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Our SE Asia Tour 2013
A welcome short driving day - only 1.5 hours to Sawarda. Most of the drive however was on the national highway which links Mumbai with Delhi.
Our stay at Sawarda is in a small village at Fort Sawarda which has been converted by the owners into a home stay. The Fort has always been in the family and dates back to the 17th century. 15 rooms have been completed and they are still in the process of renovating and converting other rooms. After a lunch of dhal, bhat and parathas we retired to our rooms for a rest until 4:00 when it was deemed cool enough for us to embark on a walking tour of the village.
We enjoyed our walk around the dusty village and were greeted by all the friendly villagers (with none of the kids asking for money, ballpens etc.). Took heaps of photos as nobody seemed to object. Watched a potter at work, stopped at an ancient step well which was quite interesting and rounded off the walk with masala chai at the lake, watching the sun set.
Bounced our way back to the hotel in their jeep to an early dinner.
Spent a couple of hours of the night coping with the air conditioner making horrible noises or switching off as it dealt with the erratic power/generator system. I gave up after a while as I feared it would give up the ghost completely, and switched on the fan instead, which veered from flying around like a dervish to clunking around in slow motion to stopping completely. Could not open any of the windows either.
Have had mixed feelings about our stays in the "historic" hotels. Whilst there is no denying that the buildings themselves are beautiful and have a history, they are managed very erratically. For me, having had experience of Indian "guest houses", they are run along the same lines and are really only exotic and up-market guest houses. The staff bumble and fumble around, albeit cheerfully, nothing seems to really work and the rooms and bathrooms could do with a good cleaning. Still, that's India for you!!!!
Before I left, Clive made me practice my knots so that I could put up a clothes line and tension it properly to dry my washing. I have to admit that I haven't put up a line yet, having made do with hangers on the curtain rails, as all the fixtures (to be used in securing the line) in the rooms/bathrooms, ie. rails, hooks, taps etc have been loose. I was afraid the tap mixer combination in the last hotel was going to come apart completely it was so loose.
Our stay at Sawarda is in a small village at Fort Sawarda which has been converted by the owners into a home stay. The Fort has always been in the family and dates back to the 17th century. 15 rooms have been completed and they are still in the process of renovating and converting other rooms. After a lunch of dhal, bhat and parathas we retired to our rooms for a rest until 4:00 when it was deemed cool enough for us to embark on a walking tour of the village.
We enjoyed our walk around the dusty village and were greeted by all the friendly villagers (with none of the kids asking for money, ballpens etc.). Took heaps of photos as nobody seemed to object. Watched a potter at work, stopped at an ancient step well which was quite interesting and rounded off the walk with masala chai at the lake, watching the sun set.
Bounced our way back to the hotel in their jeep to an early dinner.
Spent a couple of hours of the night coping with the air conditioner making horrible noises or switching off as it dealt with the erratic power/generator system. I gave up after a while as I feared it would give up the ghost completely, and switched on the fan instead, which veered from flying around like a dervish to clunking around in slow motion to stopping completely. Could not open any of the windows either.
Have had mixed feelings about our stays in the "historic" hotels. Whilst there is no denying that the buildings themselves are beautiful and have a history, they are managed very erratically. For me, having had experience of Indian "guest houses", they are run along the same lines and are really only exotic and up-market guest houses. The staff bumble and fumble around, albeit cheerfully, nothing seems to really work and the rooms and bathrooms could do with a good cleaning. Still, that's India for you!!!!
Before I left, Clive made me practice my knots so that I could put up a clothes line and tension it properly to dry my washing. I have to admit that I haven't put up a line yet, having made do with hangers on the curtain rails, as all the fixtures (to be used in securing the line) in the rooms/bathrooms, ie. rails, hooks, taps etc have been loose. I was afraid the tap mixer combination in the last hotel was going to come apart completely it was so loose.
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