Udaipur
19th-26th March
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I'd put my tank bag and base in for repair at the week-end as two of the teeth in the zip that secures it had become detached in the previous week, and so I had to collect it this morning. They hadn’t been able to repair it at the week-end as they’d encountered one of many power cuts wed already experienced in India. I’d also promised a local that I would give him a ride, and I had to buy two nuts and bolts to replace two that had come off the rear sprocket. After the ride the lad gave me a gift of a woven wrist-strap which it looked like he’d made himself, boxed and then wrapped up as a gift. A very nice gesture he seemed a little embarrassed about but I did my best to reassure him that the gesture was very nice and well received. All-in-all it turned out to be a very busy start to the week with the bike attracting it’s biggest audience in India yet, about 30 or 40 swarmed round the bike to see it parked outside whilst I found some suitable nuts and bolts….which made testing the suitability of different bolt lengths quite a task as I had to usher the crowd away from my path to the sprocket. Sylvia did an admirable job of keeping their hands away from anything significant and generally kept them occupied. The people that repaired my tank bag asked 125Rupees for the zip and fitting-that is about £1.50 !! I tried to give them 250 Rupees but they would only accept an additional 25 !!!, about 35p !!!!! They even threw in a cup of coffee for Sylvia and I whilst we fitted the tank bag base and panniers back to the bike.
Finally we got back to the Hotel and finished loading the bike. John meanwhile had been interviewed by a journalist that my passenger had brought along.
And.....finally we managed to leave, get gassed up and get on the road to Surat, our first stop point for the week, nothing particularly interesting as it is an Industrial city. It was very hot and my ambient temperature gauge was showing 40 degrees C !!!! We’d been warned that the road was bad but that turned out to be inaccurate and we were able to hold a decent speed for nearly the whole ride. At first the usual suicidal Indian driving seemed to have subsided but this illusion was quickly shattered as an errant goat got spooked just as I was about to pass it and jerked towards the bike-I had to brake very hard, the bike jolted and I really thought we were going to hit it and worse, come off. Fortunatly, at the last second the goat got a grip of its senses and stayed put which was a great relief to Sylvie and I. John then perks up with some joke about “just kidding” which I refused to even spare a smirk for ( some people !!). The normal manic driving then resumed and Sylvie and I spent the next 2 hours or so hooting and waving our arms angrily as lorry and bus after lorry and bus tried to mow us down as they over-took on the wrong side of the road on bend after bend after bend, occasionally having to stop completely to avoid collision. During the ride today we saw sign after sign warning in many different ways to drive carefully. Some examples are “Impatient on the road, a patient in hospital”, “Don’t drink and drive, arrive alive.”
Later we had to take a diversion as the main road was closed for some road works, however after leaving the main road, any hope of a second diversion sign evaporated after 3 or so miles-finally between some local intelligence and the GPS unit we got past the diversion and back on the main road.
As we arrived in the outskirts of Surat traffic was very very heavy and it was very very hot. After a few long stops in a traffic jam we saw a Park Inn hotel, the same chain that we’d stayed in in Zurich on our flight out to India. I checked room availability and prices. The hotel was expensive but I managed to secure a 30 % discount on the basis that we were special guests. None of us were that keen to look further so we checked in and enjoyed all the privileges of such a Hotel. As we were unloading the bikes the traffic outside almost came to a standstill as onlookers just stopped to look at us. The hotel management were worried that the police may be called and so ushered them along, they still only moved slowly though and so Sylvia took the opportunity to take some photos. Soon ensconced in our rooms, the chocolate and soft drinks were raided from the in-room fridge.
Later in the evening we had a really lovely meal in the Hotels own restaurant which was celebrating the cricket world cup. The food and drinks(all non-alcoholic) were excellent and we also enjoyed the company of an Indian business man sitting in the table next to us who loves bikes and was fascinated by our trip. The end of the evening culminated in him taking a number of pictures of Sylvia and I by the bikes and the Hotel staff taking a number of photos of us in the lobby for their magazine. John unfortunately had to retire early due to his Dehli-Belly.
After John suffering some more from his Dehli belly, Sylvia rejoined with her own after we returned to our room. Such a shame after such a lovely meal.
