So Long India

To Kathmandu, Nepal --  Day 1

Hi, it's Dex. Today we are flying from New Delhi to Nepal, after a loud night with fire crackers and fireworks lasting past midnight.  Luckily, I fell asleep before then, and Dad put in earplugs.  Kylie was so tired she fell asleep almost immediately, despite the constant loud bangs.

Our flight left at 10:40 a.m., so we were up early.  Everyone was a little grumpy, but we got everything together, and were ready to go at 8:00.  When we got outside, we could see the effect of all the fireworks and fire crackers from the big Diwali celebrations; it was hard to see the top of our building let alone the down the street.

We got a cab and immediately checked what the air quality index was.  According to Google, it was 999 -- hazardous (ten times the recommended limit!).  We had checked it the day before, when we arrived in New Delhi because we thought it was bad then, and it was only 386!  Just imagine heavy fog but made up entirely of smoke and smog.  Cars kept appearing out of the smog, and we could barely make out the street lights.

When we got to the airport, we discovered our flight was delayed by one hour.  Kylie and I made up a game where we closed our eyes and drew a shape on a piece of paper, then added the fewest details possible to make it look like an animal.  When the plane arrived we got in line.  Dad was saying that surprisingly Kathmandu is farther south than New Delhi.  The man in front of us disagreed, but sure enough, Dad showed him Google Maps and it's true.  The man and his wife, Vikas and Sangeeta, were from India and it turned out were going to hike to the Annapurna Base Camp. They recommended getting a porter because it was much less tiring, and you could enjoy the views more. They had hiked with their kids a few years previously, and the kids were always running ahead ready to play a game of basketball at the end of the day.  I can't wait.

On the flight, I sat alone, in front of Mom, Dad and Kylie.  A nice Nepalese man I sat next to asked me a couple of questions.  He was really good at pointing out the snow-capped mountains when they came into view.  It was awesome seeing the towering mountain range!  I was excited and nervous at the same time.

When we got off the plane, getting the visas was surprisingly easy.  Mom and Dad got SIM cards and we were ready.  We took a cab (no tuk-tuks) and there was much less honking, fewer dogs, and only one cow!  When we got to Hotel Api, Mom and I were excited to be in Nepal.  But Kathmandu still looks a lot like India, so I hope it brings something new.  When we left to look around, the first thing I noticed was a hacky sack that I have been looking for for a long time.  Pretty quickly a man approached us with a metal wire ball that you could bend into many shapes, and he also had a mini chess board.  We checked out some other shops that were full of trekking gear and clothing, including one that Helen Jeffs (a friend of Dad's) had recommended.  We had a good dinner at the Road House Cafe and called it a day.  I called it a good day.

Pre-dinner cards at the Road House Cafe

Happy Delhi Diwali

To Delhi, India

By the time we awoke, around 6:00 in the morning, the train had substantially cleared out. For most of the night, there was someone sitting down by my feet, though I fortunately still had plenty of room to stretch out.  

Like Dex, during the last train trip, I should have put on some warmer clothes as I was a little cold using just my thin, silk sleep sack. Kylie had my sleeping bag.  (Meg's note: I warned him....) Nevertheless, I didn’t feel too bad in the morning, especially after a couple small dixie cups of piping hot chai.  Somehow, the best chai we’ve had has always been on the trains.  Some young, enterprising guy always walks up and down the aisle with a giant pot chanting “chai, chai … chai, chai….”  

We watched the early morning activities of life along the railroad tracks as we neared town -- people walking along nearby roads, a few outdoor fires here and there, the normal morning sweeping, people washing, brushing teeth etc.  The entire city was shrouded in a fog-like mist of smoke and smog, which made the colorful hanging strands of Diwali lights stand out even more against the early morning grey.

When we arrived in Delhi, we actually scored a tiny, four-wheeled taxi for the 10 km ride into the Paharanj District, just a few blocks from where we had stayed a week ago. This road was almost comically loaded with hotels, all with their hotel names spelled vertically using a series of square, backlit signs.  We fortunately were able to check in at 7:45 when we arrived.  In almost exactly twenty-four hours, we’d be off for the airport and our flight to Kathmandu.

Father and son (presumably), who asked to have their
picture taken as we walked past.  Happy Diwali

Our only activity for the day was searching out the Children’s Park we had seen a sign for on the way in.  There were a few older, metal swing sets and slides, which Dex and Kylie played on for only a few minutes.  After that, we found a small patch of grass (not fenced off) and Meg and I read while the kids played with their HotWheels and KinderEgg toys.  On the way to and from the park in our tuk tuk, we invented a new game to pass the time. Whenever we passed within a few inches of another vehical or barrier, we would reach out and touch it -- kind of like Nemo in Finding Nemo daring to touch the small fishing boat. By the time we'd returned to the hotel we'd racked up a combined score of thirteen: five tuk-tuks, two taxis, one "tuk-truck," three cycle rickshaws, and two cement barriers. Don't try this at home, folks.

