Yoga, Henna and Education

My alarm went off early today so that I could start the day with an hour of yoga in a class taken by the feudal lord for the sum of 500 rupee (£5).

The feudal lord is 68, looks very good for his age and clearly knew he'd be better than all of us in the class.  In fact when he discovered I've been doing yoga (about twice a week) for 10 years he kept pointing out how I wasn't as flexible as I should be!  The class was different to my normal class based out of the gym and started with lots of joint mobility work on the ankles and knees before moving onto hip stretching.  We did a shoulder stand, but no sun salutations and learned about parts of the hand and what organs of the body benefited from applying pressure there.  The relaxation part at the end was amazing and I started the day feeling extremely calm.

Breakfast was included so I saved my biscuits for another day and had marmalade on toast, a banana and a paratha with a good serving of decent coffee!

We met for our village safari in 2 jeeps with the first stop a school for tribal girls. Education is free in India, but for distant tribal people the time and cost of getting to and from school can be too much so we visited a free all girls boarding school set up to address this issue also supported by the Feudal Lord.  In India literacy is 77% for men and 51% for women so these schools will be vital in addressing this.  

The school was tidy and had a sense of organisation about it, but the most amazing part was how happy and well behaved the girls were.  They beamed with smiles as we entered and greeted us with whatever English phrases they knew, but carried on dutifully waiting for their breakfast or serving it to their classmates.  They had what looked like a delicious breakfast of chappatis, dhal and rice and when they'd finished they each washed up their own plates.  

Joe in our group is a teacher and he'd been carrying a book with him to try and get a good shot of him reading in an exotic location to promote reading to children and so he got in amongst the girls to read them "Mrs Scatterbrain goes on holiday" - they seemed to really enjoy the novelty of a new teacher!  We took a look at their classrooms and where they sleep as well as looked at the trophies the school has won before heading off in our jeeps and all the girls ran up to the rooftop to wave us goodbye.

Our next stop was to look at some graves, and then a beautiful waterfall, before being taken on a brief tour of some farmland where we saw peanuts, soya, gourds, peas, aubergine, turmeric, chilies and corn being grown.

We stopped briefly at a dairy and then crossed the road to another school where they were practicing for a procession.  

If it wasn't monsoon season we would have spent last night in a "permanent tent" on a campsite also owned by the Feudal Lord, so we went to visit, look at the beautiful lake and enjoy a cup of chai with the Lord who is incredibly charismatic and passionate about India and Rajasthan.  We also saw all the vegetables being grown at the campsite which are used by the restaurant in the castle that we are staying in.  

We returned in the jeeps for lunch and despite the covers the heavy rain meant some of us got rather wet!  I was certainly grateful for my panic buy of an umbrella at the airport!

For lunch back at the castle I again succumbed to a western craving for chips, but also had a delicious cashew nut curry and a couple of chapattis before a relax with my book and a nap.

We met up again as a group with the intention of playing cricket, but the rain was still strong so we went early for our henna tattoos.  The lady doing the tattoos was a teacher by day and was so quick to apply and extremely intricate brown henna powder design to my foot.  After an hour I washed it off and the skin underneath is now a vivid orange.  It was a mostly floral design, but she included the words "kiss" and "love".  At only 250 rupees (£2.50) it was a bargain!  

For dinner I had grilled vegetables with paneer and Dum Aloo - potatoes in gravy.  I'm slightly worried as now my stomach has settled I'm being a bit braver with my food choices in that I've had a couple of "saucy" curries as I've not gone for obvious "dry" dishes.  I'm hoping I'll be ok for the last few days of the trip - I'll keep my fingers crossed!

A Homestay with a Feudal Lord

I was a little worried last night that it wouldn't stop raining and I'd awake to find myself marooned in the very lovely hotel... But whilst it was still damp the rain had stopped and after another sacrifice of breakfast for slightly more sleep and belvita we were taken by jeep to Bundi train station to jump aboard a "local" train to Bassi... A different Bassi!

