From Jaipur to Pushkar

Thursday, 30 October 2014, Jaipur and Pushkar

Pati and BeeBee got up early to travel to Pushkar. First they had a very good buffet breakfast at their B&B, then they walked around the inside of the building taking pictures. Either the building is a restored palace, or it is a building created to look like a restored palace. The furnishings likewise are genuine antiques or new with antiqued finishes. In any case, it is a beautiful building.

At checkout time, the manager had a great deal of trouble processing Pati's credit card using an old card reader. The message coming up was "modem failed" but the manager thought the solution was for Pati to produce another credit card. When Pati pointed out the error message, the manager pulled another equally-old card reader from under the counter and plugged it in. Problem solved.

Their driver was already waiting, so Pati and BeeBee went out, followed by two young cleaning men (!) who insisted on carrying their luggage. BeeBee had already tipped them when the young men "ambushed" them on the way downstairs and grabbed the luggage. (It is a game: how far can you get carrying your own luggage before someone else insists on carrying it, expecting a tip? This time Pati and BeeBee got down one of the two flights of stairs before getting caught.) The two young men put the luggage in the trunk of the car, and the driver rearranged it more efficiently. Suddenly Pati became aware of an older man in a black suit who had followed them out. Apparently, he was associated with the B&B and, for some reason, he expected a tip also! He blocked access to the car until he got his tip. The only person who was not there for a tip was the tour company's representative for Jaipur, who had said he would be there that morning. Since he had not done anything the previous day that Pati and BeeBee could not have done on their own, he was not missed.

The driver was a charming man and excellent driver. He is an employee of Cox and King's; the drivers for this trip are contracted from various companies.  He worked hard to speak proper English (his native language is Rajastani) and pointed out various points of interest as he drove. Shortly after they entered Pushkar, they drove past the fair grounds, which is where Pati and BeeBee intend to spend a lot of time in the next 5 days. Then he continued to drive until BeeBee began to wonder how they would get back to the fairgrounds every day. As he finally pulled into a hotel named Raj Resort, he said "here we are at your hotel." BeeBee said "we are staying at Prem Villas. Is this Prem Villas?" (knowing that it wasn't). Then followed a comedic exchange of paperwork, multiple phone calls, and finally the arrival of the tour company representative for Pushkar.  The driver's paperwork, given to him by the Jaipur B&B manager, said to deliver to Raj Resort. The tour company representative convinced him of the error, and they all set off for Prem Villas. The driver was mortified. He showed them his paperwork; they assured him that it was all right, just another adventure in India.

How about a ride?

From Shimla to Jaipur

Wednesday, 29 October 2014

Pati and BeeBee had agreed with their driver for a 7 am pickup to begin their long journey to Jaipur. Their hotel, Wildflower Hall, prepared two boxes of breakfast for them to take with them, since they were leaving before normal breakfast. This included (for two people) 2 croissants, 2 muffins, 4 slices of banana bread, 2 bottles of water, 2 individual-sized boxes of orange juice, 2 bananas, 2 apples, 2 bags of chips, 2 plastic plates, and 2 sets of napkins, etc.  This is just a hint of how easy it is to over- eat at that place. They gave the fruit, chips, and water to their driver when they got to the airport - they couldn't eat it all, and they couldn't take it with them.

The first leg of the journey was to retrace the twisty road between Chandigarh and Shimla, but in reverse. Including a tea/coffee stop at 9 am, this 108 km (about 65 mile) leg took about 4 hours. The first most exciting event in this part of the trip (excluding some near-misses) was a cellphone call to the driver from his boss, resulting in Pati taking the phone and hearing the boss say something like "your flight is cancelled." It was very hard to hear and understand what the boss was saying, but, upon reflection, Pati decided that what the boss actually said was something like "call me if your flight is cancelled." The second most exciting event was when Pati and BeeBee presented their eticket paperwork to get into the airport, and the official said that the ticket was only for Pati, not BeeBee. A kind passenger in the line behind them told them which window to go to, and at that window the airline employee printed out the missing eticket for only 50 rupees. After that, the airport experience was fairly similar to a US airport experience (except for the separate patdown for women).

Their flight to Delhi was short and uneventful, and they had enough time between flights to grab a quick lunch at Pizza Hut.

The next flight, from Delhi to Jaipur, actually left early because everyone was on board, and thus arrived early into Jaipur. Their luggage eventually turned up, and they walked out of the airport, finding their new guide and driver almost immediately.

They were delivered to their Bed and Breakfast, Shahpura House, within a half hour, and agreed to be picked up at 10 am the next day for their further journey to Pushkar and the camel fair.

Having spent more than 10 hours traveling in one day, Pati and BeeBee were ready to get dinner and call it a day. They had a fine dinner in the rooftop restaurant of the B&B, and being seated at the table closest to the entertainment, were treated to an unimpeded view of traditional music and dancing. The entertainers were a group of 2 male musicians and 2 female performers. BeeBee imagined them to be a mother, daughter, son, and perhaps nephew or friend of the son. The daughter was the main performer, dancing with bells on her ankles and swirling her colorful skirt. The mother's speciality was balancing pots on her head (maximum of 6 at a time) while walking swiftly or gyrating like a snake on the floor. The son played an accordian-like instrument while singing in a clear high voice, and the other young man played a drum. Of course, the words to the songs were not understandable to Pati and BeeBee until the two young men sang Frere Jacques and bits of Macarena. There was also a separate performing group, two men with drums, at the other end of the restaurant, but no diners were seated at that end, so they left early.

Dancer at Shahpura House