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We arrived about 9:00 AM to the outskirts of Udaipur, we came to this town because of its exotic history. Large palaces and forts located on royal made picture perfect lakes. Rajas and Rajistas lived here for many years overseeing their kingdoms and living a lavish lifestyle. The city planning has survived today and the river which was damned in three locations forms large lakes that flooded the valleys. What does a Raj do when he builds himself a lake in the middle of town, why he builds a lake palace of course. The lake palace has been turned into a world famous five star hotel and after our train ride from hell this would be our salvation. It was a vision floating in the center of the lake. The walls of the palace rising straight out of the water to form a private sanctuary. We were greeted by uniformed boatmen who delivered us and our backpacks to the edge of our home for the next three days. Now this was first class and worth every penny of the $150 night including meals accommodations. We were given a choice of three rooms and it was tough to decide which one, so I went for the one that looked like a Raj bedroom with a very large marble bath.
No time was wasted, we headed down for our lunch followed by the pool for some fun in the sun. The whole atmosphere was tranquil and exotic, a combination that we had not experienced in India. This represented the India of ancient times and today's India has along way to go before she can match her former grandeur and glory. We stayed two nights and three days and never left the palace, except for a sunset boat cruise to another palace only used in the summer. We decided to entertain for dinner and invited Micheal for dinner and drinks. He was the German guy we met on the train. Micheal has been working in Jaipur for six months teaching German and doing a marketing study for Sheraton hotels as part of a student exchange program. You could tell he was excited about the opportunity to have dinner with someone not from India. The remainder of our time was spent doing nothing. It was amazing to think that we had been in India for only four days and it had worn us out.
Our hotel package also include a four hour tour of the sites in town so we scheduled it on the day of our departure. We wanted to maximize every minute at the palace. India does not import many products and for the most part manufactures everything it needs. It appears that India makes two types of cars and based on our taxi experiences the style has not changed in forty years. Our taxi was new and even had air-conditioning. It is still 105 degrees outside and air-conditioning is essential for comfort. The air-conditioning had to be turned off every time we approached a hill, if not the car was in danger of rolling backwards.
The tour included the huge city palace, a really crummy puppet museum, and a garden that had not seen a gardener in a few years. After our tour we were very happy we remained in the confines of the palace during our stay. Udaipur is a lovely town and very calm compared with Delhi and Jaipur. There were still several hours to kill before our next train adventure began, so we headed to another palace in the city limits for lunch. We were the only customers of the day but we had a great view and of course the air-conditioning had not worked for a couple of months. It must be tough to maintain a palace.
Scooter decided to get educated on travel agent scams and tourist expectations. We went to a couple of travel agents and presented them with our train ticket problem. They all felt we had been ripped off but they also felt we would have no problem getting the difference refunded. Scooter called Merry Go Travel in Delhi and was told that Mr. Shyam our travel agent was out of town for a week. It had appears that he had just come into a couple hundred extra dollars and it was time for a vacation. It might also be possible that when they asked who was calling they thought it a better idea that Mr. Shyam should be out of town. They knew when we were leaving India. Scooter told him he was due a refund and got the run-around. When we informed the guy on the phone that we were leaving India at the end of the week, we were told to call from the United States and we could get it all straightened out. It was official we had been ripped off. If you should find yourself in India and need a travel agent we would advise you to avoid Merry Go Travel and be extra careful with anybody that you use.
The problem got even worse for our next train departure. It turns out that 11WL printed on the ticket meant we were 11th on the wait list. We didn't even have a seat on the train. When we looked at the rest of our train tickets the pattern continued and we had been wait listed on all of our trains. Not only did we over pay by $200 for what we got, we really didn't have any tickets. At the train station, I joined the families on the floor and Scooter started to look for a backup plan. It was a friendly station and we struck up several conversations with semi-English speaking locals. One young man, took me to the ladies waiting room for a chair and another guy insisted that he and Scooter were brothers. He just kept going on about the similar facial features and felt the need to shake hands over-and-over.