The train was fairly packed as we sat alongside locals who had woken up enough to give us somewhere to sit from where they'd been sleeping.   It was all metal seats, no frills, peanut husks on the floor and a moving "hole" for a toilet.  There was even a man carrying a fairly grubby looking bucket through the carriages selling packets of biscuits and snacks for the equivalent of 10p - a bit different to British Rail!  It was an interesting journey and we heard the shrieks of peacocks who sound like they are shouting "my Lord, my Lord" and saw very still lakes and dark tunnels.

Once we arrived at our station we had to hurry off the train as Raj had told us it would move again in 2 minutes... Although in reality we were safely inside the transfer jeeps with our luggage safely stowed in a trailer pulling away from the station and the train was stood at a standstill!

After a stop at the ATM (in the middle of a busy town with an entrance so small my day rucksack barely squeezed through), we arrived at our homestay palace in Bjaipur and again it was impressive - another castle!  As we entered staff played drums, put garlands of flowers around our necks and then a red fit in our foreheads.  What an amazing welcome!  Again there is wifi although not in the rooms.... Feels like a strange contrast to the classical feel of the surroundings.

My room has grand looking twin beds,ornate paintings of tigers and elephants on the walls and a sizeable bathroom with a warm shower.  

I took a quick dip in the very beautiful pool and then we went up for lunch in the restaurant.  My appetite is scarily big now the DB has subsided and so I had a lovely lunch of vegetable kofta, aubergines and chapatis.  We had free time and so I read a little and played cards before meeting as a group to play cricket.

Raj found a bat, but had to send "a boy to the village" to find us a ball to use!   There was limited success in accuracy, but lots of success in fun and some of the Grandchildren of the Feudal lord came along to play.  The cutest being a tiny bit of maybe 4/5 turning up with his own bat and ball and a big wide smile when we let him join in with the adults and older boys.  The game ended after a large bat resulted in a missing ball.

As we played cricket some wealthy looking local boys arrived in Seat Ibizas and unloaded large amounts of booze and as I write they are still clustered around the pool having a party - although Raj our guide assures us that they are not gentlemen as tempting as it might be to want to investigate further! 

It was Eleanora's birthday so Raj arranged a cake and we sang happy birthday to her before we headed up for a buffer dinner which was delicious.  We were joined by the Lord who as he entered the room we observed the staff scatter in panic looking for their turbans!  He sat and chatted with us for a while and shared his philosophy that to eat you must have a clear kind with no anger and to eat with your hands and enjoy the feel of the food... He's taking us for a yoga class tomorrow at 7am!

Bundi monsoon walk

We had another early start today so I settled on breakfast biscuits and sleep rather than paying for breakfast.  We spent 4 hours in our private transport to Bundi stopping on the way at a chai tea stall.

I like chai it's spicy and milky although boiling hot drinks in boiling hot weather I can't quite wrap my head around!

We arrived at our "hotel" which is the old residence of a maharajah!  It's lovely and interesting rooms and decor and surprisingly again has wifi!  

After settling into the rooms we had a lovely lunch before being picked up in auto rickshaws and taken to see the step well.  The well was interesting, but smelt overwhelmingly of bat poo - common smell within Indian monuments - hard to describe, but lots of ammonia!!

We then headed up to the Bundi City Palace and the owner of the hotel took us on a tour pointing out the lovely paintings and it was beautiful although sadly due to an ownership dispute no one is preserving the building so it might not be around forever.

We were looking in a closed to the public area of the paintings when the rain started...

It's not yet stopped... We were more or less trapped in a fort until it eased enough to make our way down the slippery steps to the exit. Joe killed the hour we had to wait by choreographing a Bollywood dance which has been recorded for future enjoyment!

We were offered the option of a taxi or walking back to the hotel, the group was on the fence so we ended up walking/paddling!  Not many pictures as it was a bit too wet... At one point we crossed the road which was a river with a current and had to hold hands!  We arrived back at the hotel and the reception was flooded, although seems to have been cleared now!  It was certainly an experience and the people of Bundi and indeed our guide Raj were taking it all in their stride!

