After a busy, but not especially active couple of weeks when we had the opportunity to do a sunrise walk to a temple at the top of a hill it seemed like a perfect idea. Half of the group met in reception at 5.45am and had to ring Raj who I think had overslept - but we were soon on our way, although the cloud meant we didn't actually see a sunrise.
It only took us a sweaty 35 minutes to climb up the hill/mountain and when we got to the top there was a temple, a dog apparently guarding the temple from monkeys and most excitingly a Chai man.
The view of the Holy Lake in Pushkar was beautiful, even with the clouds and the temple was quite basic in decor, but interesting.
We all had some chai and watched the monkeys and dog in some sort of strange standoff and then the monkeys looking after their babies.
It was a free optional activity, but is up there with one of my favourites of the whole holiday. We walked back and I jumped in the shower - which was a shame because if I'd waited I'd have been able to visit a school.
I had a fairly random breakfast - not all of what I had inmy order arrived, but bonus plates of rice and pancakes did to confuse me! I spent the rest of the morning mooching around the hotel as we checked out at 12 and then didn't get the taxis to Ajmer train station until 2.30pm with a train ride back to Delhi arriving at 10.45pm and my flight at 4.45am the following morning. I had my last curry dinner of Kadhi Paneer and rice and then it started rained just as we were getting in the taxi.
Ajmer train station is 20km from the hotel in Pushkar and we left an hour before our 3.10pm train in 4 separate cars. The rain was heavy and the roads aren't always great and I started to worry as Raj who is usually always calm started to chat heatedly to our driver as we attempted a number of different routes to be met with roads flooded to the height of the handlebars of a motorbike. Our driver tried hard to get us there overtaking cars and traffic jams sneaking into the wrong side of the road and driving through very high water levels. Raj took a call from Joe who was in another car and then finally we arrived at the station along with one of the other cars with the other 2 still on the way even though they left before us.
Raj sprinted to see if he could hold the train, telling us to grab our bags and wade through the knee deep water to the platform, but it had already gone. We turned back, got back in the taxi and Raj assembled all the cars back together again at the bus station. Raj was permantly attached to his phone as it wasn't as simple as us catching the next train as the subsequent trains are all overnight trains which would have got into Delhi after my flight, so he was arranging a solution.
The bus station was filthy and loud with men shouting "Jaipur, Jaipur, Jaipurrrrrr!" We had a toilet break in an extremely grim toilet and stocked up on crisps and cookies for our journey ahead that would no longer include an at seat meal service.
Joe and Janet arrived and Joe went to get changed as he'd had to get out in thigh-waist deep water to push the car he was in when the driver had gone through a road that we'd turned back from and flooded the engine - they'd got into a TukTuk to get to the bus station that then took them down the same flooded street. Joe managed to commandeer what he thinks was possibly police jeep to get him and his mum safely to the bus station.
Raj had a plan - we'd get a public, but air conditioned bus to Jaipur which would take 2 hours and then a private bus to Delhi which would take 5-7 hours - my flight was 12 hours from takeoff. He said not to change the flight for the time being as we should still be able to make it. The bus was fairly comfortable and air conditioned and was going straight through until Jaipur. After 2 hours it dropped us off just before we reached Jaipur on the side of the road and then literally a mere 2 minutes later our private bus arrived to take us the rest of the way to Delhi.
The private bus was pretty comfortable, air conditioned and with plenty of seats, I had both my bags with me to allow for a swift transfer to the car to take me to the airport. Raj estimated that it would take a further 5 - 7 hours back to Delhi to cover around the remainder of the total of 220 miles from where we were in Ajmer. In the UK we'd expect that to take no more than maybe 4 - 5 hours in total, but in India it's a different story. The roads aren't always in great condition and even the better ones have pot holes and bumpy sections so the maximum speed is around 50 mph at anytime and feels plenty fast enough as you bump along up and down! I will feel much less irritated now when I hit the 50 mph zones when they are repairing the roads as it means that we have smoother and safer journeys in comparison!