It boiled down to waiting for our train and see what happens. So our current situation was that we hoped we could get on the train and repeat the prison cell experience from our previous train ride. Scooter had figured out how all the different classes on the train worked and his plan was to upgrade for $3 to Second Class air-conditioning. The conductor of the train was the keeper of the keys to our comforts. The train arrived and the chaos began. Scooter shadowed the conductor making sure that he knew we wanted in Second Class. Foreigners are supposed to be given priority on the trains but it still pays to be persistent. The courtesy of standing in line does not exist in India and you will find yourself next for service but somehow at the end of the growing line. With 900 million people the guy who is courteous gets stepped on.
We boarded the train in our First Class prison cell and I waited for Scooter to finish dukeing it out with the locals. He returned to tell me we were upgraded he thinks. Second Class was an improvement and we actually had nicely folded dirty sheets for our fold down beds. The sheets had been washed but you can only get a white sheet as clean as the dirty rock your beating it on. The conductor assigned us a cabin that had a family of six in it, so we decided to settle in an empty cabin. It turns out that half the cabins were empty and we were at the last major city before our morning arrival. An hour after the train left the conductor showed up to collect the difference in fare. Scooter tried to give backsheesh (Indian Bribe) which is supposedly the only way anything gets done in India but he refused. He did make us move to another cabin. Scooter thinks the conductor planned on sleeping in the cabin we currently occupied. We tried to enter our new cabin but it was locked and the conductor had to be summoned to wake up a sleeping passenger. Second Class air-conditioning was not that bad and it would allow us to get some sleep before we changed trains in the morning for another four train ride to Bombay, followed by a two hour flight to Bangalore. We had a long 24 hours of travel ahead of us.
Our new suite mate was a Professor of Anatomy at a local medical college and a member of the Jain religion. The Jain religion is a form of Hinduism but they are absolute vegetarians and the taking of life of any kind is wrong. Even the killing of ant by a misplaced footstep is incomprehensible. A follower of the Jain religion can be found crunched over, walking through the streets, sweeping the path ahead of them to avoid stepping on any insects. Scooter had a great time asking Mr. Jain questions. If you are a Jain you use Jain as your last name. That means there is over 5 million Mr. Jains in India. Mr. Jain had just finished administering a test to a group of medical students. With 900 million people, who for the most part live in unsanitary conditions the issue of medical care is important. How many doctors does it take to care for a population of One billion?
The morning comes quick and at 7:00 AM we change trains in Ahmadabad for a four hour train ride to Bombay. We are getting closer to the big cities and the Bombay train is an express train but it turns out that our seat assignments are not together. We decided to sit together and fight the system. It was a full train and our little move forced another couple to look for seats elsewhere. When in Rome.
We checked our luggage at the Bombay train station and tried to avoid all the people sleeping on the ground as we headed out into the city. We had a few hours in Bombay before our flight to Bangalore, so we set out for a little city tour and lunch. We had been told that Bombay was very westernized and we thought it may be a good place to hang for a couple of days before we left India. We had a lunch spot picked out on the water at the Taj Mahal Hotel. Our mission was to avoid at all cost the stomach disorders surrounded with your friendly neighborhood restaurant. We like Indian food but it is not worth the price you pay. We got a price quote from our taxi driver on our destination. We were quoted a very high price and our driver informed us it was a very long drive. We asked about the meter and our taxi driver forgot how to speak English. Before we pulled away a big official looking man came over and yelled at our driver and reset the meter on the hood. The meter is mechanical and is mounted on the hood above the left front tire. As the tire turns the meter measures the distance as the tire rotates. The taxi driver has a meter card that gives the rate based on the distance traveled. We told the taxi driver to use the meter and the cab ride cost 1/10 of the quoted fair. It sure is hard to enjoy a place when everyone is trying to rip you off.
Bombay was an improvement over Delhi. We could not find any cows in the road and the trash seemed to be limited to the overflowing garbage cans. The streets were still filled with squatters and everywhere you turned someone was begging for money. We would not be returning to Bombay for an extended stay. Lunch at the Taj Mahal was at the hotel diner which was packed with foreign businessmen. We strolled around but it started to rain, so we grabbed a cab and headed for the airport.
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| This page last changed on 22-May-2006 20:30:01 EDT by 70.171.24.221. |
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