Fri 5 Dec Bundi
Up at 7 am. Mike administers an injection. A little better than last night, but not much. But he slept well - the best in days - and the fever has broken.
Time to leave our pretty room and the trailing flowered vines framing our window. By 9 am we have checked out of Braj Bhushanjee and deposited our backpacks near the reception. Since we are leaving Bundi early tomorrow on a 0116 am train, we would prefer to leave the baggage in the hotel until midnight. However, the somewhat inflexible management wants everything gone by 7 pm so it can lock up for the night.
As we are leaving Braj for the day, we have a conversation with a group of Italian hotel guests. They are driving to Ranthambore National Park to (hopefully) see wild tigers. One, a pharmacist, looks at Mike's list of medications and says he agrees totally with the prescribed treatment plan. But the total price is as astonishing to him as it was to us.
In this neighborhood of historic houses, there are more little boars than random cows roaming the streets and munching on litter. Litters and litters of litter-eaters, as a matter of fact.
It is now 0915. Mike is feeling a whole lot better, but trying to visit Bundi's 17th-century palace and climb to 14th-century Taragarh Fort w/o breakfast is way too much for us. We look for street food for breakfast, find none, and settle on breakfast at Haveli Elephant Stables. Yes, a hotel installed where the royal pachyderms were once housed, complete with elephant tether stones. This huge courtyard with six backpacker rooms and 20' ceilings abuts the fort and palace. A very cool place. For breakfast we each order a veg omelet (130 R each) and two pots of tea (80 R each). We have had good omelets and terrible omelets so far in India (usually way overcooked or too salty). Ours here are quite good, as is the tea. Note: The menu also offers "special lassi" (probably contains bhang). Happy Dumbo dreams.
We are at Hathi Pol (Elephant Gate) at 1040. We buy tickets for the fort (100 + 100 + 50 for the camera) and for the palace (100 + 100 + 50 for the camera) and decide to tackle the fort first.
It is a long way up to the fort. Slowly, slowly does it. After the last gate, we continue straight uphill. Should have turned sharply right. We come to 2 "baori" (step wells) - huge cistern-like structures designed to capture all of the monsoon rains for the long dry winter/spring. When we see them, they are mostly empty and the remaining water is green and murky.
On the way down from the wells we find the path we should have taken, but don't follow it correctly. Some bushwhacking through thorn bushes that pierce the rubber soles of Carol's shoes, and we are finally at the fort with its steep walk up to the top. Great views. At the top we see a temple nearby. So we find it after we descend from the fort and go in.
Finally, on the way out (1300) we see 6 or so monkeys, far fewer than promised in the guidebooks, but greater than zero.
We are downhill and into the palace before 1400. Carol notes that the entrance guard has six toes on one foot. There is no palace museum to speak of, merely a walk through an old and very fine mega-haveli, with some dimly-lit but impressive murals.
As we leave the gates to the historic sites we spring for 2 special lassis (pistachio, saffron, cashew, dried fruit) for 40 R each. Yum.
At the bottom at 1420. Off to explore Bundi. We walk for a while through old town, past the photogenic elephant statue on a roof, placed in honor of the elephant gifted by Shah Jahan to Rav Raja Shatrushal Singh in apx 1700. We also order another special lassi nearby. We do NOT order the "special" special lassi which has bhang in it.
By 1500 we take a short 30 R rickshaw ride to Dr. Anil for the last injection. It turns out that the injection needle has come out, so Mike gives money to the assistant to purchase another cannula. The assistant inserts the new cannula and then completes the 4th injection. It turns out the syringe fills better if the bottle with contents is upside down above the syringe.
Time to see Dr. Anil. He is greatly surprised that Mike was able to climb to the fort. He gives us his card in case Mike has problems in the future.
It is now 1600. We walk back through old town. In a district with a thriving jewelry section (all the way from cheap bangles to silver toe rings and thick silver ankle bracelets to gold jewelry of all kinds) we pass a row of kite sellers. Then we hit the internet for 2 /12 hrs.
We return to Braj at 1900. We pick up our backpacks and head to nearby Nawal Sagar Palace, a 300-year-old former royal residence. With lots of time to kill, we go to its restaurant for a slow dinner (we had thought of holding our slow dinner at Braj, but they only serve the set dinner if you order it 3 hours in advance).
