India #6 Jaipur and Cookery Class

 March 15th

It was with some relief that we checked out of 'The Tigress' hotel. Mr. Singh, our previous driver, had insisted that he would return to transport us to Jaipur. We were happy to agree; the car was relatively comfortable and he wasn't much of a talker whilst driving which suited us fine. 

The Umaid Bhawam Hotel was our cheapest hotel of the holiday but, by far, our favourite. It had definite 'Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' vibes and I channelled Judi Dench as we explored the beautiful, hand decorated spaces.

After exploring the hotel, we found a nearby restaurant recommended on our much used Happy Cow App. Sadly, it let us down. The restaurant turned out to be in another hotel. They welcomed us warmly but clearly had no idea about what constituted vegan food and just agreed to everything to be polite. We had supposedly vegan thalis. Not only were they bland but we had to pick out the obvious bits of paneer and scrape off the yoghurt dressing. The thali arrived with a gulab jamun for desert. R thought that they might have managed a vegan version. One nibble proved that to be false. The best that could be said was that the drinks were nice and there was a lovely garden. 

We took a tuktuk to the Old City, referred to as the Pink City after it was painted pink for a visit by Edward VII when he was still the Prince of Wales. The frenetic nature of the traffic had a manic energy. Bikes, cars, tuktuks all seemed to drive towards each other, horns blaring. After 5 minutes of mentally shrieking, you quickly become used to it and it was amazing!

We drove by a cookware stall and stopped so I could buy a masala dabba to hold my spices. I have yet to set it up. I'm really looking forward to it but want to be well enough to fully appreciate it.

We walked past stalls of spices and sacks and sacks of chillies. The chilli hit the back of our throats and we found ourselves sneezing and laughing in equal measure. The stalls were fabulous - even if we had to swerve past the odd dead rat on the pavement!

We had the first, and last, drinky coconut of our holiday and then, just as we were about to explore a market, we were intercepted by a man who insisted on talking to us at great length about his workshop. As he was talking, I found myself becoming hotter, with nausea and abdominal cramps. I geticulated to R, who apologised to the man and we quickly returned to the hotel. From this point in the holiday, I never felt entirely well. It wasn't food poisoning, just, I think, my gut starting to rebel at having curry for breakfast, lunch and dinner for days on end. Please don't misunderstand me, I think it's probably obvious by now that I love a good curry, but my gut just sometimes has a will of its own! It wasn't completely debilitating but I was constantly aware of my stomach and at times had to sit down until the discomfort passed. 

 March 16th

Before we set off on holiday, I knew that I would like to take some sort of cookery class in India. The one that I plumped for was a 2 hour class (it was actually much longer) with a local family. Monty, Harshita and their adorable daughter, Gina, were brilliant hosts. Upon arrival in their home, we were welcomed with drinks, garlands of flowers and tilak applied to our foreheads.

With their help, we prepared a number of dishes: a mixed lentil dhal; saag aloo; bottle gourd and tomato curry; jeera rice; chapatis and an almond milk, cardamom and saffron rice pudding. If I say so myself, they were yummy! :O)

I'm looking forward to mine looking like this!

My dish to prepare was the saag aloo. I feel that the ingredient that made the most difference in this dish was the mustard oil. We had to heat it, wait until it stopped smoking and then add the spices. Now, apparently, mustard oil isn't allowed for consumption in the UK. It has high levels of erucic acid which can cause fats to accumulate in cardiac muscle. I'm hoping that frying mustard seeds in other oils will be a reasonable substitute.

Another chapati making lesson!

Here was my small portion - I was still feeling a bit under the weather:

It was all delicious and the rice pudding was especially calming to my poor old tum! After lunch, we said goodbye to our hosts and returned to our hotel for a quick rest before heading for Jantar Mantar, an outdoor collection of 19 astronomical instruments, including the World's largest sundial. I didn't feel up to a guide, but it was lovely to walk slowly round the exhibits in the warm evening air.

A final tuktuk ride back to the hotel took us by the Jal Mahal, a water palace in the middle of the Man Sagar Lake:

The illuminated City Museum:

.... and the Iswari Minar Swarga Sal in the heart of the old city:

Still full from lunch, we shared a 'Snack Platter' at the hotel, consisting of samosas, pakoras, bonda and Chaat Papri. Our evening Gimlet (gin and lime juice) scored a very respectable 4 points!

Toodle pip for now. x

India #5 Ranthambore

Well, I seem to be slowly getting through the holiday. R managed a bit of soup and has now gone back to bed. He's about 3 days behind me infection wise and is feeling decidedly rough. I really need to be in the greenhouse sowing my seeds but can't quite face it yet. Maybe tomorrrow.

March 13th

Our next destination was Ranthambore National Park in the Sawai Madhopur district of Rajasthan. It was quite a drive, so we decided to break up the journey with a visit to Fatehpur Sikri (the City of Victory), founded by Emporer Akbar as the capital of the Mughal Empire in 1571. The complex of monuments and temples includes one of the largest Mosques in India, the Jama Masjid. It is sometimes referred to as the ghost city after it was abandoned when Akbar went off to fight a campaign in Punjab. The capital then moved to Delhi, possibly because of the inadequate water supply.

