Craig & Jeane 2010 Trip Report: Varanasi, Udaipur & Aurangabad + Bangkok
 

WHY INDIA AGAIN?

By way of introduction, Jeane and I are experienced travelers in our mid-50's. Our first trip to Asia was Thailand in 2000. With a couple of exceptions, we have returned to Asia 2-1/2 weeks at a time, each year since then. We have visited Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Bali and Vietnam. Our first trip to India was in 2005. While it was a good first exposure to India, we barely scratched the surface of this huge country, visiting Delhi, Jaipur, Agra and Ranthambore (Park). We knew that if we did nothing else in India, we needed to return to visit the holy city of Varanasi. Since almost all of our Asian trips have begun or ended in Bangkok, I started our planning this year by looking at the daily Thai Airways flight between Bangkok and Varanasi. The flight operates in the winter months only, so it worked out for us in February. Based on the experiences of a couple of other prominent Fodorites - Kathie and dogster, we decided to add 8 days in Nepal to our itinerary and finish up with 3 days in Bangkok. It was not to be – about a month before we were scheduled to depart, we started to hear about frequent strikes or “bandhs” that were occurring regularly all over the country. During these strikes, areas of Nepal were effectively shut down – no commerce, no taxi's, no services. We heard about protesters stationed at key intersections setting cars of those that did not honor the strike on fire. We heard about tourists unable to make it to the airport. We decided to change our plans at pretty much the last minute.

Since we already had our visas, the logical thing to do was to explore more of India. After considering airfares and times and consulting with the helpful folks on this board, we decided to substitute Udaipur and Aurangabad for Nepal. For the most part, it worked out well. However, our itinerary now had 13 sets of take-offs and landings over 17 days. While it was good that the number of take-offs and landings turned out to be equal, it was way too much time in airports. I'll go into all the gory details as this trip report unfolds...

great start...we now know who you are and where you hope to go...

Waiting for more! Pictures too please.

Anxiously awaiting the gory details. Relax Bob, I think you've been home too long....

Aloha!

Looking forward to all the details, "gory" and otherwise...

GETTING OUT OF DODGE

So it begins. Chicago was hit by a big snow storm on our departure day. Fortunately, United issued a travel waiver for O'Hare 24 hours in advance so we were able reroute through Washington Dulles without penalty, although we had to fly economy for the first leg. We took off on time from Hartford. On arrival in DC, we headed to the Red Carpet lounge for a long layover. Typical dumpy domestic lounge with spotty wifi. It was empty though as flights were being cancelled everywhere. Fortunately our flight to Narita was not one of them and we left on time. Later that day, Washington got walloped with snow. The 14 hour flight in business class to Narita was better than expected – reasonably good food, totally lie-flat seats and AVOD. We opted for the Red Carpet lounge at Narita for the 2 hour layover – wifi there worked well. I slept for almost the entire 7 hour flight from Narita to Bangkok – the United lie flat seats are the best I've had in business class.

We arrived at BKK to the usual lines at immigration - about a 20 minute wait. We had not stayed at an airport hotel in Bangkok since Suvarnabhumi opened. However, the Novotel worked well for us this time. As luck would have it, we were the last ones to hop on the convenient shuttle to the hotel after picking up our bags. It was a very short trip but I would not want to walk it. We chose to stay on the executive floor – there was a separate check-in but it was not busy at 12:15 AM when we arrived. The Novotel is relatively new, but seems ready for a refurbishment – still it is a nice hotel but 4 star at best. Our room was quiet and had a nice view of the pool. We had a good night's sleep and didn't feel much jet-lag in the morning. We used the free computers in the executive lounge to let our families know that we had arrived safely.

VARANASI

Our 5-hour flight to Varanasi left at noon which allowed us time to enjoy a nice buffet breakfast in the hotel lounge. We have had several trips to Bangkok where we really did not have much time to recover before moving on. I stopped at the airport duty-free to make some purchases since booze other than beer is expensive or non-existent in India. The flight to Varanasi was long due to a short stop at Gaya, a Buddhist pilgrimage site. Arrival at Varanasi was fairly straightforward – the airport is quite small. A porter guided us through the process – I was questioned about my duty-free liquor purchase but I knew I wasn't bringing in more than the allowance so there were no hassles. I had reconfirmed our driver from the hotel before we left and he was waiting for us in the parking lot. When we got to our car, I gave the porter the standard fee. He then tried to hit me up for additional rupees for some of the other “helpers” so I had to shut the car door in his face to get rid of him.

The drive to Rashmi/Palace on the River was a long one – almost an hour. Since Varanasi was celebrating the marriage of Shiva, traffic was even worse than usual. Our drop-off point was near an alley that led to the hotel. Two young men were waiting for us and helped us with our stuff. They had uniforms and hotel badges so we knew they were legit. Check-in went quickly – we got Cokes and flower garlands to wear around our necks. Our guide and handler, Pappu was in the lobby to great us and take our photo. The price for the hotel worked out to $141 a night including airport transfers, taxes and breakfast. We had room 302 which has one of the two best views of the river activity. The other was room 303 across the hall from us which was occupied by Debbe (“Live42day”) and her husband, Doug. Our room was small but not tiny. Debbe mentioned in her report that there was barely room to “swing a cat” - maybe so. We had twin beds and everything was very clean. There was a safe in the room and a minibar. There was also a hairdryer, small shampoo, tiny soap and 2 bottles of water. I was glad we brought our own big bar of soap. I was surprised that there was a phone in the bathroom. It was warm that afternoon so we had to call the front desk and ask them to get our a/c and fan working. This was clearly a 2 star hotel but the location couldn't be beat.

