Hannah BW

New York: Day -6

Loyal readers, my apologies for the protracted absence. The end of my trip was a whirlwind and involved many overnight bus rides. I am so glad to be back, and so proud that I made it through the entire trip without getting seriously ill or losing anything vitally important (though I did sweat all over my passport. Why don't they make those things waterproof?). Photos are up here. There's also a list of recommended places down here, at the bottom of this post.

In Pushkar I met up with Juliana, whose presence really boosted my mood. The monsoon is kind of fun if you have someone with whom you can suffer through it. So when we ate dinner at the Rainbow, and the restaurant filled with insects after dark, it was not only gross but amusing as well. Misery loves company?

I headed onward to Udaipur by myself, choosing to bypass Bundi. Udaipur is supposedly the Venice of the East, and I've never been to Italy, so I thought I should make it there ASAP. It was lovely indeed, and my guesthouse was very cheap. Funny, what would have fazed me at the beginning (communal squat toilets) was by then par for the course. In Udaipur I saw elephants and an amazing palace. I was going to take another promising cooking class, too, about masalas and curries and types of bread. But then AirIndia actually began to be helpful and let me change my ticket! And I found myself hopping a bus back to Mumbai, stat.

To make a long story short, the last legs of this trip were epic. It rained so hard while I was on the bus from Udaipur that the water came in even when the windows were closed. It's not called the rainy season for nothing. Then I had my (18 hour) flight from Mumbai to New York. I was so tired by the time I arrived in Newark that I started weeping by the baggage carousel, because my $3 SmarteCarte with all my vintage Bollywood posters had mysteriously vanished. Then it turned out that an old couple had just taken my cart. So I self-righteously brandished my poster tube at them as they sat in their wheelchairs. And then I had to buy another SmarteCarte, because the suitcase I bought in Mumbai was so crappy that the wheels had fallen off of it.

Then I collapsed and couldn't bring myself to blog for almost a week. Sorry! But while the trip may be over, the blog is not. I just have to figure out how to change it from a food-centric India blog to a food-centric Texas blog. Should not be too difficult. Stay tuned.

Finally, I thought I would put up a list of places (to eat, stay, see) that I recommend in each city that I visited, just in case any of you are planning a trip to the subcontinent any time soon. I highly recommend that you do so, by the way, in case it hasn't been clear.

Mumbai:
To stay: YWCA International Centre
To eat: Baghdadi, Moshe's, Indigo Deli
To see: Chor Bazaar, Banganga Tank

Agra:
To eat: Joney's Place

Amritsar:
To see: the Golden Temple, duh, and the border, and the crazy theme-park temple the name of which I don't know.

McLeod Ganj:
To stay: Pema Thang Guest House
To eat: Lhamo's Croissant, Exile Brothers Café

Shimla:
To eat: Indian Coffee House
To see: Viceregal Lodge

Jodhpur:
To stay: Durag Niwas Guest House
To eat: On The Rocks
To see: Handloom House, Meherengarh Fort

Pushkar: avoid, avoid, avoid.

Udaipur:
To eat: Café Edelweiss, Savage Garden (I know, but the food really is great)
To see: City Palace

posted by HBW @ 6:13 AM 1 Comments

Pushkar: Day 57

First things first: I have no plans to visit Ahmedabad, Surat, or Bangalore. I know the US media didn't do a particularly assiduous job of covering the bombings, but over the past 8 weeks I have come to expect less of my newspapers, so I forgive them and remain a loyal reader. Or rather I plan to resume my readership as soon as I have an internet connection faster than 1kb/s.

The past couple of weeks have been hectic. I remain smitten with McLeod Ganj, but I quickly tired of the hordes of faux-Buddhist backpackers "waiting for the Lama." Also, in a fit of Tibetan history-induced sanctimony, I refused to buy a made-in-China sandstone ring from a jewelry merchant on the street, and he (rightfully?) yelled at me. For how long could I hide from the real world in Lhamo's Croissant, the French-Amdo hybrid cafe? Or drinking tea in prayer-flag draped restaurants? So I took the overnight bus to Shimla, where I discovered my fear of monkeys and affirmed, in person, my love of the Viceregal Lodge.

The next day (the 29th) I took the "toy train" down through the mountains to Kalka. I splurged on a first class ticket and was seated with a couple on the way back from their honeymoon. They had me "click snaps" of them making out, I guess assuming that because I am American and we do that kind of thing in the States, it wouldn't bother me. It did, however, kind of gross me out. In the scheme of things I was probably happier, though, since the folks in second class raised a roller-coaster style scream whenever the train entered a tunnel. There are 102 tunnels on this route (though a plaque at the Shimla station informed me that everyone says there are 103--purely for sentimental reasons). About 3 hours into the ride, the train stopped and everyone got out on the tracks because there was a fight.

Next stop: Jodhpur. The ride from Kalka through the desert was sandy, and I was once again surrounded by middle-aged men who asked me why in God's name my parents were letting me travel alone. Ma and Pa? After a couple of days lounging about in the heat, I took an afternoon bus to Pushkar yesterday. I spent the night at an unremittingly-Pink Floyd themed and overpriced hotel. I am sorry to tell you that the food in Pushkar is really bad so far. Everything tastes like Gorgonzola cheese, but nothing is supposed to. I miss Lhamo and her croissants. I've overdosed on bananas. Also, today the streets of Pushkar flooded waist-high, so I have no desire to actually leave the hotel and see the temples and ghats and find the restaurant that Lonely Planet says serves excellent gnocchi. A day inside might be called for.

Labels: ghats, monsoon, rain, viceroys

posted by HBW @ 2:57 AM 1 Comments