The day started fairly slowly with me replacing the two missing sprocket bolts after enjoying a good complimentary breakfast before we headed off towards Vadodara, our next point for our overnight stay. Getting out if town proved to be a bit of a fiasco with “helpers” pointing us this way and that until finally we met someone on a bike who was heading towards the highway we wanted so we followed him. We were glad that we had as the many different roads he took would have taken us all day to find our way through.
The highway was good and we generally able to average about 50mph, which as you are probably gathering by now, is a good pace. We had the usual array of Indian Incidents, with Sylvia and I forced to a grinding halt in the outside lane of a dual carriageway-type road as a lorry, travelling at about 5mph, just changed lanes without any form of indication and then stopped. I was hard on the anchors with the front end reacting violently to the extreme braking. It was very close and I was fuming. I let the horn have full blast and made a few gestures to the lorry driver, who actually did apologise..in an Indian sort of way…which is actually a milestone in itself.
We stopped for a brief lunch which turned out to be nice and headed off again. The ride was largely uneventful(by our new Indian standards) and we managed to find a decent Hotel after about 40 mins.
In the early evening we managed to find a cash point to get some more cash and a decent, if hot and stuffy, internet café. We looked for a decent restaurant where we could get a beer. We were told that a grand Hotel would serve liquer and non-veg meals. (We’ve found that you can’t normally get alcohol where vegetarian meals are served-you also can’t get milk!). By our/European standards, most vegetarian restaurants are vegan. So off we went to the grand hotel to soon learn that the whole state we are in is dry. The only way you can get an alcoholic drink is to apply for a liquer licence when you first arrive in India and then buy alcohol using the licence between 13:00 & 20:00 during the day, and then you can only consume it in your own room !!
Dinner was very good and the service was very efficient but bordered on rushed/hurried. The food was very rich and as a result Sylvia and I didn’t eat all ours so I asked for a doggy-bag. When we got near to our hotel we got out of the Rick-Shaw and I found some dogs to share our dinner with. Never have I made so many canine friends so quickly !! Tails wagging and we were followed for a while as they continued to look expectant. One odd but nice thing was that although all these dogs were strays and living on the street, none tried to steal anything from the others as I fed them, and I particularly focused on one as it had a problem with its leg.
My right shoulder had become noticeably painful in England over Christmas with the worst pain happening during the night. Unfortunately I hadn’t found the time to see a Doctor etc about it. However as we have continued our travels the pain has become more acute at times, sometimes grimacing. Today my arm was hurting more even after a short distance. The driving was as usual and had Sylvia actually wacked somebodies arm twice as we left Vadodara to get them away from us in traffic, he still pretty well ignored her wacks until I finally shouted at him !. We‘d decided to take breakfast on the road as we wanted to drive in as much cool as possible and with as few as vehicles as possible. The first restaurant we stopped at had only one thing to eat until 12. The Second basically served the same things with a different topping, but overall the food was ok. Ahadabad was our destination and we got there early, found Internet café, some Cadburys Chocloate ! and did some web updates.
The road to Udaipur was surprisingly good, like a European dual carriageway. Not too many events with the exception of a lorry doing about 5mph pulling out just as I was about to overtake. Gave him full horn and did a fair amount of shouting as I drew alongside his cab afterwards. To start with he sort of apologised but as we continued I could see he actually thought about the fact that we were angry. Arrived early in Udaipur and after sampling 4 hotels,settled on one by flipping a coin as they were all very good. Moved in to our “choice”, rested and went out for dinner where they served beer.
Udaipur
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Udaipur in all it's glory-This place was beautiful !
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Every silver lining has a cloud......taken not long after we'd arrived.
During the following day we all concentrated on bike maintennace or administration as usual for the week-end. In the evening we were entertained by some musicians, dancers and a puppet show at Bagore-ki-Haveli which turned our to be very entertaining. The children were so enjoying it that they forced themselves next to John and pushed him along until he was virtually squeezed between Sylvia and them.
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Our first proper night in town co-incided with a party celebrating a religious festival
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The following shots paint part of the picture of the events we saw.
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A few shots follow of the entertainment we recieved.....it was very good.
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This lady started with this one pot and ended with..........
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.....this many...The wonders of Fairy Liquid !!
Dinner was amongst the best meals we’ve enjoyed in India and was accompanied by a Citar and drums which I really enjoyed.