We agreed to meet up with Pappu for a boat ride at sunset, giving us just enough time to unpack. The boat ride was fantastic. Pappu learned to speak English by selling post cards to tourists. Somehow along the way he hooked up with the Rashmi/Palace doing tours and now he is in great demand. He encouraged us to take photographs of anything we wanted, saying that because he knows everybody it would be okay. The boat driver took us to the big burning ghat. Sure enough, when Jeane tried to take a photo, someone objected and Pappu smoothed it over with the guy. After spending some time at the burning ghat and hearing about the cremation process, we returned to the main ghat next door to the hotel where the nightly aarti was occurring. The performance was captivating and the view from the river was great. The crowd was huge that night. We told Pappu that we wanted to see the aarti again from a different perspective, closer to the action.

We met up with Debbe and Doug for dinner at the hotel's rooftop “Dolphin” restaurant. They were from Vancouver. Debbe recently wrote an excellent trip report of their one-month sojourn to India under her “Live42day” moniker. We enjoyed several meals with them during our 3-night stay, sharing travel experiences and comparing notes. The views from the restaurant were fabulous. The food was good and reasonably priced. We ate vegetarian there and everywhere else in India. Each day we purchased a couple of bottles of water at the restaurant since it was relatively cheap and easier than finding it outside of the hotel.

We slept fairly well that night. The beds were hard but not uncomfortable and we had earplugs, a definite necessity as it was noisy all night long – dogs barking, people shouting, calls to prayer, noises in the restaurant just above our room etc.

Pappu met us early the next morning for our sunrise boat ride. Pappu had made the arrangements for the previous evening and the morning with our boat driver. While the rates seemed okay, I think we were getting about an hour and 5 minutes while being charged for 2 hours. The sun never really came up that day but the cloudy mist just added to the morning experience of watching the throngs of people either bathing in the Ganges or just standing around talking. In spite of the poor lighting, I think we got some great photos of this most colorful scene. It was amazing to me that people would not only bathe in the river but they would bring there hands up to their mouths and drink the river water.

We returned to the hotel for breakfast. Pappu said he would meet us again at 10:30 for a walking tour of the area. He told us that he was going for a dip in the river while we ate and that he was also fasting for the day – only water and chai allowed. Pappu took his Hindu religion quite seriously and would probably have tried to convert us, given the opportunity.

At 10:30, Pappu was waiting for us in the hotel lobby. It had started to rain and Pappu asked if we had brought umbrellas. We were attempting to travel a bit lighter on this trip so with no rain in the forecast, we had no umbrellas. We did have waterproof shells however, so we returned to our room to retrieve them. Our walking tour took us through many of the little alleys by the river – while it would have been difficult to get lost if we were on our own, it was nice having Pappu along to explain things and show us things that we would not even know were there. It poured at times but we managed to stay dry, except for our shoes which became covered with a mixture of mud, cow dung and god knows what else. Pappu showed us the line of people for one of the Hindu temples – hundreds of people standing on line for hours in the rain, waiting to get in. We encountered men on more than one occasion, using the outdoors as their toilet – we wondered how the women coped... Toward the end of the tour, we had the obligatory stops at a silk shop and an ayurvedic medicine shop. Jeane looked at some silks, more interested in using the silk fabric to make pillows than in having a sari made. She resisted the hard sell and ultimately decided that she did not need to buy. Our visit with the ayurvedic medicine seller was actually quite interesting. We probably spent an hour with the man, sharing chai and talking. We met his daughter who is studying English in college and eventually made a couple of small purchases. We stopped at one more silk shop where we ran into Debbe who had just made a purchase. We decided to move on and returned to the hotel. I don't think we would have found any of these places on our own as they were all hidden in back alleys.

Debbe and Doug had told us of a special place where they had watched the aarti the previous evening and we had asked Pappu if he could take us there. We agreed to meet him at 6 PM. In the meantime we used one of the hotel's 3 computers set aside for guests and did some internet. It was slow but nice to get on line to check e-mail and Fodor's. The hotel charges a nominal fee to use the computers.

The aarti that evening was much less crowded due to the rain. It drizzled on and off but we were still able to get some nice photos from what turned out to be an outdoor restaurant situated right above the stage. I tried the video setting on my camera to record some of the ceremony – hopefully I can figure out how to post it on youtube. We finished off the day with dinner at our hotel restaurant.

The next day Pappu had arranged for a driver to take us to Sarnath, about 45 minutes from Varanasi. Our driver's name was Shukla – he turned out to be a fairly good guide as well. We started at the Archeological Museum where we spent about 45 minutes checking out the various ancient sculptures gathered from around the area. Our next stop was a stunning Buddhist monastery and temple. Worship was in progress so we could only take photos of the interesting architecture outside. The inside however was the most beautifully decorated space we had ever seen inside a Buddhist temple. We went in and sat down, leaving our cameras and shoes with Shukla outside the temple. Inside, monks of all ages were chanting, singing and playing their instruments. It was a surreal scene, peaceful. Jeane and I sat down on the floor behind the monks and took it all in. We sat in the lotus position for about a ½ hour, just looking, listening and enjoying this beautiful spot. Finally, my old legs had tired so it was time to move on.

We headed to the Dhamekh Stupa where the Buddha is said to have delivered a famous sermon. Nearby was a small shop where a Tibetan painter displayed thangkas for sale. They were quite striking in their detail – we were thinking that since we would not be making it to Nepal where thangkas are ubiquitous, we would consider a purchase. We discussed prices and decided to think about it for a while. Near the stupa was a Jain temple. Shukla came in with us and introduced us to the temple priest who gave us a fairly detailed overview of the Jain religion and it's central philosophy of non-violence toward all living things. We found what we learned from him to be helpful when we visited the Jain temple at Ranakpur. His description was accompanied by a showing of photos of Jain High Priests with “everything” on display (apparently clothing is optional). We made a small donation, thanked the priest for his time and headed out of the temple to a spot where we could photograph the Dhamekh Stupa before leaving. On the way back to the car, Jeane and I decided we would purchase one of the thangkas that we liked. Our guide suggested that there would not be much room for negotiation. Fortunately we were comfortable with the asking price and proceeded to make our purchase.

