunately, Ram from Poonam Haveli guided us in to his hotel a showed us an expensive, lake view room, (no thanx) and then a cheaper one. So we booked in, just as an American couple who had also asked to see rooms, and had turned them down, came back 1hr later because Udaipur was full; they had not been able to find another room at any Inn. (Turns out Udaipur is very popular for New Year, which is what we had been told, and the only reason that we had made a reservation in the first instance)

We of loaded our baggage and headed out for a walk around town. The little windy streets, filled with little shops. They do their craft and sell it and sleep in the same room. Those that are lucky have a room upstairs. We had to restrain ourselves from buying everything that we laid eyes on. We took many turns, nearly got run over by rickshaws, taxis, bicycles, scooters; a weird traffic system that almost works. Not sure how. The roads are not wide enough for two vehicles but they manage to negotiate their way past each other; oh, and don't forget the cows, goats, dogs, chickens, the odd pigeon, donkey and lots of people. We got back to our hotel exhausted and overwhelmed. (got lost and had to get a rickshaw to the hotel).

The front desk clerk offered to book us a rickshaw/guide for Sunday, which we accepted. We realised that it would be beneficial to have a guide to show us around. He was to pick us up at 10:00. We both struggled to sleep. Udaipur is vibrant and busy till very late and from very early. Luckily Zonker had bought some earplugs and we shut ourselves off from the noisy world.

What ?Sunday 30th already? In and out of sleep from about 5am, when the roads start waking up. And cows, dogs, goats, chickens etc. And shop keepers.

We have still not plucked up the courage to try anything other than tea and toast for brekkie. Our guide and rickshaw driver arrived (Just call me "D"). What a nice chap! Eloquent, knowledgable, philosophical, super sense of humor. Truly made for a memorable day out. We saw temples, mausoleums, markets, an art school with stunning miniature, detailed paintings (done with one squirrel hair brush (no making this up!)) We learnt of dynasties and moguls and warriors and castes and cultures and love and politics and epic battles. D also speaks french, so Zonker traded his 15 fluent word for two paragraphs of well spoken french - by an Indian.

Once again we wished we could buy all we saw. We made it back to our hotel by 6pm, dazed, enlightened and buzzing. We hope to see and use D again before we leave.

After (our first) curry for supper, early, we donned out money and bargaining caps, and headed out into the sacred cow-poo streets. We paid better attention to our route so we could find our own way home. This is another world. 8 pm on a Sunday night, and hundreds of shopkeepers are plying their trade.

Some of the hotels and locations seem to be testing their fireworks for old year's night tomorrow. *bang* *bang* *bang*. Extra earplugs tonight.

After a good night's sleep (good being restful, even though some adjusted body-clock wakes you at five, local time) and breakfast (only adventurous anough to try toast and masala tea - Ouma rusks and Pronutro *NOT* on the menu!), we set off in search of tailors, materials and some other nik-naks. Once we had done the amazing : (chosen fabric, explained the stylerequired, got measured and been assured the garment would be ready by six that evening), we flagged a rickshaw and headed off to a nearby cultural village, which promised regional dancing, lifestyles and merchandise. An informative experience, even though we seemed to arrive as the group were packing up to head back into the hills. Some vendors even re-opened their boxed goods in an effort to flag the tourists down for one last sale.

But now we known how village dwellers keep their houses cool, mosquito free, store their perishables, etc.

Once back in "town", we did some last minute, last minute browsing, then went to the room to re-group and prepare for a night of festivities - Z & P style. Tailored garments were collected as promised. Beautiful workmanship, cannot wait for that ROYAL WEDDING invite so we can show of our wares...


(this is as much as we typed up when we got back, I am now inspired to finish typing it up, but it may take a while)

[spindrift]

Did you visit the Lake Palace Hotel? (I hope you did).

[bixaorellana]

Gawd -- I LOVED reading this & can't wait for the next installment! You included all that stuff that people endure when traveling, but managed to make it edge-of-the-seat reading. (will they make the flight connection?!)

Also, you really captured that sense of being in a truly different place -- confused but fascinated and captured by the spirit and life there.

You all really know how to get along with whatever comes along! The suspension of your own sense of how things work while you shopped in the Nairobi market is not something everyone could pull off.

One question -- right at the end, you say:

But now we known how village dwellers keep their houses cool, mosquito free, store their perishables, etc.
What did you mean by that, please?