At Nawal, we drop our baggage in a corner of the rooftop restaurant. We order smoking chicken (200 R) and alu gobi (potatoes with cauliflower that seemed to be more like potatoes with cabbage) (110 R). To stretch out dinner we order two cups of ginger lemon honey tea after we finish the mains. Aside from a French-speaking couple with an exceptional Francophone Indian guide, we are the only indoor patrons. Luckily for us, service is slow. We bide our time. Finally, at 2115 they present our bill, and we leave.
4 more hours to waste until the train leaves. We walk up the street and see our tuk tuk driver from earlier today loading up some passengers (Polish-speaking?) at Haveli Uma Megh to go to the train station. He says he will return in 30 min. The proprietor of Uma Megh invites us to wait inside, away from the scooters loaded with teens roaring up and down the street.
Sure enough, 35-40 min later, the driver returns. We pile in, give him 200 R for the trip and we are off. We arrive at the train station at 2240. As we unload he mentions that he collects American dollar bills. We give him one. He is so smooth and affable that it doesn't occur to us to ask for a deduction from our original payment until well after he departs.
We follow a ramp up one story to the platform. Maybe it is the lateness of the day, but it feels chilly up on the platform level. There is a waiting room for folks with better class tickets so we go in and wait.
There is a cow on the railway platform, wandering to and fro. Presumably, it ambled up the ramp; no one makes a move to displace it. There are also 6 monkeys in the rafters. Do not stand underneath the monkeys!
At 0100 we go out to the platform to wait. There is a family of English speaking Indians, one of whom is going to Bhopal on our train. 1:16 comes and goes. Other trains come and go, but not our train.
This is a one track station. About 2:15 there is an announcements that our train is arriving on Track 2! Track 2?? So we passengers all jump down 3 feet to the tracks, cross all the tracks, and wait in the dirt on the other side.
Finally, our train comes in. Our car sleeper stops way down the track! We RUN for our car, hoist ourselves up to get in, and find our designated seats (single-wide beds). Carol has a lower berth. Mike has an upper, but cannot manage to clamber up. A younger fellow graciously volunteers to trade. He takes the upper berth - Mike gets his lower berth.
It is 0245. We are in bed. The train is on its way to Bhopal.
Up at 7 am. Mike administers an injection. A little better than last night, but not much. But he slept well - the best in days - and the fever has broken.
Time to leave our pretty room and the trailing flowered vines framing our window. By 9 am we have checked out of Braj Bhushanjee and deposited our backpacks near the reception. Since we are leaving Bundi early tomorrow on a 0116 am train, we would prefer to leave the baggage in the hotel until midnight. However, the somewhat inflexible management wants everything gone by 7 pm so it can lock up for the night.
As we are leaving Braj for the day, we have a conversation with a group of Italian hotel guests. They are driving to Ranthambore National Park to (hopefully) see wild tigers. One, a pharmacist, looks at Mike's list of medications and says he agrees totally with the prescribed treatment plan. But the total price is as astonishing to him as it was to us.
In this neighborhood of historic houses, there are more little boars than random cows roaming the streets and munching on litter. Litters and litters of litter-eaters, as a matter of fact.
It is now 0915. Mike is feeling a whole lot better, but trying to visit Bundi's 17th-century palace and climb to 14th-century Taragarh Fort w/o breakfast is way too much for us. We look for street food for breakfast, find none, and settle on breakfast at Haveli Elephant Stables. Yes, a hotel installed where the royal pachyderms were once housed, complete with elephant tether stones. This huge courtyard with six backpacker rooms and 20' ceilings abuts the fort and palace. A very cool place. For breakfast we each order a veg omelet (130 R each) and two pots of tea (80 R each). We have had good omelets and terrible omelets so far in India (usually way overcooked or too salty). Ours here are quite good, as is the tea. Note: The menu also offers "special lassi" (probably contains bhang). Happy Dumbo dreams.
We are at Hathi Pol (Elephant Gate) at 1040. We buy tickets for the fort (100 + 100 + 50 for the camera) and for the palace (100 + 100 + 50 for the camera) and decide to tackle the fort first.
It is a long way up to the fort. Slowly, slowly does it. After the last gate, we continue straight uphill. Should have turned sharply right. We come to 2 "baori" (step wells) - huge cistern-like structures designed to capture all of the monsoon rains for the long dry winter/spring. When we see them, they are mostly empty and the remaining water is green and murky.