We continued on, stopping briefly at a small but pretty Japanese Buddhist temple. It was mid-afternoon by now and we still had to visit the Hindu University in Varanasi which would complete our education on India's great religions for the day. Shukla stopped and bought us a chai along the way. The main stop for us at the University was the Hindu temple. Shukla took his time describing the various deities on display – with Hinduism, the more I hear, the more I get confused but I am starting to understand the religion a little better. It was time to return to the hotel and I said so – it would be dark soon and we had had enough for one day. Shukla gently resisted, even wanted to stop for chai one more time – I firmly insisted that he take us back to the hotel. It seemed he was trying to run out the clock. While it had been a good day, this was a stressful way to finish it.

Finally back at the hotel, we enjoyed our last dinner – Debbe and Doug showed up at the tail end of our meal and we agreed to have breakfast together before departing the next day.

Our airport transfer was scheduled for 11 am so we had plenty of time to pack up our things and organize for our flight. I was up for sunrise but it did not materialize – I took some photos from the restaurant of dawn breaking over the Ganges. We had a nice breakfast with Debbe and Doug. Pappu stopped by and took a photo of all of us. We also had our photo taken with Pappu. We had paid him the night before at the going rate – he seemed happy with with what we gave him. We had one final goodbye with Debbe and Doug, just before we left for the airport. On the way to the airport, some guy appeared out of nowhere, insisting to the driver that he be allowed to share a ride with us. Even if the car wasn't as tiny as it was (barely enough room for us and our luggage), I wouldn't have let him. I had to yell at the driver to get moving again. I am glad that Varanasi was not the first place I ever visited in India – it does require some “street smarts” to cope. When we arrived at the airport, we were able to obtain luggage carts without the help of the porters for the very short walk to the terminal. Upon arrival we discovered that this flight on Kingfisher Air like every subsequent flight we had in India had been delayed. That being said, Kingfisher was an excellent airline. Kingfisher employees would always walk us through the security/check-in process and help us with our bags when we arrived at our destination. Snacks and water were available free of charge on all flights. As I mentioned in my “live” report, we had seat function issues but only on this one flight.

Craig, I've been looking forward to this report. Thanks for all of the excellent detail!

Welcome back. Varanasi is indeed amazing! It's unfortunate when guides,no doubt in search of better tips, don't abide by established norms. On the Ganges our guide told us well in advance that there is a "no photo" zone in the area of the cremations and once we reached a designated place on the river all cameras/videos must be put away. I guess these rules don't apply to Pappu's guests.

A Hindu Yankee fan? Talk about an oxymoron! As always, a timely and informative report. Can't wait to see yur pictures.

Eagerly awaiting more! I've nearly decided on India for our autumn trip.

Excellent report! Looking forward to more. Interesting about photos of cremations vis-a-vis Marija's experience...

I'm enjoying your report! Maybe some day I'll get to India.
Carol

Welcome home. Wonderful reporting, as always. We, too, thought Rashmi Guest House and Pappu were great flavoring to the stew that is Varanasi. Just finished watching a 4 fine hour PBS special on India, see what you think.

fantastic....can't wait to read more...

OVERNIGHT IN DELHI

A driver from the Radisson met us at the airport and in 15 minutes we were at the hotel. I had received a text message from our Rotary exchange student earlier in the day and replied that we would be arriving a bit late. I hadn't heard back from her so I tried to call from my cell phone without success. I also tried to call her aunt whose cell phone number I had but got voice mail. We checked into our room on the Club Floor and shortly thereafter my cell phone rang. It was our exchange student's mom. They were staying in Connaught Place – where did we want to meet? It was already about 6 PM and we had to get to the airport early the next morning so I suggested that they come to the Radisson – happy hour in the Club Lounge was 7 to 9 so it would be perfect. The ladies arrived about an hour later and we headed to the Club Lounge. I had inquired via e-mail whether guests were permitted and the response was that they were not – so I chose to ignore the e-mail. It was a Sunday night and the Lounge was fairly empty. We found a couple of sofas across from each other and sat down. Shortly thereafter a server came to take drink orders. Most lounges that I have been to have buffets at happy hour – this one did not. Instead, a selection of hors d'oeuvres was brought to us with our drinks – veg pastries, chicken satays, mixed nuts etc. -enough for the ladies to make a meal out of it. Jeane and I were not very hungry as we had been well fed in business class on our Kingfisher flight. We had a pleasant time catching up with our exchange student, her mother and her aunt. I encouraged them to visit the Mughal Gardens at the Presidential Palace while they were in Delhi. All too quickly it was time for them to go. The server discretely called me over and indicated that I needed to pay for the ladies' drinks – I signed the check to my room and we were on our way.

We enjoyed a really fine buffet breakfast the next morning – lots to choose from and a big change from the rather basic breakfast served at our Varanasi hotel. For about 12 hours we did not feel like we were in India anymore – the Radisson could have been anywhere on the planet and, after Varanasi it was a refreshing break. Check-out was at Indian speed though. The front desk had 10 employees – 8 were standing around doing nothing and the other 2 were checking people out. The guy in front of me was having serious credit card problems which no one could seem to figure out. After about 10 minutes of this, he finally stepped aside so that I could settle my bill and head to the domestic airport.

At Delhi airport we were escorted to the check-in line with our baggage. Each airport we went to seemed to have a different procedure and different rules for security. Here we checked our bags at the same time we received our boarding pass. At some of the smaller airports baggage was x-rayed first and then checked. The rules for carry-on were also inconsistent. At some airports I was able to carry a water bottle through without it being confiscated. At some, I had to keep my plastic bag of small liquid bottles separate and at others I could leave it in my carry-on. We never had to remove our shoes but we were always searched with metal-detecting wands with sensitivities that varied from airport to airport.