No spitting zone

The park, it turned out, was very close to the large Gate of India and there were a fair number of people gathered in the open space nearby, which we surmised might be for evening fireworks. Today, was the third of what we understood to be the five day Diwali celebration and was the day for firecrackers and fireworks. Boy, howdy!  Had I not known, I would have sworn we were in a war zone with the almost continual fire crackers starting around 7:00 p.m.  After dinner, Meg bolted to the hotel after an M-80 practically blew out our ear drums in the narrow alleyway. We retreated up to the top floor to view fireworks and get farther from the firecrackers.  

As we watched the small fireworks being fired off from various nearby streets, we struck up a conversation with three Americans who happened to be enjoying the view and a beer.  Karen, Marilyn, and John had just arrived from Michigan that morning and had spent the day sightseeing. They seemed to be relishing the noise and chaos of their first day, and Dex and Kylie were eager to share stories from the last couple months.  Happy Diwali!

Farewell Udaipur, Next Stop, Dehli

Udaipur, India -- Day 3

There were three goals for the day, ship the spoils of yesterday's shopping spree, take an overdue tour of the nearby City Palace, and make it onto our 6:15 Mewar Express train to Delhi.

Kylie joined me for a morning run, which was fun.  The streets are less busy, they've mostly been swept up, and the pollution is at it's lowest ebb. Surprisingly, it doesn't take long to leave the tourist area behind and by 7:30, most of the streets have already been swept with the little piles either hauled away in wheel barrows or set fire to. Halfway along I got a text from Don about possibly joining us for hiking in Nepal. That was a good excuse to rest for a few minutes particularly since Kylie wasn't feeling great. With Kylie along, running in hiking boots, and her new brown dress, we attracted a bit more attention. One middle aged couple on a moped pulled over on one of the tiny alleyways specifically to shake our hands and wish us a happy Diwali.

Once back in the room, we had a wonderful FaceTime chat with the Nixons, grabbed breakfast at another rooftop restaurant, and then went in search of someone to ship our packages. We enlisted the help of the local merchant we had patronized the day before to help ship our packages. Mayank, a handsome, young store owner speaking excellent English, was clearly use to dealing with foreign tourist. He quickly got me a cappucino and the kids some chocolate cake while we went through the details of our six different packages.

Leelu, the Guesthouse dog

Mayank, our helpful store owner

Finally, around 11:00 we were ready to visit the large City Palace just a few blocks away. The Mewar dynasty of Udaipur is apparently the oldest continuous dynasty on earth. The current "administrator" is the 76th in the long line of Mewar Maharana rulers. The family, interestingly, has its very own personal deity, an incarnation of Lord Shiva called Eklingji. Although the palace construction and civic development project spearheaded by these leaders were undoubtedly beneficial to the local community, it was also clear that answering only to their own personal deity, was mighty convenient leading to a fairly luxurious life style.

Horse disguised as and elephant to trick enemies

One of the most impressive parts of the palace was the Crystal Gallery. Maharana Sijjan Singh, who ruled from the age of fifteen in the late 1880s, was particularly interested in history, literature and art. This love of beautiful things led him to place a huge order of crystal from the F&C Osler Company in England. Unfortunately, he died before the gigantic order was received and it wasn't for a 110 years that the boxes were finally unpacked. The result is the largest collection of crystal furniture anywhere: tables, chairs (with padded cushions), and the creme de la creme, a four poster bed. The maharana seemed not to have missed any accessories, including footrests, lamps, stools, end tables, candlesticks, serving trays etc, etc. Although we were forbidden to take pictures, rebel that I am, I snapped a couple any way!

The lavish Dubar Hall

Crystal furniture

By 5:00, we were ready to head off to the train station for the last of our Indian train experiences. To our chagrin, this time we were at the end of the train in sleeper car S1. For whatever reason, the Diwali holiday, or just being at the end near a couple general seating cars, our seating area was soon occupied by a half dozen additional passengers. And, as we were now just a stones through from the engine, we were subjected to sadistically loud and continual blasts of the horn. Anyone traveling along a road intersecting the tracks was well warned indeed.

Soon it was almost impossible to get to the bathroom with a dozen people crouched in the aisle way and outside the bathrooms.  I felt a little guilty when at 9:00 we flipped up the back of the bench seats, connected the chains hanging from the uppermost bunk, and climbed into our respective, triple bunk spots.  This forced those that had been squatting on the seats, to move elsewhere.  I knew for a fact we had paid a substantial premium for the convenience of getting our tickets, even during festivals and likely many of those crowded onto the train may not have paid at all. Still, it was hard not to feel like the entitled rich tourist, which we were.

A Big Decision

Udaipur, India – Day 2

Hello, it’s Kylie. We decided not to go to the upstairs cafe for breakfast today.  Instead, we tried a different rooftop restaurant where we ended up moving tables three times.  The first time we moved because Dad and I were in the sun, the second and third time was due to a man smoking.  The man who was smoking must not have watched much Indian TV because all commercial breaks have at least one commercial talking about smoking being injurious to your health.  Like we normally do, we played Hearts while waiting for our food.  When our food did come, we discussed what we are going to do for the rest of the day.  The decision was to go shopping for some early Christmas gifts.  Mom and Dex would go to get the items we'd seen the previous day, while Dad and I went to look for our $5 gifts.  

