Jaipur

My second night train ride passed smoothly in part because I now had the correct ticket from point A to point B, but also thanks to an investment I made on my first day in Udaipur - a brand new lock for my luggage as well as a metal chain and a lock to chain the bag to the seats in the compartment. In case you're wondering how that works - under the lowest berth (i.e. the regular bench/seat thingy) there are metal loops. You put your metal chain through the loop and your bag as tight as you can and lock it. And then you cuddle up with your valuables in the top berth throughout the night. Cosy!

From backpacker hustle to a private chauffeur. Getting off the night train, I was met by Ajay at the platform. He was at that point a friend of a friend of a friend. Yeah... Anyhow, he, as many locals do, took the task of hosting a guest deep into his heart - or as the Indian proverb states: a guest at home is god at home.

Being a man with a substantial bank account, he had his own driver take us around all day in Jaipur. Although the sheltered guided tour wasn't really what I would chose to do, this turned out to be a great opportunity to learn more about his India, some Indian customs and, as it turned out, I have now been included in the family and invited for his youngest daughter's wedding in December. The groom was found through a marriage bureau in Delhi and just a few days after returning to Stockholm, I received an email with some pictures from the girl's ring ceremony.

In Jaipur, I saw the pink city (mainly from the car windows) and a beautiful palace outside of town that probably most tourists miss since it's not easily accessible. I enjoyed dinner with my host and his brother at the rotating restaurant (the floor moves allowing the guests to enjoy the full panorama view of the city). To their delight I managed to pick up quite a few Hindi phrases during the day. To my distress, sitting backwards on the rotating floor made me feel upset my stomach and I ended up sitting on the same side as the two gentlemen mid way through dinner.

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The Cold City of Sun

Udaipur was my second stop after Surat. It was where I gave up, gained hope and the city I came to enjoy and hate. All in three days.

The fun began already on the train, where I was abruptly woken up at 6 a.m. by a gentleman in my compartment whom I had previously asked when the train would be arriving in Udaipur. As it turned out, I was lucky to have done so since the train was dividing into two at the upcoming stop and I was on the wrong end. He helped me find the right half of the train and made sure I got on alright. I don't quite know why he lingered by the door when I went it - was it to see that I was safe? waiting for a tip? or to make sure that I didn't notice that my lock on my bag had been messed with (I only noticed this at the hotel room)?

In the correct compartment but without an assigned seat, I was invited to sit with a family travelling to somewhere before Udaipur. Close by I found students and a surgeon that apparently travelled often to various odd places in Sweden for conferences and such on their way to Udaipur for a conference. Just to beat off your stereotypes about men abroad - this guy was going to medical conference in Udaipur not to present or participate. He was going to babysit his 11 month old daughter while his wife was participating. This along with him knowing that he's a kakkirurg (for those that don't speak Swedish this means jaw surgeon) and a number of odd towns up north really impressed me.

Sightseeing in Udaipur, and Rajastan for that matter, is absolutely amazing. My top spot is definitely the Monsoon palace situated up on a hill overlooking the city and much of the surrounding area. You'll have to get an autorikshah for 200 rupees or 150 (if you cross the brige from the old town and bargain for the price). A picture speaks a million or so words, so I'll allow my pictures to do most of the talking once I get them uploaded. One thing is certain - to me, that was the spot when I first felt I was in Rajastan. Not in a small town with a fairytale palace, a temple, a thousand autorikshahs and hundreds of tourist shops and restaurants. In Rajastan - the powerful state of deserts and mountains, hot days and cold nights. This was also where I fell in love with the landscapes, began to enjoy my unsheltered journey and gained the strength to make it through the rest of my time up north.

The highlight of the boat ride around the Lake Palace was seeing the women wash clothes on the shore and visiting a cafe where chai cost 180 Rps per cup instead of the 4-10 Rps you'd be paying anywhere else.

In the City Palace I ended up getting an "authorized guide" who was much more interested in checking his reflection in the mirror rather than guiding. For anyone planning to see the palace with a guide, keep in mind that the whole "half of the profit from our [ridiculously overpriced] shops goes to poor families in Kashmeer" is just talk you shouldn't fall for. The whole experience felt like a Bangkok rerun for me and this ended up being the only "authorized guide" I took on for the rest of my stay in India.