Eventually we boarded our flight and were on our way to Udaipur.

UDAIPUR

We arrived in Udaipur a half hour late. Udaipur has a brand new airport that is compact and easy to get around. In spite of that, the Kingfisher folks were there to assist us. There was something big going on at the airport. A band was playing outside and the road out was lined with decorations. Apparently there was a big wedding in town and the fanfare at the airport was for greeting the out-of-town guests. Our driver was waiting for us in the parking lot. Before we departed for Asia, I had to phone to confirm our Udaipur lodging and transfer. For some reason, I had not received the responses they sent to my e-mails. The cars in India that had been available to take us around were consistently small. We had tried to travel a little lighter on this trip and had no problems fitting in these cars with all of our luggage. The drive from the airport took about 40 minutes, mostly on a good 4-lane highway.

Udaipur is a top tourist destination for Indians and foreigners alike. Because of our last minute planning we had few options, especially if we wanted to stay on the lake in one of the big tourist hotels. So, egged on by dogster and others, I decided to look at home-stays elsewhere in the city. Jeane and I thought it would be great to stay in someone's home (as “home-stay” implies) and get to know the owner personally. Also, by my standards, the prices of these places were downright cheap. So I searched, researched, checked Tripadvisor and came up with Pahuna Haveli (www.pahunahaveli.com) which was purported to be a short auto-rickshaw ride from the main part of town - $65/night.

Pahuna Haveli did not disappoint. Hemant, our hostess was helpful and kind. Our “suite” room was huge with lots of places, nooks and crannies to spread out our stuff for the 4 nights and almost 5 full days that we would stay there. Everything was impeccably clean. The furnishings were either antiques or just time-worn with loads of character. There was a/c (which we did not use), ceiling fans and plenty of electrical outlets to plug in our stuff – hair dryer, coffee maker, chargers for phone and camera etc. The queen bed was hard but very comfortable. The only negative was that the shower pressure was not great and the hot water tank was a bit small. Hemant told me that the purified water from the tap is drinkable after being run through a filtration system. We drank from the water pitcher in the room and at breakfast with no ill effects. Pahuna Haveli is located in a quiet semi-residential neighborhood. We would occasionally hear a horn honking at night but it was infrequent. As I mentioned in my live report, the grounds are beautifully landscaped. However, one morning I looked out at the empty lot behind the home next door and observed a cow eating garbage – no zoning regulations in Udaipur.

After getting settled in, we decided to check out the lay-of-the-land. We walked out to the main road to find an auto rickshaw to take us into town. There were several waiting. Hemant had told us 40-50 rupees would do the trick and, after a little negotiation with the first driver to approach us, we were on our way to Jagdish Temple. The temple is in a busy area about a block from the City Palace. We decided to go inside. Almost immediately upon entering we were approached by a young man who proceeded to follow us around, offering us various tidbits of information about the temple. As we were putting on our shoes and getting ready to leave, he asked us if we would go with him to his uncle's shop. I had a feeling this was coming. I gave him a firm “no” and walked away. It took two more “no's” before he gave up on us.

Udaipur is known for it's miniature paintings. The first shop we visited, a place near the Jagdish Temple below Maxim's Cafe' was the best. Jeane and I knew immediately that we would purchase one or two paintings. We checked out several other shops for pricing and comparison but concluded that the first place had the best quality. We decided to return later in the week. Jeane also found a wall hanging, a tapestry that she liked at a branch of Rajasthali, the government-run handicraft store. After looking in other shops, it quickly became obvious that she had found exactly what she wanted – we would return to Rajasthali as well. Our final task for the afternoon was to find Jagat Niwas, a hotel with a popular rooftop restaurant overlooking the lake so that we would know where to come for dinner that evening. It took us a while to find on the alley-way on the lake side of the main road but eventually we did. We returned to Pahuna Haveli to relax for a while.

We returned to town at 7 to catch the excellent music dance performance at Bagore Ki Haveli. Afterward we enjoyed a nice dinner at Jagat Niwas and our first view of Lake Pichhola lit up at night. Jagat Niwas had been recommended by our hostess and others. It was also the place that live42day and her husband stayed. When it is "late" the auto-rickshaw drivers try to demand a higher fare. We held our ground with them though and were back at Pahuna Haveli by 10:30 PM.

Great stuff, Craig.

Wonderful detail Craig. Great report so far.

How nice to find this here this morning. As usual, a report by Craig is a great read!

wonderful reporting...

The next day we decided to do some internet at a local internet cafe first thing in the morning, then check out the Sahelion Ki Bari gardens and then head to City Palace for a tour. On the way to the internet cafe there was a primary school where a song competition was being held. We stopped and were invited in to watch first-hand. Jeane and I took a bunch of photos – no one minded if we sat right in front of the stage to get good shots. The kids were really cute. We had to purchase a temporary 3-day “membership” to use the internet cafe but it was not expensive and the internet speed was fast. We had a pleasant ½ hour at the gardens, taking a few photos and enjoying the peaceful setting.

We spent the remainder of the day at City Palace. It is huge, much bigger and more magnificent than the City Palace at Jaipur. We opted for the audio tour at 250 rupees per person. It was easy to understand and well worth the money. The tour took about 2 or 3 hours. Afterward, we checked out the City Palace shopping yard which included a branch of one of Jeane's favorite stores in India – Anokhi. Unfortunately, there was nothing there that appealed to her this time. There was one more tour that we had to take within the City Palace complex – the Fateh Prakash Palace and its Crystal Gallery. Admission to this was 500 rupees and included another audio tour plus a soft drink at its indoor restaurant. The early 19th century collection of Birmingham crystal on display was awesome and included crystal sofa sets, crystal dining tables, even a crystal bed. There was also a beautiful hall with enormous crystal chandeliers. Totally worth the price of admission. We wanted to do the boat ride on the lake, but the boats were being used to entertain the guests from yesterday's wedding. So we saved it for another day. We stopped by another rooftop restaurant overlooking the lake, Jaiwana Haveli and made a reservation for 6 PM in order to catch the sunset. We returned to Pahuna Haveli to relax for a bit.

