Greetings from Jaipur, India 10/13/08

Today I flew from Udaipur to Jaipur. After about 10 hours of sleeping like the dead last night I finally felt like a new woman ready to take on the world. Which was a darn good thing. Raj and driver picked me up from the hotel at 6, when it was still dark and whisked me away to the airport. This time I knew what to expect and was able to navigate things much better. It also helped that the airport folks in Udaipur were much more friendly than the ones in Delhi.

At Jaipur I was collected at the airport by ? and Sanjay. Now the fellows in Udaipur were younger than me and all business. I could tell right off this was going to be better because Vikram and Sanjay (the driver is Sanjay, whom I spent the time looking at the back of his head) were a laugh a minute to the hotel. As I was checking in guide #2 appeared, he was early by 2 hours and we all had a great laugh at everyone's expense!

So my guide and Sanjay collected me from the hotel and took me back through the busy streets of Jaipur to the City Palace and Hawa Mahal (palace of wind, and not the wind Ray thinks of...). BUT next door is a huge astrology/astronomy place. It is noon and my guide, patient nice man that he is, walked through this huge place with amazingly accurate sun dials for over an hour. On his plus side we kept moving from one spot of shade to another. On the bad, he looked fresh as a daisy, I looked like a daisy that had been trampled by a herd of camels. Bastard!

The City Palace was all it was cracked up to be... but then we went to the bazaar. Again, my guide is a saint. Helping me to cross traffic that is coming from the wrong way qualifies him for beatification... We went to a temple to Shiva that was closed, but the Sadu's let us go up on the roof. We spent close to 30 minutes on the roof top watching traffic move through the center of town. It was like watching a river of people and animals perfectly choreographed. I took many pictures but unless you were to see and hear it you wouldn't get the full feeling of it.

Then--- shopping!!!! I got to see bangles, jewelry, stamped cloths and other crafts being made by hand. I have saffron, a camel hair rug, two pashmir shawls, and not so much money left in my accounts. So if anyone from Deaconess is keeping up with me --- I will still need to work when I get back.

Now I hear there is happy hour and so I'm going to see if I can get a mighty fine Gin and Tonic to cap what was a very lovely day in Jaipur India. K:)

The Itinerary for the Trip to India

Some folks have asked about my itinerary, so here it is:

Itinerary
Extension: Lakes & Palaces
11 Oct 08 Arrive Delhi - overnight at the Florence Inn (on B&B basis)
12 Oct 08 Early transfer for flight to Udaipur. Sightseeing tour of Udaipur. Overnight hotel.
13 Oct 08 Early transfer for flight to Jaipur. Overnigt hotel. Sightseeing Jaipur.
14 Oct 08 Morning visit to Amber Fort. Rest of the day is free to explore the 'Pink City'.
15 Oct 08 Drive to Agra. Stop en-route to visit Fatephur Sikri. Evening visit to Taj Mahal. Overnight hotel.
16 Oct 08 Full days sightseeing of Taj Mahal and Agra Fort. Late afternoon drive to Delhi. Overnight hotel.
17 Oct 08 Day at leisure.
KUA/02/08: Curzons Trail and the Kuari Pass Trek Begins
Group arrive in the afternoon.
18 Oct 08 In the morning we have a sightseeing tour of Old and New Delhi. In the early evening we transfer to the
railway station to catch the overnight sleeper train to Kathgodam.
19 Oct 08 Arriving in Kathgodam, we drive through impressive scenery to our stop at Ranikhet, a former hill
station. Overnight in a lhotel.
20 Oct 08 A long day of driving to Lohajang (2400m / 7875ft) but with fantastic mountain vistas, including Nanda
Devi. We meet our crew who will have already established camp.
21 Oct 08 Trek up to the Lohajang Pass (2590m. / 8498ft.) and descend into the Bedni Ganga Valley. We make
camp in the village of Didina.
22 Oct 08 Trek up through forest and open grazing land to the famously scenic camp at Bedni Bugyal (3500m /
11,484ft).
23 Oct 08 Leaving the camp in place, we make the tough return day-hike to the spectacularly located lake of
Roopkund (5000m / 16,400ft). Return to Bedni Bugyal.
24 Oct 08 An easier day, descending to the village of Wan and on to our camp on pasture at Kanol.
25 Oct 08 Trekking through forest of oak and rhododendron, we reach our camp beside the Nandakini River, close
to the village of Sutol (2290m / 7513ft).
26 Oct 08 A longer day, through farmland and villages with views of distant snow-capped peaks. Overnight at
Ghunni (2470m / 8105ft).
27 Oct 08 We climb up through forest and meadows to cross a low pass, then descend to camp at the small village
of Jhenjipani (2300m / 7546ft).
28 Oct 08 Another pleasant valley walk, crossing small rivers and passing many waterfalls. We arrive at our camp
in Panna in time for a late lunch.
29 Oct 08 A long day across the Kuari Pass (4268m / 14,000ft). After a steep start, the ascent becomes more
gradual through forest. Superb views of Nanda Devi. Camp on the meadows at Ghelgarh.
30 Oct 08 A final scenic day of trekking leads generally downhill, tharough forest to our overnight lodge at the ski
resort of Auli.
31 Oct 08 A long and spectacular drive to Rishikesh, where we check into a hotel. In the evening, we can watch the
aarti lamp ceremony by the Ganges.
01 Nov 08 Drive to Delhi, arriving in the mid afternoon. We have the use of day rooms at the group hotel. KE
group package services end after dinner. Airport transfers are provided on this day.