December 30
From Marina:
I threw up outside the bus and then got to sleep in a really nice hotel bathroom.
My mom got me a “deluxe maharaja (Indian for King) barf bag” that was golden, after I threw out the used airplane barf bag. Apparently, India is not agreeing with my health. ~mina
From Donna:
At the Jaipur station, when we got off the train, a fifteen year old boy approached us to offer to shine our shoes. He was very polite, and didn’t harass us, but we all politely declined.
The next day, we arrived at the Jaisalmer station, and much to our surprise, we were greeted by the same shoeshine boy! He smiled, and reminded us that we had met him the day before, in another city. He asked again if we wanted a shoeshine, politely, and again, we politely declined. He then told us that he would see us tomorrow, in Jodhpur. We couldn’t believe this, but indeed, there he was,smiling, and politely offering to clean our shoes when we arrived early in the morning in Jodhpur. We waited until the end of our touring day, and decided to reward his persistence (continued by Missy below). It turns out there are a small group of these boys who take the public trains following the Palace on Wheels trains from city to city. Each boy has a few cabins as their “territory”, and they greet these same tourists in each city.
From Missy:
When we got off the bus, our favorite shoeshine boy who’s been following our car on the train for three days was waiting to fix Andy’s shoe. He finally got his shoe fixed. Chelaram aka “Bashok” even shined them and Marina’s shoes beautifully. When we came back “Bashok” was waiting for his money. We gave him ten dollars and took a bunch of pictures with him and his friends, who appeared to be slightly angry that they weren’t the ones getting all of our attention.
Umesh, the Indian man who lives in our train car, said “He is a good boy who is doing something for his family, working over here to follow the train close to the tourists, never asking for the money, even though just give him money, get some money, and he is taking care of his mother and two younger sisters.”
Apparently Chelaram was almost adopted by an American family on the train a few years ago, but his mother wouldn’t let him go because he was needed at home.
At the fort we visited, an Indian family and their kids asked to take pictures with me, apparently they thought American tourists were weird looking.
Once the train started moving, we stopped nearby a village in the middle of nowhere, where everyone in the town came running to wave to us. One Indian boy held up a piece of paper asking me for my address.
From Donna:
Sorry that we’ve had difficulty posting to the blog. I’m afraid GPRS (data service over the GSM phone lines) is somewhat limited where we are traveling!
Yesterday we visited Jaisalmer, near the Pakistan border. We saw palace in the middle of a lake in the morning – very eerie looking with trees growing out of the top. Then we visited a Fort – what’s a day without a fort in India? This fortress had remarkable curved walls, and is still the home of 4000 people within its walls. Inside the fort we visited a few Jain temples. Jains are a sect of Hinduism. They are very peaceful, and are so intent of “never hurting a fly” that they walk around with masks on their faces so as to make sure that they don’t accidentally swallow an insect. Their temples were astounding – made of carved stone … very intricate. They also were totally stuffed with tourists, both domestic and foreign. I held onto Marina’s hand for fear of losing her!
We also saw the homes of nobles, which were detailed carvings as well. After walking through a bazaar, we were taken into a textile emporium where we were shown the wares. Yes, once again, a POW (Palace on Wheels) shopping special.
Lunch was on the train, and then we took a ride out into the desert in order to ride camels. The place was a bit bizarre – a tent city set up for the tourists to experience the nomad life style. There were literally hundreds of tourists there taking camel rides through the dunes. We then were escorted to a tent where we were served coffee and tea. The tents apparently also were available to sleep in overnight for the complete desert experience. Thankfully POW had not arranged this for us.
The camel ride was quite uncomfortable. I do not recommend it as a primary means of transportation. It seemed to me from the comments that the men particularly did not enjoy the ride (guess it’s a bit like one of those hard bicycle seats). The mount and dismount process is particularly challenging!
Dinner was at a lovely hotel, with a dance performance. They do a nice job of alternating time on the train with time at the fine hotel properties around India.
This morning we awoke to find ourselves in Jodphur (where they first created those funny pants worn by polo players). We went to the royal crematorium. At this point, unfortunately Marina again got sick, so I waited with her while the others went inside. She clearly was in bad shape, so we decided to go on to the lunch spot – the Ummaid Bhawan Palace – and just hang out for a few hours. Lenny will have to report on the rest of the morning touring.
The Palace is a deluxe hotel that is quite a spectacular property. We were greeted like royalty and taken care of nicely. Marina rested in the rest room for a while, which actually was a rest room in which one could rest because it had a lounge area. She eventually felt much better as the day wore on. Poor kid … India has been a bit tough on her! We explored the property, including an escorted tour of the museum. The local maharaja also lives there, so it is still a working palace alongside the hotel. Lunch was excellent, and after a quick shopping expedition (what else?) we returned to the train for a few hours of leisure and dinner.