The view from Jaiwana Haveli was even better than the view from Jagat Niwas. However, the sunset was not so great and the service was slow. The food was okay. I think we should have opted for dinner at Ambrai this evening so that we could enjoy a dinner at Pahuna Haveli with our hostess and her husband on our last night. Live and learn...

Hemant had arranged a driver to pick us up at 9 AM and take us to the 15th Century Kumbhelgarh Fort and Ranakpur Jain Temple. The cost for the full day was an amazing $24! The fort was awesome – we spent a couple of hours climbing to the top and walking along the wall. The Jain Temple was also interesting – the relief work on the columns especially. However, it was only worth about an hour of our time. The drive itself was worthwhile – rural India at it's best. The highlight was a stop to take photos of a man with two oxen driving an old-fashion water wheel. We arrived back at Pahuna Haveli rather tired from a long day of driving and opted for dinner at a very nice local restaurant close to our home-stay. We showed up at 7 and were the first ones to arrive. We were told that most Indians don't eat dinner until 8 – 8:30 at night. After dinner we turned in early.

Breakfasts at Pahuna Haveli were our chance to chat with Hemant, our hostess. Because we are early risers, we usually had her to ourselves. Sometimes her husband would pop in and join us. While they have a couple of servants, Hemant generally did the cooking. Her scrambled eggs were fantastic – perfectly seasoned and just the right consistency. With home-made jams and toast, and cereal or porridge, breakfast was always filling. We had some great conversations – mostly about others who had stayed there. She works very hard to make all of her guests' stays memorable. Her husband had been in the tea business and they had not moved back to Udaipur until a few years ago. At that time, she decided to open up her home to outside guests. We could tell it has been a rewarding experience for her. Since it would be our last night, we asked Hemant to make a dinner reservation for us at Ambrai. She called while we sat there and set it up. As I had mentioned before, we regretted not setting aside an evening to have dinner at Pahuna Haveli. I told her so and I think she appreciated that.

Our last full day in Udaipur was a shopping day. We started with Mangalam Arts and it's huge collection of furniture and knickknacks located within walking distance of Pahuna Haveli. Jeane immediately loved this place, picking out a tribal dowry box, a brass elephant, 2 brass bowls (an urli with pedestal and a lota) and a storage chest – all items that could be shipped together to the USA. We spoke with the owner whose son was attending college in Michigan – a pleasant man with whom it would be easy to do business. We explained that we hadn't fully decided on what we wanted to buy but that we had many other things to accomplish that day. We indicated that we would return at the end of the day. He asked where we were heading next and we told him the Shilpgram arts & crafts “village”. He said he would have his driver take us there – and where would we like to go after that? We told him that we needed to go to the City Palace area, after which we would not want the driver waiting for us. If nothing else, this was a great way for the shop owner to get us to commit to a sale at very little cost to him. So, off we went to Shilpgram in a big SUV. We were not very impressed by Shilpgram but Jeane bought a pair of slip-on shoes which she loved for $6 so it was all worthwhile. The driver took us back to Mangalam Arts – I told him that I thought we were going to City Palace next. The owner came out and explained that the driver had to take a smaller vehicle to navigate the City Palace area which made sense as traffic is tight in that area. The driver dropped us off and departed.

We now needed to accomplish 3 things – purchase 1 or 2 miniature paintings, purchase the tapestry at Rajasthali and do the boat ride on the lake. We decided to visit our preferred miniature painting place first but Gopal, the owner was at lunch. The person minding the shop told us he would call Gopal and that he would be there soon. So as not to waste any time we walked up the street to Rajasthali. The man we had dealt with previously was not there either but the others in the shop said he would be there in “5 minutes”. We waited – meanwhile, we all tried to find the tapestry that Jeane had picked out. Finally, our guy showed up – he recognized us immediately and quickly found the piece. The tapestry needed to be altered to fit Jeane's space – we explained our schedule and our guy agreed to have the piece ready for when we returned later that afternoon if we gave him a small deposit – no problem. We went back to the miniature painting place – Gopal had returned from lunch. He asked us if we wanted a beverage and sent someone out to get some 7-Up's. Our sodas come. He “sterilizes” our glasses by wiping his fingers around the rims...great. We drink reluctantly. We pick out a couple of paintings that we really like – lots of detail but we don't want the frames. Jeane and I put down another small deposit so that the paintings would be ready for us when we returned after our boat ride.

We raced to get our tickets for the boat at City Palace – an Indian tour guide tries to shove in front of us – Indians don't get the concept of lines. I tell him to back off and remarkably, my effort is successful. We head for the boats at the other end of the complex. It is a long, hot walk but we make it on time for the hourly departure. It was nice to actually be “on” Lake Pichhola and take some photos from that perspective. The boat ride was shorter than I had anticipated – much of the time is consumed with a stop at the “other” lake palace, Jag Mandir. It seemed that the sole purpose of the stop was to sell overpriced drinks and food to captive visitors. It was a pretty setting though. We had to wait ½ hour for the boat to return us to City Palace. Before we left the complex, we purchased tickets for the light and sound show that evening.

We retuned to Rajasthali – our stuff was ready. We paid the balance and headed to the miniature painting place. Gopal is not there but appears shortly. Everything is ready. We pay the balance, shake hands and agree to recommend his place to others. He offers to call Mangalam Arts to tell them that we will not be there until the next morning – we really appreciated the gesture. We went back to Pahuna Haveli and relaxed for a while.