About an hour or so into the journey there was a bang followed by lots of bumps - the bus had blown a tyre! Cool as anything and very tongue in cheek Raj our guide explained that we would be making a brief toilet break stop for circa 15 - 20 minutes whilst the tyre was changed and that facilities were available in the bushes. We all got out and used the "facilities", but unfortunately changing the tyre took over an hour and the Indian Police came along to supervise/watch/not contribute much to the proceedings. They used rocks to jack up the bus and we were finally on our way again. Around 50m up the road we pulled in and Raj very kindly bought us all some snacks and a drink at a cafe that was open with seating and most amusingly - a tyre place that was very open!
We bumped our way North across India until we hit an extremely slow traffic jam and as we crawled inbetween huge lorries with cars overtaking on the hard shoulder. And of course at that point I needed the toilet! I had the mild indignity of having to wake up Raj and ask him to come with me to find a suitable bush at the side of the road - the first one I attempted saw me end up knee deep in a bog, so I found an alternative tree and had wet feet again for the rest of the journey!
I fell asleep and woke up to Raj telling me to get ready to move into the taxi, and to call him either way if I did or didn't make the plane. My flight was 4.45am and this was at 3.20am. I said a hurried goodbye to the group, grabbed my bags and got in the taxi and made it to the airport for just before 4am, the guard on the door said that he didn't think I'd make it, but I pleaded with him to let me try and ran to the check in desk, showed the people in the queue my ticket and they let me go in front and I was sent down to the supervisor who checked in my luggage and issued my boarding card. I ran across the airport to passport control and showed my boarding card to the queue of people who pointed me towards the non-existent queue for first class and a very nice guard sighed and let me through. I then queue jumped again through security smiling and pleading with people - of course I couldn't go through smoothly - I beeped and had to be taken into a room behind a curtain and frisked by a lady and then I sprinted from one end of the airport (of course my gate said 15 minutes walk away at the farthest point from where security came out!)
I reached the gate to again see the "last call" sign flashing, but gauged that the queue gave me enough time to catch my breathe and buy a bottle of water from the vending machine. By the time I got on the plane I was sweaty and definitely not looking my best still wet feet up from the monsoon. The plane took off and I grabbed my bag as soon as the seatbelt sign went off and went to the toilet and changed all my clothes - leaving some in the bin! I definitely think this made me look like a terrorist, although no-one seemed to mind!
We arrived at Abu Dhabi without incident, early in fact and so I then had nearly 4 hours to wander around the airport. I was not feeling particularly inspired by all the luxury brands when I was pretty sure I smelt like monsoon...although I did sneak into the perfume area and took a rather large free sample. I also ditched my trainers in the bin - they were wet, heavy and smelly and only my 3rd reserves for running! I had a coffee and then walked across to board the flight back to Manchester.
The plane was a large one with 3 seats either side of the plane and a block of 4 in the middle. As I got towards my seat I could hear a very dramatic John Malkovich sounding voice telling his wife "If these people won't help us, I will make it work, I will sort this out". It transpires that this "gentleman" had wanted his family to sit together - his 4 year old son, his nervous flying wife and him. Apparently 3 seats next to each other aren't close enough if there is a aisle in between... he started asking people to move, but one chap reasonably said that he'd specifically asked for a window seat for his son. The wife went to the toilet and was sick due to nerves. Eventually the Ethiad staff asked if anyone was traveling alone - 3 of us in my row were - and whether we'd consider moving - I said "if it means I get an aisle seat absolutely!" We all swapped seats and a very wrinkly, overly orange tanned I think Mancunian woman who had paid for one of the extra leg room seats one row in front glanced over at the dramatic American who asked "Is everything ok?" to which she replied "Yes now that you are moving" and the overly dramatic American then went on a 5 minute rant using *all* the swear words and saying he was in front of his 4 year old son calling her a bitch etc.
