rhkkmk

wonderful reporting...

Craig

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.

indianapearl

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

Kathie

I'm really enjoying your time in Udaipur!

live42day

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.

rhkkmk

keep it coming please

lcuy

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.

Craig

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.

Craig

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.

Hanuman

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!!!

BostonHarbor

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.

Marija

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?

Craig

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.

rhkkmk

when oh when can i return to india

marya_

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

Craig

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.

Craig

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...

Gpanda

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.

Craig

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.

Smeagol

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.