Jeane and I were instructed to arrive at the light and sound show 15 minutes early. We had reserved the premium seats and thought that we would have the place to ourselves. A tour group showed up at the last minute though, taking up the remaining seats. While we got a couple of good shots of the City Palace all lit up, I recommend giving this sound and light show a pass – it is Indian pomposity at it's worst.

After the show, we hired an auto-rickshaw to take us to Ambrai – we asked the driver if he would wait for us and take us back to Pahuna Haveli after dinner. We agreed on a fare which was probably over-generous, given that there were plenty of auto-rickshaws outside the restaurant when we came out. The views from Ambrai were stunning – City Palace and Lake Palace were all lit up and almost literally in your face. The food was the best of any of the restaurants we dined at in Udaipur.

Glad you enjoyed Ambrai . . . it was one of our favorite spots.

I'm really enjoying your time in Udaipur!

I am so sad we lost a day in Udaipur due to flight delays, it's sounds like you really enjoyed and made the best of your time there. I loved the short time that we had in Udaipur. Your home stay sounds wonderful. Looking forward to the rest of your report.

keep it coming please

Isn't Ambrai great? I forget what we ate, but I remember it was a lovely evening with my daughter.

When we were there, we also agreed to have our driver do the return, but he had disappeared when we came out. I wouldn't have cared, as we hadn't paid him for the earlier trip yet, but there were no other drivers, anywhere, outside!. Just as we gave up and headed back in to have them call us a ride, he appeared.

The next day we woke fairly early and did some last minute packing. While our airport transfer would not arrive until 12:30, we wanted plenty of time to have a relaxing breakfast with Hemant and finish up our business at Mangalam Arts when it opened at 10. Everything went smoothly at Mangalam arts. The owner prepared us some fresh carrot juice made from carrots from his garden. We agreed on pricing for the 5 items we had previously picked out. Jeane thought we were getting a good deal.

Back at Pahuna Haveli, Hemant told us that she had just thought of a shop that we might want to visit. It was getting late however, so we asked her to give us a tour of her gardens instead. She had some really neat stuff – Mango, banana, guava and pomegranate trees, a number of herbs including a variety of oregano that I had never seen before, pepper and other vegetable plants and several decorative flowers and trees. After the tour, Hemant asked one of her servants to come outside and take a photo of all of us together in front of the house. Finally our driver arrived and sadly, it was time to go. We all shook hands goodbye and said that we hoped we see each other again some day.

At the airport, our bags were screened first and then checked. The screener told me that the x-ray had picked up some bottles and asked if I was carrying any alcohol. Well, I was - in plastic bottles. I knew what he was really asking though: “Are you carrying any GLASS bottles?” I did not want to risk having my booze confiscated, so I took a chance and told him I was not – just mouthwash, toiletries etc. He did not pursue it further and I proceeded to check my bags. At check-in I was told that Kingfisher could not check our bags through to Aurangabad and that the bags would have to be re-screened and re-checked at Mumbai...great. Our flight was late of course, but we had a 3-hour layover at Mumbai and lots of help from the Kingfisher folks.

AURANGABAD AND THE CAVES

We finally arrived at Aurangabad airport shortly after 8 PM. Our driver was waiting for us and we were at the Lemon Tree Hotel 10 minutes later. The Lemon Tree chain of hotels is fairly new in India but they have a great reputation. We had a 3-night sightseeing package which included a deluxe room, airport transfers, driver for 2 full days plus breakfast and dinner buffets all for less than $150/nt, including tax. As it turned out, we wound up in a very large suite instead of a deluxe room. We also arranged a guide through the hotel. Our room was on the 2nd floor with two decks overlooking the very large pool. There was a flat screen TV, DVD player, mini-bar, great lighting and all the amenities one would expect in a modern hotel. Breakfast and dinner were quite good – there was even an omelet station at breakfast. Dinner is served from 7:30 to 11:30 PM and breakfast starts at 6:30 AM.

Check-in was quick and we headed down to the dining room for a snack. We didn't need to eat much because we were served food on both of our flights. We had arranged for our tour to start at 9 AM the next day so we turned in after dinner.

We were met promptly the next morning in the lobby by our guide. Our driver was waiting for us outside. We wanted to tour the Ajanta Caves first because they are older than the Ellora Caves and they are farther away. The drive was a little over two hours each way – the road was good but the scenery was so boring that I read a book on the return trip. The Ajanta Caves date back to the 2nd century BC and were built by Buddhist monks. We did not explore all 29 of them but we did spend about 2 hours or so with our guide as he explained the significance of the various murals and sculptures in the caves. Everything about the caves is remarkable considering how old they are. Since we had arrived at mid-day, it was hot when we were out in the sun. It was generally much cooler in the caves, however. The walking from cave to cave is not particularly difficult but since shoes were not allowed in many of them, it helped to have Tevas and “temple socks” with us. We took a few photos but it was difficult because many of the caves were dark. Our guide had a flashlight which was very helpful in pointing to things that we would otherwise not notice. I thought we went at a good pace which got us back to the hotel by 5 PM. We did some internet in the business center for which there was a nominal fee followed by a relaxing dinner and bed.