Things settled down and the plane took off, I watched "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" which already made me nostalgic for India even though I'd left only a few hours before and I fell asleep to another film that I can't even remember anything about other than Ben Stiller was in it looking a bit old. I was awoken by the Overly Dramatic American's (ODC) wife bashing her rather large hip into my shoulder and heard "did you see that" from the Wrinkly Mancunian Woman (WMW) - apparently (and there were witnesses) the ODC's wife had walked towards the WMW with her fist outstretched on the way back from the toilet and made contact with her face. There was again a flurry of activity as the poor overworked stewards and stewardesses calmed down the situation. There was discussion as to whether WMW wanted to press charges, but in the end they just let her off very quickly to avoid any further confrontations. So even my second flight was eventful with a near punch up next to me!
In the context of some of the sights I saw in India and how I saw people just get on with life seemingly untroubled in extremely tough conditions such as monsoon weather, lack of money and roads and infrastructure that is far inferior to ours in the Western world. It made me think about how many people I would see crammed into local buses and TukTuks I wondered how often near punch ups occur over seating arrangements?
I rather optimistically booked my train back to Leeds at 16.33pm when the flight landed at 15.45pm.... my bag of course was nearly last off the belt so as I strapped both backpacks on at 16.25pm I wasn't sure if I would make it to the train...there were of course others, but I'd have needed to buy a new ticket so I though why not make a run for it again? And I made it! With exactly 1 minute to spare. The train ride was uneventful other than talking to a couple, one of who had done a very similar India trip and the other who had traveled with Intrepid. I got off the train and made my way to M&S Food to buy all the food I'd been craving for the last few days - Avocado, parma ham, salad, blue cheese and ale! After a taxi ride I got home at 6pm a mere 31 hours of traveling!
I'm almost reverse culture shocked - the air smells fresh and herby and there is a sense of quiet and calm - no beeping horns every few minutes. India I need some time to fully digest all that you had to show me, but I will miss you. Such an amazing trip!
The private bus was pretty comfortable, air conditioned and with plenty of seats, I had both my bags with me to allow for a swift transfer to the car to take me to the airport. Raj estimated that it would take a further 5 - 7 hours back to Delhi to cover around the remainder of the total of 220 miles from where we were in Ajmer. In the UK we'd expect that to take no more than maybe 4 - 5 hours in total, but in India it's a different story. The roads aren't always in great condition and even the better ones have pot holes and bumpy sections so the maximum speed is around 50 mph at anytime and feels plenty fast enough as you bump along up and down! I will feel much less irritated now when I hit the 50 mph zones when they are repairing the roads as it means that we have smoother and safer journeys in comparison!
About an hour or so into the journey there was a bang followed by lots of bumps - the bus had blown a tyre! Cool as anything and very tongue in cheek Raj our guide explained that we would be making a brief toilet break stop for circa 15 - 20 minutes whilst the tyre was changed and that facilities were available in the bushes. We all got out and used the "facilities", but unfortunately changing the tyre took over an hour and the Indian Police came along to supervise/watch/not contribute much to the proceedings. They used rocks to jack up the bus and we were finally on our way again. Around 50m up the road we pulled in and Raj very kindly bought us all some snacks and a drink at a cafe that was open with seating and most amusingly - a tyre place that was very open!
We bumped our way North across India until we hit an extremely slow traffic jam and as we crawled inbetween huge lorries with cars overtaking on the hard shoulder. And of course at that point I needed the toilet! I had the mild indignity of having to wake up Raj and ask him to come with me to find a suitable bush at the side of the road - the first one I attempted saw me end up knee deep in a bog, so I found an alternative tree and had wet feet again for the rest of the journey!
I fell asleep and woke up to Raj telling me to get ready to move into the taxi, and to call him either way if I did or didn't make the plane. My flight was 4.45am and this was at 3.20am. I said a hurried goodbye to the group, grabbed my bags and got in the taxi and made it to the airport for just before 4am, the guard on the door said that he didn't think I'd make it, but I pleaded with him to let me try and ran to the check in desk, showed the people in the queue my ticket and they let me go in front and I was sent down to the supervisor who checked in my luggage and issued my boarding card. I ran across the airport to passport control and showed my boarding card to the queue of people who pointed me towards the non-existent queue for first class and a very nice guard sighed and let me through. I then queue jumped again through security smiling and pleading with people - of course I couldn't go through smoothly - I beeped and had to be taken into a room behind a curtain and frisked by a lady and then I sprinted from one end of the airport (of course my gate said 15 minutes walk away at the farthest point from where security came out!)