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The site of one of our best meals in India so far.
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Hero Honda's seen all over India-They are pretty well one of three only motorcyle manufactures represented here, them, Royal Enfield and Baja, an Indian make similar to Honda
On the Saturday we did our site-seeing which had us visit the Jagdish Mandir temple, which wasn’t that impressive and the City Palace, which was-staggering !!!, where we had some very expensive (but unimpressive) elevensies. We also did some shopping as the art work here is very beautiful and affordable. In the evening we visited a local restaurant called the Whistling Teal and had a quiet dinner.
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A few of the sights we saw around town ! Notice again how the cows are allowed to roam where they please.
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The Wok shop.....these Woks were about 4 or 5 feet in diameter.
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This made me smile, the shelf the pigeon is sitting on looks like it was designed to compliment the painting.
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General driving chaos...now which side of the road are we supposed to drive on ?... who cares !!...just as long as we don't hit a cow !!
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Cows eating whatever they can find. In the best cases the locals will feed them bananas or different forms of greens. In the worst case they are left to chew any rubbish they can, often found in plastic bags-the worst thing about this is that the plastic bags then block up their stomachs and the result can be fatal.
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Indian wiring, unfortunately not an insulated incident !
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A novel way of selling Lime juice
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Our expensive elevensies !!
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Nuveaux Elevensies...........nice if you can get enough to taste them
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The Jagdish Mandir Temple
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Whilst unimpresive overall, there were some amazing carvings to be seen.
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The following shot was taken of a few Donkies blocking the road whilst they were led to dipense their rubble.
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Spikes on the City Palace entrance gates-we couldn't work out why the spikes were so high for a while but realised that they were there to stop Elephants being used to break the doors down.
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One of the many patintings on the City Palace Walls.
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Restoration work-Inidan style near the entrance to the City Palace.
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Sylvia taking a few moments out of our busy visiting schedule.
On the Sunday morning we had all planned to go Horse riding on Marwarai’s, the native Indian horse with ears that point inwards. Unfortunatley John had been up half the night with a bad stomach so he wasn’t up to the ride and so Sylvia and I bade him well and left. There were only three of us in the end, Sylvia, the guide and myself.
I was advised that I would enjoy the ride more if I took one of their thoroughbreds as opposed to a Marwari as they required a firmer hand. I took his advice and the three of us set off. Most of the ride was a walk but we had a few moments of cantering and galloping. I found it a lot harder this time (after Egypt) to stay balanced on the horse and on more than one occaision found myself slipping to one side or another and had to battle to stay in the seat, which was a bit un-nerving when all you can see is a stone wall not too far from either side of you. Images of me being dragged along by one or both stirrups and being ground down by either of the walls popped in and out of my mind as I tried to remember how Indiana (Jones) would have done it.
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A mid-ride rest and photo opportunity.
Sylvia gave me a few tips which helped with the continual pounding of my bottom and generally how to sit on the horse, but with no formal instruction I had very little else to call on. If not particularly adventurous, we both enjoyed the ride and got back in one piece.
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Within seconds of getting back this colt was feeding from the mare that Sylvia had been riding.
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A shot to display the Marwarai's ears. I wasn't keen on the Hippy hat but apparently its used to keep flies out of the horses eyes.
Later in the day we took a boat trip out to Jag-Mandir Island on the south of Lake Pichola, where we took tea and light refreshments served by Indians in white linen-a treat for us all.. It is worthy of note that this lake is man-made and huge. It was built around 1620 and all the buildings built on various Islands look they were built at the correct level and attitude. I’m not sure exactly how big it is but it is well over a kilometre in length and about half a kilometre in width.
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The local children enjoying the lake.
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Jag-Mandir Island
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...well, you have to take afternoon tea...don't you !!??!!
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One of the waiters who served us.
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A few views taken on the Island
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A statue of Ganesh, the elephant headed God
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City Palace taken from the boat on the return from Jag-Mandir Island
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A few scenes taken at the end of of the day where we visited Jag-Mandir Island-these were taken on a walk to Sunset Point
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The last shot of Jag-Mandir Island being taken fron Sunset point. Udaipur was home to some scenes from Octupussy, The James Bond movie. We think this was the island that was used in the film.
Udaipur was beautiful and the most impressive and enjoyable place we have visited so far in India.
