Udaipur- the real start of the Dysentery Diaries!
Trip Start
Unknown
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Trip End
Ongoing
Udaipur, Rajasthan, India
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Being our first of many overnight trains it had been a bit of a novelty for us, so I guess we were being a bit noisy when one of the Indian gentlemen at the end of our carriage offered us all some chocolate - it was the only way he could think to stop us talking and be quiet!
After jumping onto the second bunk and then ricocheting onto the first one to get down, I realised my bag of snacks to eat had been dripping one by one onto Brian in the bottom bunk all night. One minute he would be hit on the head by a packet of biscuits, then drip fed with the opened bombay mix and then just as he was dozing off again the water bottle came crashing down. I of course had slept through it all so was a picture of innocence when I picked up the debris.
We got to the hotel in time for breakfast and what a view we had from the restaurant. Udaipur is set around Lake Pichola and the whole town is one of temples, palaces and gardens and our roof terrace overlooked it all.
We set off that day to visit the City Palace, Jagdish temple and to just stroll around the town taking in all the sights and smells but at a far gentler pace than that we had experienced in Delhi.
I loved just sitting in one of the lakeside cafes, with a cold drink and watching the dhobi wallahs coming down to the lakeside ghats to do their washing . Every now and then a cow would stroll down the street and have a look at what we had on our table and then saunter on down the road, swishing flies away with its tail. As we were crossing the bridge over the lake, one was obviously on a mission as it went through the revolving gate and then carried on over the bridge to the other side pooing as it went.
That evening after all the thirteen years I have known David, we actually had our first Valentines meal. The others had gone to watch some folk dancing that we hadn't fancied, so it was more a case of a romantic meal for two forced onto him. Whatever, it was a very enjoyable evening in such a romantic location and after it we strolled back round the floodlit lake to our hotel.
Love must have been well and truly in the air, as every day we kept seeing processions of ladies which turned out to be the future brides relatives on the way to meet the future grooms. In such a male dominated society they were always on foot. When we saw it all in reverse, the groom was on a horse. Not so much of a mark on his Reebok's.
I awoke the following morning with a really sore throat and took one look at Sue one of the other girls in our group and found out she was feeling the same.After breakfast we took a boat around the lake and by the time I got back I had to rush to the loo. When this was repeated twenty minutes later I swallowed a very mild version of Imodium. We had bought some probiotic tablets for David to take for the trip as his stomach is nowhere near as cast iron as mine. As an extra precaution I had also started taking one a day as having travelled to India before, I wanted to be well prepared.
That evening saw David joining the group ( minus Sue as well) for a meal on his own, as my cold was flaring up along with my intestinal tract so decided on a quiet night in. With a long journey to Pushkar tomorrow I wanted to make sure I was firing on all four cylinders for the early start.