The food in the old part of town turned out to be a huge disappointment. Maybe I got spoiled by the home cooked meals in Surat, but the chai at the Poonam Haveli (where I stayed) and a number of other places was absolutely aweful (tasted as though they've added butter to it). Maxim's Cafe (one of the few food recommendations by Lonely Planet I agree with) had the best chai I found in Udaipur and their staff, especially Nicky, were really friendly and kind. The one place I can recommend for dinner is the Natraj Dining Hall (situated between the bus and train stations) rather than the Natraj you'll find in the LP. Amazing and tasty all-you can eat thalis for 70 Rps. You get six different dishes, chapati, roti, sallad, sweets... and it just keeps coming. And you know it's THE food when you and your company are the only foreigners there!

I must say that in general the guide book refers you to highly touristic places you'll run into anyhow since they're right by the attractions and in someplaces it proved to be completely off - the familiar atmosphere at the Sunrise restaurant where the family supposedly would join for a moment of people watching (I believe that's how it was phrased) turned out to be two guys serving in a rather empty restaurant where one takes your order only for man no 2 to show up 3 min later and ask you what you're having so that he can write it down... Go figure. From being a big Lonely Planet fan, I must say I got rather diappointed with their recommendations this time.

I spent all three evenings in company of different other travellers - a Brittish world-savior I met at my hotel, a Czech couple I picked up in my rikshah on the bottom of the Monsoon Palace and a Brazilian I met in a French bakery. Would you believe that someone told them they could walk up that huge mountain in 20 min?!??

The days I spent making my way around the area in a rikshah that cost 200 Rps for a "day's" sightseeing. Now, the rikshah situation in Udaipur was erghmmm different. I got off the train and when I saw the masses of rikshah drivers all trying to pick someone up, I made my way through the crowd to catch up with a couple ahead which turned out to be Belgian. The guy had already been to Udaipur before, so he knew where they were going. I thought I knew, since I got a hotel recommendation from a colleague. Our driver was Jamil - a friendly and chatty little fellow, who gladly showed us all his recommendation book from supposedly other tourists that had previously "rented" him for the day. Once the couple got out by the brige, and I found out at my hotel choice that it was almost full and I coupld have a room for one night only (at 1500 Rps) I decided to take up Jamil on the offer of showng me a place close by. Since the room was clean looking, and I asked quickly a group of Polish people sitting up on the rooftop how they liked it there, I decided to stay.

After my adventures that night I opted for not contracting Jamil that day and ended up walking the town myself. It turned out to be quite a hassle to get away from all the stores and rikshah drivers, so I wanted to meet Jamil the following morning. When I was told my rikshah had arrived, a completely different person was there - Jamil's "brother" Bunty. Bunty's English was poorer and he was obviously less at ease dealing with people, so the following day, when I again wanted to be shown around, I specifically asked for Jamil again and explained to the hotel manager that I wanted to aviod the situation from the previous day by making the call early. Bunty showed up again. During this day however, I found out why Jamil was always busy with other tourists when I called - Bunty apparently wanted to be my driver. He had spotted me already when I made my way through the crowd at the train station he was part of. When he said that I just pretneded like I didn't hear it and decided to cut the sightseeing shorter.

Hugs for now,

Rikshah driver's heartbreaker

Kerala Specials

On the mosquito menu at "Gracy's":
Apetizer: feet.
Entre: a nice chunk of a thigh.
Main course: crus - calf and shin. Yum!
Dessert: a knuckle.

Rules of Conduct

1. Remove the side mirror on the passenger's side. You will not be using it anyways.

2. Make sure to have your car blessed regularily, decorate it with flowers and all the amulets your family, friends and neighbours will give you. You'll need all the good luck you can get.

3. Remove all the belts except for the driver's - they'll only be in the way, when your mother in law, your cousin, her husbands sister and their three kids will try to ride with you in the back.

4. Honk your horn loud and clear for a s long as it takes to let the others near you know where you are. Honk to let them know you're passing by, make them move out of your way, make sure they know that you intend to turn, in anger or just as a reply to their honking. The more the merrier.

5. Passing other vehicles (see below) just from one side is just not creative enough. Snake your way through the traffic in the way of "today's specials". You are creative, so show me your best!

6. In traffic, you will meet the following: cars, elephants, buses, camels, trucks, cows, auto-rikshahs, goats, rikshahs, bikes, donkeys, motorbikes, pedestrians and an occasional deer (yes, one has beek spotted pulling a cart). Embrace the variety.

7. Unless intending to carry the people in no 3, do not enter traffic in a car. You'll get by faster and smoother in most of the other wheel driven vehicles.