Mike
19th-26th March
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I'd put my tank bag and base in for repair at the week-end as two of the teeth in the zip that secures it had become detached in the previous week, and so I had to collect it this morning. They hadn’t been able to repair it at the week-end as they’d encountered one of many power cuts wed already experienced in India. I’d also promised a local that I would give him a ride, and I had to buy two nuts and bolts to replace two that had come off the rear sprocket. After the ride the lad gave me a gift of a woven wrist-strap which it looked like he’d made himself, boxed and then wrapped up as a gift. A very nice gesture he seemed a little embarrassed about but I did my best to reassure him that the gesture was very nice and well received. All-in-all it turned out to be a very busy start to the week with the bike attracting it’s biggest audience in India yet, about 30 or 40 swarmed round the bike to see it parked outside whilst I found some suitable nuts and bolts….which made testing the suitability of different bolt lengths quite a task as I had to usher the crowd away from my path to the sprocket. Sylvia did an admirable job of keeping their hands away from anything significant and generally kept them occupied. The people that repaired my tank bag asked 125Rupees for the zip and fitting-that is about £1.50 !! I tried to give them 250 Rupees but they would only accept an additional 25 !!!, about 35p !!!!! They even threw in a cup of coffee for Sylvia and I whilst we fitted the tank bag base and panniers back to the bike.
Finally we got back to the Hotel and finished loading the bike. John meanwhile had been interviewed by a journalist that my passenger had brought along.
And.....finally we managed to leave, get gassed up and get on the road to Surat, our first stop point for the week, nothing particularly interesting as it is an Industrial city. It was very hot and my ambient temperature gauge was showing 40 degrees C !!!! We’d been warned that the road was bad but that turned out to be inaccurate and we were able to hold a decent speed for nearly the whole ride. At first the usual suicidal Indian driving seemed to have subsided but this illusion was quickly shattered as an errant goat got spooked just as I was about to pass it and jerked towards the bike-I had to brake very hard, the bike jolted and I really thought we were going to hit it and worse, come off. Fortunatly, at the last second the goat got a grip of its senses and stayed put which was a great relief to Sylvie and I. John then perks up with some joke about “just kidding” which I refused to even spare a smirk for ( some people !!). The normal manic driving then resumed and Sylvie and I spent the next 2 hours or so hooting and waving our arms angrily as lorry and bus after lorry and bus tried to mow us down as they over-took on the wrong side of the road on bend after bend after bend, occasionally having to stop completely to avoid collision. During the ride today we saw sign after sign warning in many different ways to drive carefully. Some examples are “Impatient on the road, a patient in hospital”, “Don’t drink and drive, arrive alive.”
Later we had to take a diversion as the main road was closed for some road works, however after leaving the main road, any hope of a second diversion sign evaporated after 3 or so miles-finally between some local intelligence and the GPS unit we got past the diversion and back on the main road.
As we arrived in the outskirts of Surat traffic was very very heavy and it was very very hot. After a few long stops in a traffic jam we saw a Park Inn hotel, the same chain that we’d stayed in in Zurich on our flight out to India. I checked room availability and prices. The hotel was expensive but I managed to secure a 30 % discount on the basis that we were special guests. None of us were that keen to look further so we checked in and enjoyed all the privileges of such a Hotel. As we were unloading the bikes the traffic outside almost came to a standstill as onlookers just stopped to look at us. The hotel management were worried that the police may be called and so ushered them along, they still only moved slowly though and so Sylvia took the opportunity to take some photos. Soon ensconced in our rooms, the chocolate and soft drinks were raided from the in-room fridge.
Later in the evening we had a really lovely meal in the Hotels own restaurant which was celebrating the cricket world cup. The food and drinks(all non-alcoholic) were excellent and we also enjoyed the company of an Indian business man sitting in the table next to us who loves bikes and was fascinated by our trip. The end of the evening culminated in him taking a number of pictures of Sylvia and I by the bikes and the Hotel staff taking a number of photos of us in the lobby for their magazine. John unfortunately had to retire early due to his Dehli-Belly.
After John suffering some more from his Dehli belly, Sylvia rejoined with her own after we returned to our room. Such a shame after such a lovely meal.