On the way down from the wells we find the path we should have taken, but don't follow it correctly. Some bushwhacking through thorn bushes that pierce the rubber soles of Carol's shoes, and we are finally at the fort with its steep walk up to the top. Great views. At the top we see a temple nearby. So we find it after we descend from the fort and go in.
Finally, on the way out (1300) we see 6 or so monkeys, far fewer than promised in the guidebooks, but greater than zero.
We are downhill and into the palace before 1400. Carol notes that the entrance guard has six toes on one foot. There is no palace museum to speak of, merely a walk through an old and very fine mega-haveli, with some dimly-lit but impressive murals.
As we leave the gates to the historic sites we spring for 2 special lassis (pistachio, saffron, cashew, dried fruit) for 40 R each. Yum.
At the bottom at 1420. Off to explore Bundi. We walk for a while through old town, past the photogenic elephant statue on a roof, placed in honor of the elephant gifted by Shah Jahan to Rav Raja Shatrushal Singh in apx 1700. We also order another special lassi nearby. We do NOT order the "special" special lassi which has bhang in it.
By 1500 we take a short 30 R rickshaw ride to Dr. Anil for the last injection. It turns out that the injection needle has come out, so Mike gives money to the assistant to purchase another cannula. The assistant inserts the new cannula and then completes the 4th injection. It turns out the syringe fills better if the bottle with contents is upside down above the syringe.
Time to see Dr. Anil. He is greatly surprised that Mike was able to climb to the fort. He gives us his card in case Mike has problems in the future.
It is now 1600. We walk back through old town. In a district with a thriving jewelry section (all the way from cheap bangles to silver toe rings and thick silver ankle bracelets to gold jewelry of all kinds) we pass a row of kite sellers. Then we hit the internet for 2 /12 hrs.
We return to Braj at 1900. We pick up our backpacks and head to nearby Nawal Sagar Palace, a 300-year-old former royal residence. With lots of time to kill, we go to its restaurant for a slow dinner (we had thought of holding our slow dinner at Braj, but they only serve the set dinner if you order it 3 hours in advance).
At Nawal, we drop our baggage in a corner of the rooftop restaurant. We order smoking chicken (200 R) and alu gobi (potatoes with cauliflower that seemed to be more like potatoes with cabbage) (110 R). To stretch out dinner we order two cups of ginger lemon honey tea after we finish the mains. Aside from a French-speaking couple with an exceptional Francophone Indian guide, we are the only indoor patrons. Luckily for us, service is slow. We bide our time. Finally, at 2115 they present our bill, and we leave.
4 more hours to waste until the train leaves. We walk up the street and see our tuk tuk driver from earlier today loading up some passengers (Polish-speaking?) at Haveli Uma Megh to go to the train station. He says he will return in 30 min. The proprietor of Uma Megh invites us to wait inside, away from the scooters loaded with teens roaring up and down the street.
Sure enough, 35-40 min later, the driver returns. We pile in, give him 200 R for the trip and we are off. We arrive at the train station at 2240. As we unload he mentions that he collects American dollar bills. We give him one. He is so smooth and affable that it doesn't occur to us to ask for a deduction from our original payment until well after he departs.
We follow a ramp up one story to the platform. Maybe it is the lateness of the day, but it feels chilly up on the platform level. There is a waiting room for folks with better class tickets so we go in and wait.
There is a cow on the railway platform, wandering to and fro. Presumably, it ambled up the ramp; no one makes a move to displace it. There are also 6 monkeys in the rafters. Do not stand underneath the monkeys!
At 0100 we go out to the platform to wait. There is a family of English speaking Indians, one of whom is going to Bhopal on our train. 1:16 comes and goes. Other trains come and go, but not our train.
This is a one track station. About 2:15 there is an announcements that our train is arriving on Track 2! Track 2?? So we passengers all jump down 3 feet to the tracks, cross all the tracks, and wait in the dirt on the other side.
Finally, our train comes in. Our car sleeper stops way down the track! We RUN for our car, hoist ourselves up to get in, and find our designated seats (single-wide beds). Carol has a lower berth. Mike has an upper, but cannot manage to clamber up. A younger fellow graciously volunteers to trade. He takes the upper berth - Mike gets his lower berth.
It is 0245. We are in bed. The train is on its way to Bhopal.
No comments:
Post a Comment