8. To turn, quickly wave your hand to the side you intend to go. If in a car and intending to turn left, get your passenger to do it.

9. Your car shows the speed in miles and the signs are in km? How's counting anyways, right?

10. All you need is a honk! A hoooooooonk is all you need!

The Inside Story

The two days in the Surat area were an amazing experience. My friend's family was warm, open and hospitable and the time I spent there provided me with much better insight than most turists are ever able to have. Thanks to my friend's Sis P, I was also able to communicate with the rest of the family, where apart from the sisters' parents English was not really the way to go.

We spent most of the time at my friend's cousins' place - the two brothers live with their families side by side in one house. The living room, balcony and the terrace are the areas that join the two houses and the rooms and kitchens are separate. Since the death of their father two years ago, their mother lives with them and is cared for by her sons - as traditionally expected. Both borthers have wives and two children - one has two sons over the age of 20 and living at home whilst the other's children are still in school. The two latter are in two different boarding schools, both pretty far away, so I only saw them on pictures. The schools seem really good though and the family chose to send the children away to provide them with a better education than availale at the local schools and more discipline than the parents would have been able to exercise with the TV in the house...

People here LOVE swings - they're pretty much everywhere! In the living room, on the balcony overlooking the entrance to the house and in front of every house in my friend's grandmother's village - rectangular sofa thingies with pillows hanging down from the ceiling. Don't get me wrong - they're fun, nice and comfy. I just found it to be an interesting observation.

The food at home was absolutely delicious and the Indian cuisine has such a variety of flavours and consistencies! It was rather spicy from morning till dawn, but yummie. We even had a dosa (crispy pancake served with dhal) out in the market area and I really enjoyed having it with all the other local shoppers... again as the only white person in sight. It was also interesting to see how the idea of noteworthy is different in my western eyes as compared to theirs - the special and good restaurant they took me to one night was a food court looking thing with table service.

Shopping for sarees was a lot of fun! You sit down on a huge mattress along with all the other shoppers and the sales staff shows you the things you tell them you would like to see (or more like their interpretation of what they think you said you want). I haven't seen a single woman working in these stores, so the men bring out the fabrics and try on some of the sarees for you (yes, pictures are coming as soon as I get my picts onto a CD). As far as my own shopping goes, I am now a proud owner of two sarees a couple of packets of pappadum and masala chai (black tea cooked in half water half milk with the Indian masala spices) ingredients.

The grandmother's village was a tiny little place far out there with 13 houses or so. Granny was absolutely adorable and apparently kept herself busy by knowing everyones going-ons in the village. I guess our visit, although brief, was a welcome "disturbance" to the quiet and slow life out there.

Leaving the family was not easy, and I wished I could have stayed a day or two longer. The train to Udaipur leaves only twice a week, so that choice was unfortunately made for me. However, I don't think Surat is much of a tourist attraction in itself and getting practically chased down the platform by a weird 50 year old local upon arrival wasn't the highlight of this stop, so make sure you know someone there ;-)

Bombay Madness

As some of you know, I landed in the land of yoga, pakoras and chai on Monday morning. The trip was relatively comfy (although I was being squished by a whale that required a belt extension to buckle up between Sthlm and Helsinki). As previously arranged by my awesome former flatmate D Tea, I called her friend after leaving customs. The Indian quick was stretched to an hour, but as I was mentally prepared for it I used that time to read up a bit. V was absolutely fantastic and helped me out with train tickets, a local pre-paid Vodaphone SIM and monetary exchange. Once that was all taken care off, V headed of to work and I found myself speeding across the streets of Bombay in a cab surrounded by the herds of cockroach look-a-likes called rikshah.

In town, my only stop was the gate to India and once it made its way onto my camera's memory card, I sat down in Leopold Cafe (along with all other tourists) and enjoyed a snack with a Brittish girl who was also enjoying her meal alone. A kadai paneer and some advice later, she was off to meet up with her friend who had just arrived and I took off for the Bombay Central station to catch my train to Surat. The train ride was very pleasant and I shared the compartment with four other tourists and a Jaian pilgrim traveling with apparently the rest of the train for an annual spiritual youth get together up north. We got some food and snacks and dessert, all of which was fully eatable and even somewhat tasty.

In Surat, I was set to meet a former colleagues sister and cousin - both of which I had never met in my entire life... Being the only (as far as I could see) white person there, I was easily spotted and having seen a picture of my colleague's sister I was relieved to know I wasn't being kidnapped. Tbc as my internet cafe is closing early today due to cold weather... Namaste!