The TRIP!!!!

Welcome to the hotel in Udaipur

View from the hotel

View from the Monsoon Palace from the Hotel

A view of our hotel from the Moon Palace

Udaipur City Palace

Doing laundry on the banks of the Lake Pichola

Lake Palace

Laundry!!

Jagamandir - the Mother of the Taj Mahal

City Palace

Jagdish Temple

A view from the Monsoon Palace

A view from the City Palace

Music program at the hotel

Dancer at the hotel

Typical Rajasthani

The trip began on Friday morning. We were off to a bit of a slow start since our flight out of Bangalore was delayed. Our lay over in Mumbai was 2 hours, but that was quickly whittled away by the flight delay and the 'bus-transfer' from the plane to the terminal. We got to the terminal, then we realized that we had to 'walk' to the other terminal. Then we had to make sure that our bags got 'transferred'..... phwew.... we finally made it.....

Arrived in Udaipur and made the quick trip from the airport to our hotel - Fateh Garh. It is a beautiful hotel nestled in the hills of Udaipur. The hotel was actually used in some 'Bollywood' shows. There was one similar to the Bachelorette that was shot at the same hotel... hey... kind of cool, eh??

Fateh Garh our hotel is situated a little out of the main town crested on mountain edge. We were welcomed by the traditional singing of women upon our arrival, RED CARPET AFFAIR with petals sprinkled before our feet as we walked to the entrance. The views from the hotel are stunning…. Views of the full city of Udaipur. It is really breathtaking! Feteh Garh, is also a Royal Family owned property, a 150 year old crumbling palace transposed stone for stone to its current location.

Udaipur, the city of lakes was founded by Maharana Udsi Singh in 1559 and was named after him. The City is surrounded by Aravalli hills. Udipur was the capital of Mewar after the death of Maharana Pratap in 1597. The city was attacked by Marathas, Mughals & British, however it has never been defeated because of its location. The city has a larger number of temples, heritage palaces, havelis, fort and lakes.

Once situated in the hotel we were off to Lake Pichola. On this lake we saw some of the top hotels of Udaipur. The Taj is situated on the middle of the Lake, while Leela and Oberoi are on the perimeter. The Tag is the most famous , also known as the ‘Floating Palace’ , specially made famous by the Roger Moore 007 movie – Octopusy.

We also visited Jagamandir Palace which is also in the middle of the lake. The story goes that Shah Jahan, the man behind the Taj Mahal was inspired by the Jagamandir Palace. He supposedly used some of the design elements in the creation of the Taj…. On a much larger scale of course!!
Our evening was capped with a magnificent evening of traditional folk dance and song performed by the locals, only the pictures speak for themselves……

All of this in Day 1!!

Day 2 (Saturday) was more touring of the city. We toured the City Palce, the Jagdish Temple (a Vishnu temple), and the Monsoon Palace....

After viewing the spectacular views of the City Palace from Pichola Lake, we toured the interior. It is Rajasthans largest palace built by many Maharana’s over a period of 300 years, beginning was started Maharana Udai Singh II. Its architecture is amazing considering the views of the Lake, rooms to grace sun rise / sun set as well as a room to be graced by the Moon Light through stained glass winds as one sits and feels the evening warm breeze.

It was a great day of touring and the kids did great!! They were really interetsed in the tours and learning about all the history... we were very proud of them.

Day 3 (Sunday) was a road trip from Udaipur to Jodhpur. 6 Hours.... We survived.... The hotel in Jodhpur is FABULOUS!!! We are staying at the Umed Bhavan Palace which is operated by the Taj. Yes, the King and Queen actualy live here! We have our own Butler (Sikandar). Sikandar also is the 'fill-in' butler for the Royal Family. So yes, we are being treated like Royalty!! He makes sure that we have everything that we need. As part of his services he can even run the bath for us.... YES!! Run the bath!! We are loving this luxury. The hotel room is HUGE!!! 2 TV's and plenty of space! This morning Sikandar brought us Tea and Coffee to our room and perpared it for us.... Ahhh.... this is the life!!

Will post pictures with the next post. Along with details of Day 4 (Monday) - the Jodhpur tour.

The Deadliest Catch!!!

Work starts  before dawn every morning!