Since the Ellora Caves are only 45 minutes away, we arranged for a 10 AM departure. It was nice not having to rush out somewhere for a change. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and afterward, I printed out our boarding passes for our Jet Airways flight for the following day in order to ensure our seat assignments. We actually went down to the lobby a little early but our guide (different from the first day) and driver (same) were ready to go. We had to drive through Aurangabad to get to the Ellora Caves. It is purportedly one of the fastest growing cities in India. It is not however, one of the more attractive ones. The Ellora Caves date from the 7th to the 11th centuries and follow the development of religious thought in India – the decline of Buddhism, the Hindu renaissance and the Jain resurgence. There are 34 caves and they are quite spread out compared to the Ajanta Caves. Our guide did a good job of showing us examples of caves from each religious period, going into just the right amount of detail. We only had to take our shoes off once and it was much easier to take photos. After a couple of hours at the caves, we headed to the nearby 12th century Daulatabad Fort. We arrived in the heat of the early afternoon and as we gazed from the entry gate at the fort high up in the distance, I asked our guide if we were going to climb all the way to the top. He told us that we would only be going half-way. It was a fascinating fort mostly due to the elaborate system of maze-like tunnels designed to keep intruders out. We finished up the day at Bibi-ka-Maqbara, the “mini-Taj” - worth seeing with distinct similarities to the real thing, but done on the cheap. Before we headed back our guide/driver attempted a shopping stop near our hotel but we asked them to keep moving. We were back by 5:30, giving me time to enjoy the pool before it closed for the day. We enjoyed a nice buffet dinner then on to bed in anticipation of an early departure.

We had an early breakfast and were ready at 7:20 AM for our transfer to the airport for our 8:35 AM flight to Mumbai. Baggage screening, check-in and security check went smoothly. The flight was delayed again but we were on our way to Mumbai and looking forward to leaving India. It was not to be. It was my error for not reconfirming the Thai flight out of Mumbai to Bangkok since before we left the USA. Apparently, nobody (except us) likes to fly during the daytime, so our 12:25 PM connection was suddenly eliminated – the only other option being the 11:20 overnight flight which arrived in Bangkok at 5:05 AM. After telling the security folks of our plight, we were able to get inside the international airport to arrange a nearby hotel day room with an airport travel agent. The hotel, the Tunga Regale, was actually not bad – transport included, 15 or 20 minutes from the airport, fast cheap internet access, a/c, all the usual 4-star amenities and a good room service menu.

BANGKOK

After we finally boarded our flight to Bangkok, I fell fast asleep – I did not notice the plane taking off and did not wake until just before we landed. Immigration at Bangkok went fairly quickly. I picked up some baht at the ATM, arranged a London Cab for our transfers with AOT and we were on our way to the Penn. I had e-mailed them to let them know we would be arriving late (early?). They wanted to “upgrade” us to a balcony room but I passed, hoping for a suite. No such luck, but our grand deluxe room was fine, as always. After a couple of hours of sleep we were both nicely refreshed. We took showers, had a fabulous Penn breakfast by the river and were ready to conquer Bangkok once again. We really didn't have much time. I told Jeane that if we could visit Amantee, the Tibetan antique place out by the old airport and explore the “Monk Bowl Alley” near Chinatown that we would have accomplished a lot. We decided to hire one of the Penn's Mercedes' and it worked out well. We enjoyed talking to the owner of Amantee but did not find anything to purchase. Jeane did find a monk bowl she liked though, making the whole trip worthwhile.

We had arranged a GTG (get-together) with Hanuman (Pook) and Smeagol (Nicki) at the Royal Bangkok Sports Club for 6 PM. We arrived a few minutes early at the Sports Club, making good time by choosing to get a taxi near the Penn Pier rather than deal with the traffic on the Taksin Bridge. Nicki, Pook and his wife all showed up shortly thereafter within a few minutes of each other. We started off the evening by having our server snap the obligatory group photo and then enjoyed 2 hours of great conversation, yummy snacks and several drinks. All too soon it was time to move on. Thanks again, Pook for being a gracious host and Nicki, it was nice meeting you. I hope we can do it again. We had a quick taxi ride back to the Peninsula and turned in for the evening.

It was a lovely GTG and it was so great seeing Craig and Jeane again and to finally meet Nicky for the first time. I'm glad the taxi driver took you back to the Penn safely as he didn't seem to know where it was!

Don't forget your promise Craig - pictures!!!

Craig and Jeane, what a wonderful report! You have a wonderfully descriptive writing style. I'm so glad you experienced Varanasi in such an authentic way.

Can't wait to see your pictures.

Thanks for an interesting report. We have the facts, now how did you feel about the trip? Would you do a homestay again? That's something I'm concerned about since we don't even like chatty B&Bs here. Did you think it was worth the effort to haul yourself to Aurangabad? How does this trip compare to others you've taken?

Please be patient, Marija. My report is not yet finished - I still need to post the details of our final day in Bangkok. I will probably get to it later today. Be assured that I have been thinking about the answers to all of your questions.

As for those looking for photos - they will come in time, I promise. Jeane and I have hundreds to sort through.

when oh when can i return to india

Still reading with pleasure and looking forward to the rest...

For Jeane's birthday, our last day in Bangkok, and the final day of our trip, I had arranged an excursion with Tong to her “secret place”, the fishing village down on the Gulf of Thailand. Even though I had set it up 8 months in advance, Tong was not available that day. She hooked us up with one of the guides who work with her – Lily, who turned out to be great. Interestingly, Tong called me on Pook's cell phone during our GTG to confirm – I don't know how she got his number. Lily was waiting for us with her spanking new SUV when we showed up in the lobby at 9 AM. Those who have done this trip know that it usually gets going at 7 AM but that would have forced us to skip or rush through another fabulous Penn breakfast and we just didn't want to do that. So we headed for the Railroad Market with Lily, full of energy, chatting up a storm. Since we arrived 2 hours late, the train had already come and gone. The market itself was still quite interesting. Jeane bought some simple baskets for holding orchids (she grows them at her office) and Lily bought some snacks. We also bought some fish and went to the river to make merit by setting them free. After the market, we headed to Pinsuwan Benjarong. What a disappointment! They had very few of their fine porcelain pieces for sale via cash and carry. Jeane had hoped to pick up some small gifts for folks at home but there was nothing to buy unless we were willing to special order. We had been very successful with Pinsuwan when we visited with Ratt in 2006.