I reached the gate to again see the "last call" sign flashing, but gauged that the queue gave me enough time to catch my breathe and buy a bottle of water from the vending machine. By the time I got on the plane I was sweaty and definitely not looking my best still wet feet up from the monsoon. The plane took off and I grabbed my bag as soon as the seatbelt sign went off and went to the toilet and changed all my clothes - leaving some in the bin! I definitely think this made me look like a terrorist, although no-one seemed to mind!
We arrived at Abu Dhabi without incident, early in fact and so I then had nearly 4 hours to wander around the airport. I was not feeling particularly inspired by all the luxury brands when I was pretty sure I smelt like monsoon...although I did sneak into the perfume area and took a rather large free sample. I also ditched my trainers in the bin - they were wet, heavy and smelly and only my 3rd reserves for running! I had a coffee and then walked across to board the flight back to Manchester.
The plane was a large one with 3 seats either side of the plane and a block of 4 in the middle. As I got towards my seat I could hear a very dramatic John Malkovich sounding voice telling his wife "If these people won't help us, I will make it work, I will sort this out". It transpires that this "gentleman" had wanted his family to sit together - his 4 year old son, his nervous flying wife and him. Apparently 3 seats next to each other aren't close enough if there is a aisle in between... he started asking people to move, but one chap reasonably said that he'd specifically asked for a window seat for his son. The wife went to the toilet and was sick due to nerves. Eventually the Ethiad staff asked if anyone was traveling alone - 3 of us in my row were - and whether we'd consider moving - I said "if it means I get an aisle seat absolutely!" We all swapped seats and a very wrinkly, overly orange tanned I think Mancunian woman who had paid for one of the extra leg room seats one row in front glanced over at the dramatic American who asked "Is everything ok?" to which she replied "Yes now that you are moving" and the overly dramatic American then went on a 5 minute rant using *all* the swear words and saying he was in front of his 4 year old son calling her a bitch etc.
Things settled down and the plane took off, I watched "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" which already made me nostalgic for India even though I'd left only a few hours before and I fell asleep to another film that I can't even remember anything about other than Ben Stiller was in it looking a bit old. I was awoken by the Overly Dramatic American's (ODC) wife bashing her rather large hip into my shoulder and heard "did you see that" from the Wrinkly Mancunian Woman (WMW) - apparently (and there were witnesses) the ODC's wife had walked towards the WMW with her fist outstretched on the way back from the toilet and made contact with her face. There was again a flurry of activity as the poor overworked stewards and stewardesses calmed down the situation. There was discussion as to whether WMW wanted to press charges, but in the end they just let her off very quickly to avoid any further confrontations. So even my second flight was eventful with a near punch up next to me!
In the context of some of the sights I saw in India and how I saw people just get on with life seemingly untroubled in extremely tough conditions such as monsoon weather, lack of money and roads and infrastructure that is far inferior to ours in the Western world. It made me think about how many people I would see crammed into local buses and TukTuks I wondered how often near punch ups occur over seating arrangements?
I rather optimistically booked my train back to Leeds at 16.33pm when the flight landed at 15.45pm.... my bag of course was nearly last off the belt so as I strapped both backpacks on at 16.25pm I wasn't sure if I would make it to the train...there were of course others, but I'd have needed to buy a new ticket so I though why not make a run for it again? And I made it! With exactly 1 minute to spare. The train ride was uneventful other than talking to a couple, one of who had done a very similar India trip and the other who had traveled with Intrepid. I got off the train and made my way to M&S Food to buy all the food I'd been craving for the last few days - Avocado, parma ham, salad, blue cheese and ale! After a taxi ride I got home at 6pm a mere 31 hours of traveling!
I'm almost reverse culture shocked - the air smells fresh and herby and there is a sense of quiet and calm - no beeping horns every few minutes. India I need some time to fully digest all that you had to show me, but I will miss you. Such an amazing trip!
