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Hi!
Straight after I wrote my last entry Pauline, Sara, Maureen and I (“the girls”) took a taxi to the Tiger Fort so watch the sun set. When we got there the taxi drivers told us that the Fort was closed – we thought that they were just wanting to go back because it is a normal touristy thing to do so we ignored them (it turned out that the message was lost in translation – the Fort was actually closed but the tower that you watch the sunset from wasn’t). Anyway we got to see the Fort and the sun set (although it wasn’t particularly spectacular due to a dust storm/fog/pollution)!
After the sunset we decided to have dinner at somewhere our tour leader Vinit had suggested. The place turned out to be a restaurant/bar/club so after a delicious dinner (the best I’ve had in India so far) we wanted to stay longer for some drinks. Unfortunately the waiter wanted us to leave because the place had been booked for a private party. We decided to ignore him and get on the dance floor to get the party started!! It was great fun dancing away with the locals to a mixture of western and Indian music!! Pauline danced up a storm!! I think it might of been because of her dancing that after an hour and half or so we were asked to leave!! She wasn’t being particularly provocative I just think that either the manager or the person whose party it was didn’t like us dancing with the locals!! Anyway after a little while we decided it was best to leave........on the way out however Sarah was propositioned!! Ha ha!! We politely declined that opportunity and got in a tuk tuk back to the hotel.
We had an early start the next day to get to Ranthambhore National Park to go tiger spotting (we had to pay the driver to put the air conditioning on in the bus – there is a price for everything in India!!). We were all looking forward to an afternoon of sitting by the pool followed by tiger spotting in the evening, Sara in particular wanted to see a tiger as it was her birthday. Upon arriving at the hotel it became clear that we would not be using the pool – it was absolutely filthy, and given that most of us had had dodgy tummies we didn’t want to pick up anymore bugs – instead we could retreat to our air conditioned rooms. Upon entering the National Park we immediately saw monkeys, deer (two varieties), peacocks and other birds.......finding tigers was a little more difficult!! But we were lucky – we found a tiger beside a pool. The tiger got down took a dip in the pool then lay down on the bank to dry off! It was spectacular.
That night Vinit had arranged for us to have dinner on the grass near the dirty pool (it looked better at night!). He had also arranged for Sara to have a lovely heart shaped birthday cake which she wasn’t expecting. She also wasn’t expecting Vinit to follow the Indian tradition of smearing a piece of cake in her face!! She had yellow icing all over her face – it was hilarious!! She was not impressed, but it was certainly a birthday she will never forget!!
The next morning we got on another bus (air conditioning included this time!!) to Bundi. Bundi is a very friendly small city or town. It was absolutely boiling hot though so I only went out for an hour when we got there before retreating from the sun. Later on that afternoon we went out on a tour of the town including a temple and palace. The palace was quite impressive, especially the wall paintings, despite being in disrepair. Certainly it was the monkeys that owned the palace now – there were loads of them!! In a garden area that was the only area of the palace kept up the monkeys had made their home taking advantage of the cool watered grass.
After visiting the palace Pauline, Maureen and I walked around the town. Lots of people approached us for a chat or because they wanted a photo which was nice (and made a nice change from being approached for money or food). In the market we had bangles adjusted to fit us. I sat down first to look at the bangles and the woman quickly grabbed my arm and started work! After a discussion I changed the bangles she was working on to some I actually liked and she started work again. She heated the bangles up over a small metal bin filled with coals then stretched the bangles (already the biggest she had) to fit my wrist. Once stretched she somehow glued them together and put them on my wrist. It was quite an experience! I don’t know what the bangles are made out of – they feel almost like wood with some sort of metal stuff inside but I can’t tell. We all had some adjusted then negotiated on the price.
We were all hungry by that point but most of the restaurants were closed due to it being the low season. We approached a tuk tuk driver and asked him to take us to somewhere open, he didn’t understand so we asked him to take us to a guesthouse that had been recommended to us as a place to eat. We arrived at the place which was down a back alley and it looked closed. Pauline went in to see if they would cook for us and they welcomed us in with open arms (quite literally!!). It turned out to be a family home/guesthouse, and we were soon in the family living room chatting to the mother and daughter team whilst Pauline was looking after the baby and at the same time watching the daughter’s wedding video! It was quite a business – it is very unusual for women to run a business, if fact in some places you rarely see women at all (they are very much kept at home out of the way, whilst the men go out and socialise – I haven’t seen many men doing much work!!). The ladies were keen to show us news paper clippings about their business as well as photos sent to them from guests. After someone was sent out to buy ingredients we were cooked thali – which is a selection of Indian dishes in little bowls put on a plate. I ate all mine up so not to offend anyone, also it was nice!! They were really keen to give us more, but there was just so much food in our first helping I couldn’t eat any more!!
They were keen to give us a cooking lesson after dinner, but it was getting late so we made our exit. Going to that guest house was a real experience – they were such lovely people!
That’s all for now! We only have Bijaipur and Pushkar left to visit before heading back to Delhi :(
Louise x.
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