The day started fairly slowly with me replacing the two missing sprocket bolts after enjoying a good complimentary breakfast before we headed off towards Vadodara, our next point for our overnight stay. Getting out if town proved to be a bit of a fiasco with “helpers” pointing us this way and that until finally we met someone on a bike who was heading towards the highway we wanted so we followed him. We were glad that we had as the many different roads he took would have taken us all day to find our way through.
The highway was good and we generally able to average about 50mph, which as you are probably gathering by now, is a good pace. We had the usual array of Indian Incidents, with Sylvia and I forced to a grinding halt in the outside lane of a dual carriageway-type road as a lorry, travelling at about 5mph, just changed lanes without any form of indication and then stopped. I was hard on the anchors with the front end reacting violently to the extreme braking. It was very close and I was fuming. I let the horn have full blast and made a few gestures to the lorry driver, who actually did apologise..in an Indian sort of way…which is actually a milestone in itself.
We stopped for a brief lunch which turned out to be nice and headed off again. The ride was largely uneventful(by our new Indian standards) and we managed to find a decent Hotel after about 40 mins.
In the early evening we managed to find a cash point to get some more cash and a decent, if hot and stuffy, internet café. We looked for a decent restaurant where we could get a beer. We were told that a grand Hotel would serve liquer and non-veg meals. (We’ve found that you can’t normally get alcohol where vegetarian meals are served-you also can’t get milk!). By our/European standards, most vegetarian restaurants are vegan. So off we went to the grand hotel to soon learn that the whole state we are in is dry. The only way you can get an alcoholic drink is to apply for a liquer licence when you first arrive in India and then buy alcohol using the licence between 13:00 & 20:00 during the day, and then you can only consume it in your own room !!
Dinner was very good and the service was very efficient but bordered on rushed/hurried. The food was very rich and as a result Sylvia and I didn’t eat all ours so I asked for a doggy-bag. When we got near to our hotel we got out of the Rick-Shaw and I found some dogs to share our dinner with. Never have I made so many canine friends so quickly !! Tails wagging and we were followed for a while as they continued to look expectant. One odd but nice thing was that although all these dogs were strays and living on the street, none tried to steal anything from the others as I fed them, and I particularly focused on one as it had a problem with its leg.
My right shoulder had become noticeably painful in England over Christmas with the worst pain happening during the night. Unfortunately I hadn’t found the time to see a Doctor etc about it. However as we have continued our travels the pain has become more acute at times, sometimes grimacing. Today my arm was hurting more even after a short distance. The driving was as usual and had Sylvia actually wacked somebodies arm twice as we left Vadodara to get them away from us in traffic, he still pretty well ignored her wacks until I finally shouted at him !. We‘d decided to take breakfast on the road as we wanted to drive in as much cool as possible and with as few as vehicles as possible. The first restaurant we stopped at had only one thing to eat until 12. The Second basically served the same things with a different topping, but overall the food was ok. Ahadabad was our destination and we got there early, found Internet café, some Cadburys Chocloate ! and did some web updates.
The road to Udaipur was surprisingly good, like a European dual carriageway. Not too many events with the exception of a lorry doing about 5mph pulling out just as I was about to overtake. Gave him full horn and did a fair amount of shouting as I drew alongside his cab afterwards. To start with he sort of apologised but as we continued I could see he actually thought about the fact that we were angry. Arrived early in Udaipur and after sampling 4 hotels,settled on one by flipping a coin as they were all very good. Moved in to our “choice”, rested and went out for dinner where they served beer.
Udaipur
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Udaipur in all it's glory-This place was beautiful !
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Every silver lining has a cloud......taken not long after we'd arrived.
During the following day we all concentrated on bike maintennace or administration as usual for the week-end. In the evening we were entertained by some musicians, dancers and a puppet show at Bagore-ki-Haveli which turned our to be very entertaining. The children were so enjoying it that they forced themselves next to John and pushed him along until he was virtually squeezed between Sylvia and them.
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Our first proper night in town co-incided with a party celebrating a religious festival
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The following shots paint part of the picture of the events we saw.
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A few shots follow of the entertainment we recieved.....it was very good.
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This lady started with this one pot and ended with..........
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.....this many...The wonders of Fairy Liquid !!
Dinner was amongst the best meals we’ve enjoyed in India and was accompanied by a Citar and drums which I really enjoyed.
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The site of one of our best meals in India so far.