[Deleted]

Yes, this really makes for fantastic reading, especially if one has been through similar circumstances, because you can imagine quite well the next step and also that there are 20 different possibilities ranging from wonderful surprises to the gates of hell.

India can be totally overwhelming for a lot of people, but if you stay completely zen and have the necessary patience, just about everything works out fine and there are tons of people who authentically want to help you.

"Expect the unexpected."

[palesa]

(Bix, I am not ignoring your question, I will answer you!)

1/1/2008
HAPPY NEW YEAR
I am writing this as I sit on the rooftop restaurant at Poonam Haveli, waiting for breakfast to arrive, listening to the sounds of Udaipur waking up. The parties went on until late in the night, or rather early in the morning. We saw 2008 in, the first time in many years that we have seen the changing of the year. The fireworks were magnificent and went on for about 45 minutes, behind us, in front us to the left and to the right, over the lake and even from a boat in the middle of the lake. The city was alight with a colourful sky, once can only imagine what Divali must be like. Our hotel was quiet, only 5 of us on the roof watching the spectacle, the rest, we suspect, were out smoking weed and dancing to twangy Indian music, with a little Britney Spears in the mix.
Listening to Udaipur wake up, is an experience in itself. First the calls to prayer at sunrise, then the rickshaw engines and hooters then the sound of the women beating their clothes clean on the steps of the lake. Slowly the city awakens as shop keepers open their shops, the sound of roller doors being unlocked and opened. Dog’s fighting over last night’s street food, cows mooing at the Tata’s to get out of the way, children’s voices and the sound of construction starting. All this mingled with the odd squirrel chirrup.
After breakfast we started packing our backpacks, we think we are much better at it than we were this time last week. We had made arrangements with Doulat (rickshaw driver) to meet us at 10:00, he promised to show us “his” Udaipur, it was also starting to get cool and we needed to find some warm clothing. Doulat took us to do some admin, topped up our airtime and bought some warm clothing at the Tibetan market. The ladies at the Tibetan market found it difficult to find a jersey with arms long enough for Zonker. Once all the admin was wrapped up he took us to see views of the city from different angles, SPECTACULAR. We also had the joy of seeing a puppet show and we took a long trip through the village and up the mountain to the Monsoon Palace. The views were magnificent. Then we went and had a stroll around the Princess’ Gardens, also an awesome experience. Solid marble elephants grace the pools, the most amazing water fountain system put in place hundreds of years ago. And as usual Palesa had a gaggle of children following her and wanting to have their photos taken, this was to become a natural occurrence during our journey.
After another awesome day in Udaipur in the company of our philosopher, guide and trickster we are whiling away the time until our train leaves for Jaipur at 21:40. We are going to see some tribal dances this evening and then off to the station.
We have loved Udaipur and wish that we could spend a few more days soaking up the ambience and the people of the city. So much to do, so much to see, so much to fee, so much to taste and so much to smell. I wonder if a lifetime would be long enough.

A FEW EXTRA NOTES and OBSERVATIONS
Parts of the James Bond movie, Octopussy were filmed in Udaipur, with the result is almost every single hotel in Udaipur has a 7pm screening of Octopussy.
At the Monsoon Palace, we remember watching a group of school children playing a game of tag, that they understood, but made no sense to us!
We also had the privilege of having our palms read by an artist/shop keeper and we are pleased to say that at least one of his predictions has come true.
DOULAT
D, was our rickshaw driver, who was in the final stages of becoming an accredited tourist guide. We were very lucky to have crossed his path. He is wise, witty and mischievous. Here are some of his sayings, poems and analogies:
Kissing is the key to love, love is the seal of Marriage, Marriage is a box of children, children are the problem of India (too many children) therefore, if you love India, don’t kiss a girl.

Why worry, you only need to worry about 2 things are you healthy or not.
If you are healthy, nothing to worry about
If you are sick, you have 2 things to worry about, will you get well or will you die
If you get well, nothing to worry about
If you die, you have 2 things to worry about , are you going to heaven or to hell
If you are going to heaven, nothing to worry about
And if you go to hell, you will be too busy shaking hands with friends to have time to worry.

Some people are wise. Some people are otherwise.

LIFE, take away the L and E, you’re left with IF. In Life, decisions need to be made.