From Marina:
I threw up outside the bus and then got to sleep in a really nice hotel bathroom.
My mom got me a “deluxe maharaja (Indian for King) barf bag” that was golden, after I threw out the used airplane barf bag. Apparently, India is not agreeing with my health. ~mina
From Donna:
At the Jaipur station, when we got off the train, a fifteen year old boy approached us to offer to shine our shoes. He was very polite, and didn’t harass us, but we all politely declined.
The next day, we arrived at the Jaisalmer station, and much to our surprise, we were greeted by the same shoeshine boy! He smiled, and reminded us that we had met him the day before, in another city. He asked again if we wanted a shoeshine, politely, and again, we politely declined. He then told us that he would see us tomorrow, in Jodhpur. We couldn’t believe this, but indeed, there he was,smiling, and politely offering to clean our shoes when we arrived early in the morning in Jodhpur. We waited until the end of our touring day, and decided to reward his persistence (continued by Missy below). It turns out there are a small group of these boys who take the public trains following the Palace on Wheels trains from city to city. Each boy has a few cabins as their “territory”, and they greet these same tourists in each city.
From Missy:
When we got off the bus, our favorite shoeshine boy who’s been following our car on the train for three days was waiting to fix Andy’s shoe. He finally got his shoe fixed. Chelaram aka “Bashok” even shined them and Marina’s shoes beautifully. When we came back “Bashok” was waiting for his money. We gave him ten dollars and took a bunch of pictures with him and his friends, who appeared to be slightly angry that they weren’t the ones getting all of our attention.
Umesh, the Indian man who lives in our train car, said “He is a good boy who is doing something for his family, working over here to follow the train close to the tourists, never asking for the money, even though just give him money, get some money, and he is taking care of his mother and two younger sisters.”
Apparently Chelaram was almost adopted by an American family on the train a few years ago, but his mother wouldn’t let him go because he was needed at home.
At the fort we visited, an Indian family and their kids asked to take pictures with me, apparently they thought American tourists were weird looking.
Once the train started moving, we stopped nearby a village in the middle of nowhere, where everyone in the town came running to wave to us. One Indian boy held up a piece of paper asking me for my address.
From Donna:
Sorry that we’ve had difficulty posting to the blog. I’m afraid GPRS (data service over the GSM phone lines) is somewhat limited where we are traveling!
Yesterday we visited Jaisalmer, near the Pakistan border. We saw palace in the middle of a lake in the morning – very eerie looking with trees growing out of the top. Then we visited a Fort – what’s a day without a fort in India? This fortress had remarkable curved walls, and is still the home of 4000 people within its walls. Inside the fort we visited a few Jain temples. Jains are a sect of Hinduism. They are very peaceful, and are so intent of “never hurting a fly” that they walk around with masks on their faces so as to make sure that they don’t accidentally swallow an insect. Their temples were astounding – made of carved stone … very intricate. They also were totally stuffed with tourists, both domestic and foreign. I held onto Marina’s hand for fear of losing her!
We also saw the homes of nobles, which were detailed carvings as well. After walking through a bazaar, we were taken into a textile emporium where we were shown the wares. Yes, once again, a POW (Palace on Wheels) shopping special.
Lunch was on the train, and then we took a ride out into the desert in order to ride camels. The place was a bit bizarre – a tent city set up for the tourists to experience the nomad life style. There were literally hundreds of tourists there taking camel rides through the dunes. We then were escorted to a tent where we were served coffee and tea. The tents apparently also were available to sleep in overnight for the complete desert experience. Thankfully POW had not arranged this for us.
The camel ride was quite uncomfortable. I do not recommend it as a primary means of transportation. It seemed to me from the comments that the men particularly did not enjoy the ride (guess it’s a bit like one of those hard bicycle seats). The mount and dismount process is particularly challenging!
Dinner was at a lovely hotel, with a dance performance. They do a nice job of alternating time on the train with time at the fine hotel properties around India.
This morning we awoke to find ourselves in Jodphur (where they first created those funny pants worn by polo players). We went to the royal crematorium. At this point, unfortunately Marina again got sick, so I waited with her while the others went inside. She clearly was in bad shape, so we decided to go on to the lunch spot – the Ummaid Bhawan Palace – and just hang out for a few hours. Lenny will have to report on the rest of the morning touring.
The Palace is a deluxe hotel that is quite a spectacular property. We were greeted like royalty and taken care of nicely. Marina rested in the rest room for a while, which actually was a rest room in which one could rest because it had a lounge area. She eventually felt much better as the day wore on. Poor kid … India has been a bit tough on her! We explored the property, including an escorted tour of the museum. The local maharaja also lives there, so it is still a working palace alongside the hotel. Lunch was excellent, and after a quick shopping expedition (what else?) we returned to the train for a few hours of leisure and dinner.
posted by SawMillLodge at 2:55 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home