After a well earned shower we grabbed dinner and I succumbed to my western food homesick stomach and had some French fries, although also palak paneer (spinach with paneer cheese), Bhindi (okra) and chappatis followed by Gulab Jalan for dessert - I was hungry!

The rain still hasn't stopped, but has calmed down - we're on a train tomorrow so I'm hoping for a good journey!  

Tiger hunt

Today I decided to skip the hotel breakfast and instead raid my stash of Belvita breakfast biscuits - wise move as the DB now seems to have more or less gone so I can concentrate on enjoying the holiday rather than doubling up in cramps.

We set off early from the hotel to let us take pictures at the Wind Palace - the second most photographed building in India next to the Taj Mahal.  

We then drove 4 hours to Rathsmbore national park to a fairly basic hotel, but it does have a pool which we used and smells of sweet frangipan flowers and with a humid and sweet air smell like in Bali!  

After a quick dip in the pool we waited for a nice, but slow to arrive lunch.  I tested the boundaries with hot and sour veg soup (basic) and palak paneer (spinach with paneer cheese) and veg rice and seem ok.

Then it was safari time!  We split into 2 groups and got into jeeps and had a hair residing drive to the national park.  Once in the park we spent 3 hours driving slowly in the jeeps looking for wildlife.

Sadly we didn't find any tigers, but we did see peacocks, antelope and deer  - almost like a safari around a stately home in the UK!  The ride was bumpy, but fun and the other group got a front tyre.  We arrived back to the hotel and then tested before meeting for dinner.

Dinner was again slow, but tasty and relaxing after our jolting around in the jeep!  

Brilliant Bollywood

This morning I woke up after about eight hours sleep feeling much better.  I went downstairs and had a coffee and a very bland breakfast before getting ready for meeting the rest of the group at 10 AM.

Raj took us on a quick walking tour through the flower market and past some shops and the City Palace to the Observatory.  

Unfortunately it was pretty cloudy so when Prakash our guide took us on our tour of the Observatory, it was hard for him to demonstrate the sundials with a distinct lack of sunshine and shadow.   It was still fascinating to see him describe sundials accurate within two seconds (to be accurate they have to be really big!) and eventually the sun did come out so we were able to look at them in use.

Raj then arranged an interesting rickshaw journey on cycle rickshaws to the lassi shop.  Each rickshaw seats two people and our driver looked like he was in his 70s with only one tooth left and I felt terribly guilty as he cycled us through the crazy traffic in Jaipur!

We stopped at a famous Lassi shop for a Lassi served in a recyclable clay pot that is used once and smashed. We then had the most calorific ice cream ever followed by a samosa - lunch in reverse!  We went back to the hotel and write postcards before meeting up again at 5:30 for our Bollywood experience!

I was excited about the Bollywood experience, but probably more about the experience itself then the actual film.   I wasn't too sure what it would be like to watch a film with no subtitles that goes on for three hours and whether I'll be able to follow the plot!  The cinema itself was a lovely art deco and grand design and inside you could buy a variety of Indian snacks as well as popcorn and Coca-Cola!  I went for a big tub of popcorn and a diet Coke because that's probably what I'd end up with at the cinema in the UK but it did feel different having it in India!  We took our seats and what fascinated me was there was no one shushing or being quiet and people wandered in and out as they wished or chatted away on their phones!  

The film plot was actually really easy to follow - the premise of the film was a little girl from Pakistan ended up on a train to India because she couldn't speak and so was going to a special Muslim temple in Delhi for "treatment" only she managed to get off the train and got separated from her mother.   The rest of the film saw a chap trying his best to sneak over the Indian Pakistani border to get her back to her family.  There were cheers and shouts from the audience at various points in the performance and gave it a sense of atmosphere and occasion.  I loved it even if we weren't able to understand any of the jokes!  

We wandered back to the hotel and had a buffet dinner where there were two musicians playing things like Frera Jacques on the keyboard it was interesting...