At the first shop we went to, the man showed us lots of items, but we didn't like them very much. Dad had explained to me how we were going to go to at least three shops before making any purchases. The second shop we went to, however, we enjoyed very much. The reason we were drawn into the shop was from the items that were outside.  I had mentioned to Dad that if we were less enthusiastic about them, we might get them for less. When we were inside the second store, Dad asked me if we should go to see another store and I said yes.  As we started to leave, the man started lowering the price until Dad and I thought that that was the best price we would ever get. We were able to happily purchase our items not for 3000 rupees, but only 1200 -- 60% savings!

When we left the store, we went in search of Mom and Dex.  We kept hearing other store owners saying "Momma and Brother up the road" or "America!" making it clear that they had seen Dex and Mom recently.  When we got to the right store, they weren't there, so we went back to our hotel and found them.  We all showed off our purchases and Mom and Dex explained how their negotiations went.  At the very end of the conversation, Dex threw out that the man at the shop was offering to pierce ears too.  

Mom and Dad still had some shopping to do and asked if Dex and I would like to come. Instead, Dex and I had seen a garden in the courtyard of our hotel, so we brought down the KinderMen to play, but I was still left with the big decision of whether to pierce my ears or not.  Dex and I had fun trying to keep a particularly curious snail on top of our KinderMen, making sure it didn't touch the ground and slowly slime away.  

An hour or so later, Mom and Dad came home and showed us yet more stuff.  Everybody was pleased with the days shopping.  It was getting late, and Mom asked me if I wanted to get my ears pierced.  I said yes!  So we all headed off to the shop.  I was feeling nervous, but excited.  When we got to the shop, I picked out my first pair of earrings that would be in my ears for 2 weeks, and I also picked out a second pair, a small turquoise blue stone surrounded by a silver base.  I had never seen the piercing gun before and I had always imagined something white that was big and would clamp down and then release.  This was more like a golden gun with a very sharp point for the earring.  Mom had explained it would be like a bee sting for a little while, and when it was all over, the shop owner showed me a mirror.  I definitely looked older, something I both liked and disliked at the same time.

Exploring Udaipur

To Udaipur, India -- Day 1

All in all, we slept pretty well, though I think Dex was cold with only his Ethiopian Air blanket for most of the night. We finally got on the train at about 12:45 a.m, and he was understandably in a foul mood, having just woken and being forced to trudge the 100 yards along the platform to our sleeper car.

As anticipated, the later arrival due to the late departure was nice, giving us a chance to wake up and enjoy the views of farmland and distant hills. Sahlim, a tuk-tuk driver, was waiting outside the station and he efficiently shuttled us to the Poona Haveli Guesthouse.  Along the way, he handed us a leather-bound notebook filled with notes from the hundreds of tourists he had recently picked up, and he even passed back his phone so we could read the three Trip Advisor reviews of his tour guide services.

Since we had seen almost no sights in Jaipur, we felt inclined to do a little more exploring while in Udaipur and agreed to meet Sahlim outside the hotel after cleaning up and eating breakfast. Our first impression of Udaipur was one of a much cleaner and quieter city than the ones we had just come from -- Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur. There was noticeably less honking, fewer cars, and the refreshing presence of the nearby man-made lakes.

Lake Pichola and view from hotel

Sahlim was very good to us giving us multiple options for what to do farther from the main tourist sites of the City Palace and Lake Pichola. We settled on a swim and picnic at Tiger Lake and a visit to the biological park or zoo. The zoo was nothing to write home about, but the weather was nice and it was situated outside the city at the base of a hill making for some pleasant scenery. Tiger Lake, apparently, was the cleanest of the lakes around Udaipur, so we swam from the dam and jumped from what looked like a small temple avoiding the usual smattering of garbage floating in the water. On the plus side, there were lots of small fish in the water and they apparently loved the masala flavored potato chips which we all had decided we could do without.

A quick dip in Tiger lake

Feeding the fish

Although Sahlim offered to take us to some small villages where we could hand out candy to the local kids, we feigned exhaustion and asked to be taken back to the hotel. The rest of the day was spent near the hotel with Meg indulging in an Ayurvedic massage and Kylie continuing her hunt for a dress. I'm happy to say both Meg and Kylie finally achieved success with a colorful "number" for Meg and a cute, adjustable dress in brown, pink, and blue for Kylie.

New dresses!

For the evening meal, we found one of the dozens of rooftop restaurants, this one with a great view of the lake and the ultra expensive Palace Hotel sitting smack dab in the center. We even saw a few stars, which, with the smog and city lights was a rare sighting. To finish off the night, we enjoyed a short but energetic traditional Kathputli puppet show complete with high-pitched rhythmic kazoo in lieu of dialog. Here's to Udaipur.

The Palace Hotel