Day break at 5am - the action begins on the beach

Rice Boats being prepared for the days catch

Preparing the Mango Boat - made out of mango wood

First set of logs are laid out

Logs are pulled together

Yoke links the logs together

Same yoke in the back

Mango boat ready for its voyage

Getting ready for the launch of the Rice Boat

Rice boat is getting ready to go

Hitting the departing wave

And they are off!!

Quickly paddling to get past the waves

Mango boat is getting loaded up!

Andy they are off!

Notice the very basic oars!!

The catch from the day!!

Here is a post from Vim on the Fishing that happens in Kovalam... He went out on a morning walk and was learning the art of fishing!!


Kovalam's northern part of the beach is known as Samudra Beach a tourism parlance. A large promontory separates this part from the southern side. Samudra Beach doesn't have tourists thronging there or hectic business. The local fishermen ply their trade on this part. It is an industry that has not changed for centuries in terms of boats/techniques they use for fishing, aided by a few modern tools, not many, hence no idea how many injuries or deaths have ever occurred. Personally, fishing in the high seas has its fair share of inherent high risk of injury or death due to the hazardous work environment and nature of the work itself. But in fishing fleets in Kovalam, that is a different story all together...see how pictures unfold their story......

Kovalam Pictures

Here are pictures from Kovalam.

Kovalam is on the Arabian Sea (West side of India). It is in the southern part of the state of Kerala.

It is predominately a fishing town, and you will see the pics of the 'fishing' in another post.

This trips main purpose was some R&R.... and from the pictures you will see that Rest and Relax is what we did! With the beautiful backdrop of the Arabian Sea, it was perfect!!

One day we did a road trip to Kanyakumari, which is the southern most tip of Inida. This is where the 3 bodies of water meet - Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal.

Catching Up!!!!

Sorry... not been posting lately.... Will try to catch you up with this post...

So, let me start where I left off last time. The pecan tarts were a big hit. I think that Milan ate 10 of them in one day!! And he was proud of it!! I think that Vim ate more than 10 in one day, but he won't fess up to it! I am already looking forward making more!!!

Pictures from Kovalam... Yes, I know... they are past due... Soon! I promise!!!

So Diwali is coming up and so is Diwali break. Last year Diwali break took us thru the south-west of India in the Sunny state of Kerala. This year, our adventures will take us to the north. We have 10 days, 6 cities, 3 flights, and 1 train, and several excursions by road!!! Phwew! I am tired thinking about it!! We start in Udaipur, then off to Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Jaipur, Agra and Dehli!!! Looking forward to it! With the highlight being the 'Taj Mahal'!!! Can't wait! It is just the 4 of us... I am sure that it will be a good test of our 'togetherness-tolerance'! Hopefully we all make it back still in good terms with each other.

So, if you recall, I was pretty good about tracking our monthly progress leading to the 'we-have-been-here-1-year' mark! Well, I know that I have been slacking. I actually think that I need to start the count down in reverse... yes.... in reverse... The countdown to when we will be back home!!! The assignment was for 2 years, and 2 years is up next summer. As it stands, we are not sure if we will get extended - still a possibility. So, just to prepare, we planning for the worst case (or best case - depending on which way you look at it), which means we will be home next summer - July-ish! So, that is in 9 months!!! YIKES!!! This has put Vim and I on a mission of things we need to buy before we leave!! Keep in mind.... labor is really cheap so we are devising grand plans of custom making things, designing things, creating things.... lets see how much of it materializes!!!

Oh... the Au Bon Pain has finally opened..... mmmmm mmmmm GOOD!!! OK, so it is a little different than the one that I had first visited in Boston. There is Paneer Paninni, Tandoori Chicken on Foccaccia, Mutton Chili, betcha can't get that at your Au Bon Pain. They do have some of the basics - which I am sure are similar to the other locations. So on the first day they opened (last week Thur) and the first day led to a flood of the non-locals in the place. Every GM ex-pat was there... it was really funny! I think Subway will be hurting for business as a result of the new place opening! They have attempted to carry foward the cafe feel with some outdoor seating, it is nice for India, but definitely not Harvard Square nice!!!

I have pictures from the Car Puja that we did when we came back from Kovalam. I will post those soon too....

I think that is about it for now....

Baking

So many of you know I love to bake.

Well this weekend I made something that I had not made since being her in Bangalore. I made Pecan Tarts!! Yep.... the pecan tarts that I usually make during holidays back at home!

It was great! And surprisingly they turned out pretty well (I was a little unsure since I was using some local ingredients).

We shared them with our Ozone family and they were a big hit!!