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Hero Honda's seen all over India-They are pretty well one of three only motorcyle manufactures represented here, them, Royal Enfield and Baja, an Indian make similar to Honda
On the Saturday we did our site-seeing which had us visit the Jagdish Mandir temple, which wasn’t that impressive and the City Palace, which was-staggering !!!, where we had some very expensive (but unimpressive) elevensies. We also did some shopping as the art work here is very beautiful and affordable. In the evening we visited a local restaurant called the Whistling Teal and had a quiet dinner.
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A few of the sights we saw around town ! Notice again how the cows are allowed to roam where they please.
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The Wok shop.....these Woks were about 4 or 5 feet in diameter.
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This made me smile, the shelf the pigeon is sitting on looks like it was designed to compliment the painting.
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General driving chaos...now which side of the road are we supposed to drive on ?... who cares !!...just as long as we don't hit a cow !!
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Cows eating whatever they can find. In the best cases the locals will feed them bananas or different forms of greens. In the worst case they are left to chew any rubbish they can, often found in plastic bags-the worst thing about this is that the plastic bags then block up their stomachs and the result can be fatal.
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Indian wiring, unfortunately not an insulated incident !
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A novel way of selling Lime juice
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Our expensive elevensies !!
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Nuveaux Elevensies...........nice if you can get enough to taste them
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The Jagdish Mandir Temple
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Whilst unimpresive overall, there were some amazing carvings to be seen.
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The following shot was taken of a few Donkies blocking the road whilst they were led to dipense their rubble.
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Spikes on the City Palace entrance gates-we couldn't work out why the spikes were so high for a while but realised that they were there to stop Elephants being used to break the doors down.
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One of the many patintings on the City Palace Walls.
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Restoration work-Inidan style near the entrance to the City Palace.
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Sylvia taking a few moments out of our busy visiting schedule.
On the Sunday morning we had all planned to go Horse riding on Marwarai’s, the native Indian horse with ears that point inwards. Unfortunatley John had been up half the night with a bad stomach so he wasn’t up to the ride and so Sylvia and I bade him well and left. There were only three of us in the end, Sylvia, the guide and myself.
I was advised that I would enjoy the ride more if I took one of their thoroughbreds as opposed to a Marwari as they required a firmer hand. I took his advice and the three of us set off. Most of the ride was a walk but we had a few moments of cantering and galloping. I found it a lot harder this time (after Egypt) to stay balanced on the horse and on more than one occaision found myself slipping to one side or another and had to battle to stay in the seat, which was a bit un-nerving when all you can see is a stone wall not too far from either side of you. Images of me being dragged along by one or both stirrups and being ground down by either of the walls popped in and out of my mind as I tried to remember how Indiana (Jones) would have done it.
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A mid-ride rest and photo opportunity.
Sylvia gave me a few tips which helped with the continual pounding of my bottom and generally how to sit on the horse, but with no formal instruction I had very little else to call on. If not particularly adventurous, we both enjoyed the ride and got back in one piece.
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Within seconds of getting back this colt was feeding from the mare that Sylvia had been riding.
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A shot to display the Marwarai's ears. I wasn't keen on the Hippy hat but apparently its used to keep flies out of the horses eyes.
Later in the day we took a boat trip out to Jag-Mandir Island on the south of Lake Pichola, where we took tea and light refreshments served by Indians in white linen-a treat for us all.. It is worthy of note that this lake is man-made and huge. It was built around 1620 and all the buildings built on various Islands look they were built at the correct level and attitude. I’m not sure exactly how big it is but it is well over a kilometre in length and about half a kilometre in width.
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The local children enjoying the lake.
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Jag-Mandir Island
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...well, you have to take afternoon tea...don't you !!??!!
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One of the waiters who served us.
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A few views taken on the Island
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A statue of Ganesh, the elephant headed God
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City Palace taken from the boat on the return from Jag-Mandir Island
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A few scenes taken at the end of of the day where we visited Jag-Mandir Island-these were taken on a walk to Sunset Point
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The last shot of Jag-Mandir Island being taken fron Sunset point. Udaipur was home to some scenes from Octupussy, The James Bond movie. We think this was the island that was used in the film.
Udaipur was beautiful and the most impressive and enjoyable place we have visited so far in India.
Mike
