Namaste!

Amazing Journeys is heading to India in 2012.  Malori and Barry just returned from a “fact finding mission” and to put the finishing touches on what will be an incredible experience.  Following are their observations:

Namaste! We arrived in India Friday night, after two different eight hour flights – Pittsburgh – Paris and Paris – Delhi. We were in Paris just long enough to have a very expensive café au lait and pastry (how expensive? Two coffees and one muffin were $20 USD!).

After a good night sleep, we began our tour the next morning.  We met our group of 20.  Barry and I were the last ones to get on the bus and the only seats left were right up in front.  Naturally, we felt right at home.

Delhi is a big, bustling city of roughly 18 million people and a lot of cows. Imagine a city just slightly less populated than LA with cows everywhere! In the streets, on the sidewalk… they have the right of way. We saw the largest mosque in India, took a ricksahaw tour through the streets of Old Delhi, saw the Parliament, Supreme Court, President’s house and the largest minaret in India. We saw where Gandhi was buried (his ashes) and a monument that was the inspiration for the Taj Mahal. It was a typical city tour in an atypical city.  There were those who crowded into shops and restaurants, and those who were so poor they lived in ramshackle houses built with boxes and corrogated steel in neighborhoods with others who lived the same way, under a freeway or in a bare spot of undeveloped land.

Rickshaw ride through Old Delhi

Back at the hotel, Barry and I sat by the pool and fell fast asleep in our lounge chairs. Dinner was served at the hotel with the rest of the group. Everyone was on time for dinner at 7pm, and at 9pm everyone left and went to bed, exhausted.

This morning, Barry and I got to breakfast at 9am as the bus was going to be leaving at 10am for the airport. Where was everyone? Did we mis-hear the time of departure from the hotel?  No, I was sure I had that right. And so we ate alone. Turns out, when you’re from Iowa as most of our group is, and when you go to bed at 9pm, you wake up early and have breakfast as soon as you hear the roosters! The rest of the group ate at 7am, as soon as the breakfast buffet opened.

Off to the brand new airport in Delhi (only six months old), we went through four security checks and were finally flying over the desert to the state of Rajastan, the “Kingdom State.“ With a stop along the way, and another security check before taking off again, we soon realized that we were flying very close to the border between India and Pakistan. One more security check before being allowed to disembark the aircraft, and we were on our way into the town of Udaipur. The lesson here is to save your boarding pass because you have to have it to disembark the aircraft!  One women couldn’t find hers, the guide had already gone into the terminal and so I went into “Tour Guide mode” and talked the security guard into believing that she was with me and that we are all westerners traveling together in a group.  It worked!

The weather outside was a balmy 41C. That’s about 110F!!! Driving through the mountains and desert, we saw castles, forts and palaces. This is where the real India began to unfold. This is the area of the Maharaja. The kings. Palaces with hundreds of rooms, and kings with hundreds of wifes is how I can sum up what this place was all about. Jewels, gemstones, gold…more wealth in the 16th century than any country on earth…combined!  These guys had it all. We’ll get back to that in future posts.

This afternoon, we took a boat ride around the lake where these palaces all face. Many former palaces are now hotels. It was a nice and breezy ride as we sailed past the beautiful architecture of the palaces surrounding the lake and “in” the lake. We saw people bathing in the lake, washing clothes and saw cows who were watching us from the shore, as well as keeping an eye on the bathers and laundresses. We got off at one of the former palaces – turned hotel to walk around and take some photos. This hotel was also the inspiration for the Taj Mahal. I’m beginning to recognize a pattern here.

Palaces on the lake in Udaipur

Back on the bus, we climbed a mountain until we reached our hilltop hotel, an property built from a palace that was moved, piece-by-piece so that was made to look like the original palaces of the Raj. With only 48 rooms, the hotel is absolutely breathtaking as well as luxurious. Surrounded by mountains and overlooking farmland below, we were high above it all with pools, a spa and more.

Hotel Fatah Garh - Udaipur

Dinner tonight was outside, under the stars, overlooking the city of Udaipur with it’s sparkling lights down below us. We felt like kings and queens. Our buffet was a combination of Indian foods, both spicy and milder for the tourist palate, as well as an array of Italian dishes. I have been here two days and have had lasagna three times! The good news for vegetarians and those who don’t eat meat due to kosher concerns is that there are lots and lots of vege options – more than meat choices!

Tomorrow morning we get up bright and early for our Yoga class on the patio, overlooking the mountains and valley below, before visiting the palaces.

More from India soon…Namaste!