indianapearl

Thanks, Bob. We decided that Ram and Bhunish were our Indian sons. It was very sad to part with them, many hugs, promises to return. I hope we can.

impacked

I felt I was with you every step of the way. Also, I just sent your adventures to my friend who is about to set sail for her first trip to India.

Thanks so Much for your time and talent.

indianapearl

You are most welcome! I hope your friend has a fabulous trip.

magical

A most wonderful report, indiana...
It's a pleasure to see that you really enjoyed your trip.....India kinda grows on you, doesn't it.

You did a lot of travel by car...was that tiring?

As for Rajputs...they remain unconquered still. And if a fort was lost, the victory was futile....jauhar took care of all the people, victors won some empty buildings only!! Granted, this was old world thinking.

Happy 44th wedding anniversary....nothing like a trip to India to celebrate.

indianapearl

magical: I'm glad you enjoyed the report. I used to keep meticulous trip diaries when I traveled, but now send an e-mail to family and friends a few times during the course of a trip while events are still fresh in my mind.

We DID spend a lot of time driving, but I found the passing scene endlessly fascinating. MP found it more tiring than I, but he's a lot taller and probably felt more cramped. The road between Orchha and Khajuraho was terrible -- a couple of miles of fairly smooth pavement, a couple of miles of what seemed to be almost rubble, all the way.

I'm still wondering why the maharajas didn't commit jauhar along with everyone else. He who laughs and runs away, lives to laugh another day?

dogster

[fourth try]

Hi indiana - I've been waiting for the story of your travels and here it is. I particularly loved the 44th anniversary and Size 16. It was just a pleasure to read. Once you've recovered from the jet-lag [third day is always the worst] let us know your reflections on it all.

I'm trapped in some internet lunacy here that swallows every post I put in, so let's hope this one makes it through.

indianapearl

dogster: I'm glad you're alive. I read in the Times of India on my last day that an Australian had been found dead in a hotel room in Delhi at 11:30 in the morning. He'd checked out of the hotel at 1:30 a.m. the night before (sounds like a dogster maneuver). Since I didn't know your name or location, I was apprehensive. The deceased was 57 years old and, of course, we know you are 60.

I'm thinking how to answer your request -- so much rattling around in my mind and heart. I'd thought writing the trip report would exorcise my demons, but they're still there. Would I go back? You betcha! Let me think a bit more. My jet lag ain't like your jet lag. It'll take a couple of weeks to dissipate.

Jaya

Great trip report. Thanks for sharing!

Marija

Welcome back! Thanks for the enjoyable report. (Sorry if I misled you about Indian coffee. Guess it depends where you drink it... )

indianapearl

We stayed in two Taj hotels that had espresso machines. The Ratan Vilas in Jodhpur had French press coffee, but didn't really know how to prepare it. We managed just fine, though, and have acquired a taste for masala tea.

magical

Interesting that you acquired a taste for masala tea. Next time you are in India, perhaps you'll get a chance to try masala tea at a truck stop by the side of the road...ask for 200 mile tea/ or 500 mile tea...describes how strong the tea is, and how long it has been cooking in the cauldron. No guarantee that you'll like it, but it's an experience.

Just a thought.

dogster

indiana - I've changed hotels and the connection is fine now - which gives me a chance to say again what a pleasure your report was to read. I thought about you, wondering how things were going - in fact I nearly ended up in Udaipur on what I now realise would have been your wedding anniversary. I was going to stand in the courtyard of Jagat Niwas and shout 'Indianapearl!'. I'm not sure what the management would have made of that. lol. Or you.

Instead I went south - and mad.

It's such a confusion of experiences, isn't it? I'm not sure I'd ever want to repeat my last trip - my body just isn't up to it - luckily you traveled in a far saner manner than the dog. But that was a little test I set myself. I wonder how you'd do it next time?

Isn't the 200/500 mile tea a great thing? I'd never heard of that. I realise that I don't know whether masala tea is the same as chai. I slurp chai in hell-holes all over India. I love it - and the experience.

I'm glad it wasn't me, dead in that hotel room. Now Dog is out of India, somewhere equally surreal, heading home when I can bear to do so. Next couple of days, I guess. I hope your lag is gone by now. No, I don't bounce back either.

indianapearl

magical: We did try masala tea at a truck stop, but didn't know about the tea mileage bit. In the US, masala tea is usually called chai and is often served cold over ice. Several years ago some friends and I had a chai making experiment to try different combinations of spices and sugar. I like a lot of cardamom in mine.

dogster: Of course, we are all glad that you weren't the poor soul in the Delhi hotel room! I wasn't sure what happened to you -- some sort of pesticide poisoning? In the Meenakshi temple region? The report was yanked and I wasn't able to go back and review the situation. I just knew you were stumbling around India in a debilitated state.

It _is_ a confusion of experiences . . . my mistake, or rather stubbornness . . . was Gwalior. Because I was so set on going there, things got a bit too rushed in the last week. I'm really glad to have seen the fort, though, and there are some wonderful and enormous Jain carvings in the rock face of the cliff under the fort.

If I have the opportunity to go back, I'd do the Ajanta and Ellora caves, Sanchi, Meenakshi temples, down into other places in the south. I've been told it's like an entirely different country.

magical

indiana: According to Wikipedia,
Masala chai (Hindi मसाला चाय: masālā cāy, "spiced tea") is a beverage from the Indian subcontinent made by brewing tea with a mixture of aromatic Indian spices and herbs.

By itself, chai is merely the generic word for tea in Hindi. However, for many English speakers who refer to ordinary tea as "tea", the word "chai" is a relatively recent addition to their vocabulary and automatically implies "masala chai".

I like some cardamom in my tea also, sometimes.

I heard the 200/500 mile tea terminology in the Delhi/Punjab area, and I am not sure how commonly used it is.

Caution to foreigners ordering 200/500 mile tea at a truck stop...make sure you watch the tea is poured from the cauldron directly into your cup...would not want a bigger surprise element added by someone out to take advantage of a newbie tourist. Not even someone as adventurous as dogster!!
(I know I am being too cautious, perhaps, but better safe than sorry imho).

gm0nk3y

"I'm thinking how to answer your request -- so much rattling around in my mind and heart. I'd thought writing the trip report would exorcise my demons, but they're still there. Would I go back? You betcha! Let me think a bit more. My jet lag ain't like your jet lag. It'll take a couple of weeks to dissipate." - Very good point there! I absolutely agree to this one.

-Bob
http://www.mybodybuildingcoupons.com/

CaliNurse

this is GREAT!!! thank you, Indiana!! Is your husband really Mr Pearl? I know i'm responding a bit late, but oh, i love this info and reading about , as the Tourism Dept calls it, "Incredible India" (It IS incredible--sometimes in ways different than what the tourism dept wants us to know!!) waaaaaa--you are making me miss it!!!

indianapearl

Well, no, my husband is not really "Mr. Pearl," although he is a treasure worth his weight in pearls. That is his alias on Fodor's.