The Daily Diary of a Wandering Restaurateur
February 2 - Udaipur, The White City
We had a sleeper car on the train last night, but sleep itself was elusive and left a lot to be desired as far as quality went. Of course the train was running late when we got on and even later when we arrived, but by 8:00 we were in Udaipur. We had arranged for drivers to meet us every time we arrive but unlike our experience in Sawai Madhopur where we had to track down the driver, this time he was right there.
Business is slower than usual all over India right now -- bad news for hotel operators but good news for us in that we could move right into our room when we arrived. After a quick freshinging up (trust me ... you do not want to use the toilets on an Indian train!) it was up to the rooftop restaurant for breakfast. What a day! What a view!
The plan had been to fly from here to Jodhpur for two days, then fly to Jaisalmer for another two before flying back to Delhi to catch our plane home. That all changed today. The hotel owner informed me that Kingfisher Airlines had cancelled all their flights in and out of both Jodhpur and Jaisalmer. If we still wanted to go, the options were to take the train or rent a car and driver. After juggling the options, we decided on the road trip.
Each leg of the trip will be about five hours but one of the places we wanted to see is halfway to Jodhpur so getting there and back would have been five hours in the car anyway. We adjusted the itinerary to split the two nights in Jodhpur and it all worked out. Now we will fly to Delhi from Jodhpur. Assuming that everything is on time -- by now a huge leap of faith -- we will have to wait around Delhi for nine hours before we get on the plane to Amsterdam ... but at least we shouldn't have to worry about making the connection.
I have to compliment Janardan, our affable host at the Kankarwa Haveli. He not only spotted the potential snag in our travel plans but spent a lot of time back and forth with the various hotels and airlines involved to sort out the situation. His focus was entirely on how he could make things work the best for us and seemed to be on top of it all the time. If he had other things that needed doing today (and I'm sure he did), he never mentioned them or made me feel bad about asking for help. All in all, this man was the poster child for hospitality. It was marvelous to be on the receiving end of it.
That was about as adventurous as we got today. We did some laundry, Margene finished her book and I found a shop where I could plug in my computer. Two days without Internet access and I was getting backed up with unposted trip reports. I had an early solo dinner gazing over the lights of the Lake Palace and watching the fireworks for the Marahajah's birthday. All Genie wanted was a CARE package of french fries and the party animals were both gratefully asleep by nine!
As Gandhi once said, "There is more to life than just increasing its pace."
© 2009 Restaurant Doctor
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