We hired a guide to give us a tour and again we learnt far more than if we had wandered by ourselves. We would, however, have possibly avoided what seemed to be a bit of a tourist scam.

Akbar built 3 palaces, one for each of his favourite wives - one was Hindu, one Muslim and one Christian. The largest palace was for the Hindu wife as she gave birth to his son. 

 

Diwan-I-Khas or Hall of Private Audience:

The elaborately carved central stone pillar:

Akbar remained heirless until 1569, when his son was born in the village of Sikri. He began construction of a religious compound in honour of Salim Chishti, who predicted his son's birth. The guide took us to Salim Chishti's tomb and we were told the ritual of tying knots in the marble screens to get 3 wishes. You can only tie the knots, however, once you have bought a chadar (a cloth used as a head covering) from a vendor. In the tomb, the chadar is placed under a wooden canopy and sprinkled with rose petals. Then the knots are tied and the wishes made. It is popular for child birth blessings and you are supposed to keep your wishes secret. The cynic in me wondered what happens to the donated chadars and whether or not they are merely recycled for future tourists. It may not have been a scam but it certainly felt like it. I only hope that the chadars were actually donated to the intended recipients.

We continued our drive, stopping for lunch at a roadside restaurant. We weren't terribly hungry and shared plates of pakoras and samosas. There was an adjoining handicraft shop where we bought a few souvenirs. We left the main road in search of our hotel as the sun began to set. The road was atrocious and I really felt for our driver and at one point feared for his car. He assured us that he was used to the conditions but he had to stop and check directions to our hotel 'The Tigress' before we finally found it.

This was probably the poshest hotel that we stayed in and the one in which we felt the least comfortable. Things didn't get off to a good start when we realised that there was no nearby ATM and we needed cash for the driver. Eventually, the hotel let us pay them by credit card and they gave us ready cash. Then we had to get them to replace the kettle in our room after the original one was found to be disgusting. I really don't know what the problem was and it sounds ridiculous I know, but it really stank. We made the chap who came with a replacement smell the original and take it away - even he rocked back on his heels a bit! 

Given that the hotel was in the middle of nowhere, we were forced to eat our meals there. Dinner on the roof, complete with musicians and a dancer with a flaming bowl on her head, was a relatively expensive buffet affair. R began to get distictly frosty when he realised that there was only 1 vegan dish available. I wasn't especially hungry after bouncing along the dirt track but he eventually complained to the head waiter and a dish of supposedly vegan black dhal  miraculously appeared. I sampled a bit and declared it decidedly creamy. R ate a large portion and was up all night with abdominal pains. He wasn't best pleased.

March 14th

Breakfast area:

Breakfast dosa in progress:

Batti Lal, the head waiter from the night before met us at breakfast and tried his best to accommodate us. He carefully pointed out any dishes containing dairy and promised to make sure that vegan dishes were available for dinner. I think he was worried about complaints, although it really wasn't his fault that the hotel hadn't warned him about our annoying dietary requirements. Luckily, it wasn't a life- threatening allergy, although R is now convinced he has developed lactose intolerance.

The morning was spent swimming and doing more poolside knitting/ Audible listening before the main reason for our visit to Ranthambore. The National Park is best known for its tiger safaris.

What followed next was, on the one hand, very enjoyable and on the other, possibly a bit of a scam. We only ever intended to do the one safari. Even in retrospect, I wouldn't have wanted to do it again. Speaking to other guests at the hotel, they had all been on multiple trips; repeatedly booking in an attempt to see a tiger. On the day, our jeep arrived - we were sharing one with a lovely couple from Mumbai - and we were told that we would be entering Zone 7. The jeep ride itself was great fun, we bounced around the park tracks for over 3 hours. We paused by rivers where the tigers were likely to be, saw multiple deer (because we don't see enough of them! :O) ), a mongoose, monkeys and lots of peacocks (it was mating season). The tigers were conspicuous by their absence! It was our jeep mates' second trip and, so far, a 0 for 2. They booked one more for the following morning.

There was a bit of drama at one point, when, after speaking on his phone, we suddenly reversed our direction and sped back to the river....... still nothing.

Now, here's the rub. Speaking to a chap that we met in Jaipur later in the trip, he informed us that the tigers were not in Zones 7-10 and that the people running the safaris know exactly where they are likely to be. I'm not sure whether some zones are used to encourage tourists to book more trips, until they look like they are getting fed up, then they produce a tiger. I may be doing them a disservice but I'm suspicious by nature.

On the way back to the hotel, the jeep developed a flat tyre and we waited by the roadside while it was changed.

Possibly owing to being jolted around for hours, R and I felt quite unwell that evening. Batti Lal went above and beyond and sent some watermelon juice and bananas to our room.

On checking out of the hotel the following morning, we met a group of American tourists returning from a morning safari. I don't know how many they had been on and I think they said that they had been to Zone 5........  they had seen 5 tigers - a male, a female and 3 cubs. I hope that the Mumbai couple had been in luck too.

Toodle pip for now. x