We are now in Udaipur, India. This started as a Facebook post, but I guess it grew a bit. So, I know this post is a bit out of order, and I won’t forget to go back and talk about Italy, Istanbul or Mumbai, but a somewhat significant change happened, so I wanted to write about it.
We ended up, at the last minute, skipping our planned stop in Aurangabad to see the really awesome Ellora and Ajanta caves (which are really ancient churches carved into the stone). This was not entirely by choice.
We had actually already bought train tickets to Aurangabad. But when we looked into the options for getting from Aurangabad to Udaipur, our next planned stop, they were all TERRIBLE. You see, apparently Aurangabad is on a bit of a side-track, and is virtually unconnected to the rest of the country. When I originally planned this tip, we had another city in mind to follow that one, Jhansi, and there was no problem. But on further review and thoughts about what we wanted to see in this country, we skipped Jhansi, and added 3 new cities. Unfortunately, the next new city in line, was not on the same side track.
Pretty much ALL of the options for this segment involved going all the way back to Mumbai (a 7 hour trip, minimum), followed by a wicked layover, then a long, painful journey adding up eventually to about 26 hours worth of travel, with a big chunk of it in a crowded and cramped train, without A/C. Or, we could pay for plane tickets, at about $400, and only take 12 hours... including an unavoidable 10 hour layover in Mumbai. So, long story short, we agonized and spent all day trying to think of alternatives, but in the end, we decided that the caves had effectively become about a $500 side-trip. So, we skipped them.
That being said, at the last minute, there weren't even any trains available to Udaipur left, so we ended up booking a sleeper bus. It cost $25 each, and took 16 hours, but at least it was air conditioned and had beds, and at least one power outlet to let us watch movies on the laptop... in the beginning. That was the end of the nice part of the ride though. The bad parts of the ride were that there was almost no head-room, unless we sat in very specific places, but then there was the bumping. When I say bumping, I mean that, as our berths were in the back of the bus, we got the worst of EVERY LITTLE tiny bump in the road. And when I say the worst, I mean that… well… picture the bus as a catapult, and us in the bucket. Every time the front of the bus landed, we got tossed into the air like rag dolls. I don’t want to exaggerate too much. I mean, we weren’t hitting the ceiling or anything, but we were definitely bounced rudely, and frequently, up off our butts or backs, depending on how we were settled. Aside from that, any time the bus turned, or accelerated or stopped quickly, we were tossed again. And what’s more, Indian drivers LOVE their horns. So all through the trip we were constantly annoyed by the screaming horn, which was customized to sound like some loud-singing slot machine in Las Vegas.
Long story short, this meant almost no sleeping for the whole 16 hour ride. 16… fucking… hours… of mostly-sleepless, nauseating, noisy, earth-quake-like torture. Couple this with the fact that within a couple days of arriving in India, my stomach has NOT liked the food here (even though my mouth has liked several things), and I am not a happy camper. At this point, even the smell of curry is making my stomach turn summersaults. I will get past this, but right now, and for days, I’ve been feeling like ass.
As a city, Udaipur is gorgeous! It’s got a small-town feel that is in sharp contrast with the insane,smelly chaos that was Mumbai. There are beautiful palaces, small streets like in Europe, jasmine blooming fragrantly everywhere, and lots of birds singing. Last night, at dinner, we even saw a flock of Indian Fruit Bats, which is a creature I find FASCINATING, and never expected to see in my life. So… SCORE on the critter count (my version of a critter count is different than Pedro’s… mine are not on a plate).
As for our lodging here, we’re staying in a very cute little hotel here called the Hotel Kumbha Palace. It’s small and simple, but clean, pretty, has a pretty garden in the courtyard, is cheap as hell (500 rupies per night = $9 = 4500 colones for the standard room), and even includes free wifi (which we were not expecting when we chose the place). We had the option of an Air Conditioned room for 900 rupies, but it was out of the wifi range, and our standard room at least has a fan, and 3 windows, so it’s not too bad. For us, WiFi wins out over A/C. Now that we’re out of Mumbai, which is one of the most expensive cities in India, we don’t need to try so hard for couch surfing. So, now we’re in the hotel stage. Since it’s so pleasant at this hotel, and since we don’t have hosts to entertain (or be entertained by), and especially after that REALLY shitty trip to get here, we’ve been enjoying taking a lovely day off and just lounging around, doing absolutely nothing but relax and stay cool.
Hopefully, my belly will settle down soon and I can start to enjoy life again. Jime is a trooper, and is almost untouched with her belly (or is at least handling it better), and she’s been super sweet taking care of me. We haven’t seen much of this city yet, other than the lake and the palaces, so I will write more about this place later, when it comes up again in my regularly-scheduled blogging order.
For now though, I guess the moral of this story is, if you ever find yourself in India, Udaipur is a MUST-SEE city, but dear lord… do NOT get here by bus! And if you DO have to get here by bus, for the love of all that is holy, ride in the front!
Cheers,
Alex
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