So it was on to the Thai Royal Handicraft Center, the furniture place that busloads of tourists stop at after visiting the Floating Market. Unlike all of the tourists, Jeane was on a mission to buy custom made furnishings for her office. She made out quite well, ordering a large hand-carved teak wood credenza, a rattan end table and a decorative wood carving, all for shipment to the US. Lily waited patiently, but the time we took there set us back a bit. As we were finishing up, Lily came by and said that we needed to get going.

Our next stop was to pick up our long-tailed boat to take us around for the remainder of the afternoon. Along the way, Lily stopped at a food stand to pick up several bunches of bananas. Once we were on the boat, we headed downstream until we came to a tributary that led off into the jungle. As we headed in, monkeys started to appear on the muddy river bank and Lily handed us each several bunches of bananas. Jeane and I got our cameras ready. Lily pointed out that the monkeys rarely get fruit to eat and instead live on shell fish from the river. She offered to take photos with my camera while we fed them - a great idea. We tried to coax the monkeys to come up to the boat and grab a banana from our hands. Some of the braver ones did. A few even climbed on to the boat and had to be removed by our boat driver with his fishing net. Most of the monkeys waited until we threw the bananas to them. Occasionally a fight would break out but usually the bigger monkey would prevail. There were a number of mothers with their infants – Lily got some great shots of them. It was really messy but fun – the water was very muddy and the monkeys splashed a lot – our clothes went directly into the laundry bag when we returned to the hotel. There were bunches and bunches of bananas and it took quite a while to get rid of them all. The boat driver moved us around to different locations so we ended up feeding several troops of monkeys.

After our banana supply was finally depleted, Lily and the boat driver took us out on the Gulf to see some shell fish farms. It was now late in the afternoon. I'd given up all hope of returning to the hotel by 5 PM since we still hadn't eaten. We finally arrived at the house over the water where were to have our meal. It was a pretty lavish spread – sea bass with Thai spices, shrimp, crab, catfish with dipping sauce, rice and beers. The sea bass was delicious – everything else was rather overcooked and dry, probably because we had arrived so late. At the end of the meal, a birthday cake appeared – blueberry cheese cake. Jeane had a huge slice and I enjoyed some too – I am not a big cheese cake fan but this was the best I'd ever had.

On the drive back we were all kind of tired but that didn't stop us from sharing jokes with Lily. She really was fun – it was a great day and the highlight of our trip for Jeane. We finally rolled in to the Peninsula at 7 PM. I don't think the Penn staff knew what to make of us, all splashed with mud. When we got to the room, there was another birthday cake waiting – chocolate this time. The Penn doesn't miss a detail. Since we had to get up at 3 AM to make our flight the next day, we showered quickly and started packing. We managed to hit the sack by 9 PM.

Our AOT London Cab was waiting for us at 4 AM when we checked out. Our UAL flights were all on time and uneventful. We hadn't flown United trans-Pacific in quite some time but we feel that now they have a pretty good product – certainly the most comfortable business-class seats we've ever experienced.

CONCLUSION (RANDOM THOUGHTS)

Traveling in India can be tough. On our first trip, we isolated ourselves as much as possible by using an agency, staying in Oberoi's and other luxury hotels, going first class on the train and avoiding air travel.

We intentionally did this trip differently. We knew we had to stay on the river in Varanasi to experience it properly. Our $65/nt home-stay in Udaipur was in so many ways the best place we stayed. I am struggling with the fact that we probably spent as much for our 2½ nights and 2 days in Bangkok as we did for Varanasi, Udaipur and Aurangabad combined. However, I have no issues with spending $400 for one night on the Club Floor at the Radisson Delhi and the extra for business class on our flight from Varanasi – it was a welcome and necessary relief.

Was Aurangabad worth the hassle of getting there? The caves are World Heritage Sites and they were spectacular. However, if I had to do it again, I would search long and hard for an equally great alternative that did not require any additional flight time and the associated risks of flying.

It was quite a long ordeal (47 hours, including the overnight at the airport hotel in Bangkok) getting from Hartford to Varanasi (BDL-IAD-NRT-BKK-VNS) – it didn't help that we had to change our flights at the last minute to avoid a snowstorm in Chicago. We were spoiled by the now-discontinued Thai JFK-BKK 17 hour flight that was easily obtainable with FF miles.

How would I rate this trip versus others that we have taken? Well, it's not in the top 5. But neither were our last 2 trips – Vietnam and Sri Lanka. It's the “newness” factor. Our honeymoon in Hawaii and our first trips to Thailand, Bali, Myanmar, Kenya and yes, India belong at the top of the list.

The most positive thing about this trip was the people we met up with – Debbe and Doug in Varanasi, our Rotary Exchange student and her mother and aunt in Delhi, Hemant at Pahuna Haveli in Udaipur and Nicki, Pook and his wife in Bangkok.

I hope everyone enjoyed this report. We look forward to planning another international trip with the wonderful, helpful people here on Fodor's. Next, we are heading to Colorado for one-week split between a family reunion and touring in July and Kauai for one week in October (hopefully we won't miss the Boston Fodor's GTG). We are not planning another international trip 'til next year but stay tuned...

Please be patient – our photos will be posted when we sort them out but it will take some time...

This report is what we're looking for. Timely, informative and amusing. It's great that Jeane enjoyed the Fishing Village. It really is a special place. Booking a tour with Tong is definitely a worthwhile experience. Get ready for second place in the AL East.

Andy, thanks for the kind words. I am ready for Boston to finish in 2nd place - as usual all it's world class line-up of start-up pitchers will crumble by June. Thanks for the reminder.

Amazing report Craig. It was fantastic to finally meet you guys and hopefully we can do it again ,I'll bring Muffin along next time.