After having our hands held through Delhi, we are off on our own. We made our way back to the comfort of the Delhi airport and boarded our flight for Udaipur. Although they have completely done away with food and anything free on domestic US flights, the rest of the world is quite different. We got served yet another delicious hot meal during our 33 minute flight! If you fly during a meal time, you get fed regardless of how short your flight is. After making a stop in Jodhpur, we arrived in Udaipur, the "most romantic city in India" (for whatever that is worth). Our ride was waiting to pick us up at the airport and bring us to our hotel. So far everything was going according to plan. The drive was about an hour long since we were staying 10 miles outside the city. When our driver turned up a completely unmarked horrendously maintained dirt road (nothing to cause alarm since this is completely normal dirt or not) we began to get a bit wary as there were no houses in sight. As we wound further up the road we caught a glimpse of what looked like an old haunted house up on a hill. Our driver pulled up to the end of the driveway; still no sign or indication that anything was near. We dubiously stepped out of the car taking our bags with us and walked up the short pathway to the house. Right beside the main door tucked in a corner was a subtle sign indicating that we were in fact where we had hoped to be, Mountain Ridge. The jolly Brit, Piers, who owns and runs the place came stumbling out of the kitchen covered in white dust. He welcomed us in and sat us down in the living room which was literally his families living room. As one of his staff, Padam, brought Travis a beer, exploding it all over the carpet, we tried to talk to Piers over the construction noise coming from the kitchen. Each person that appeared from there was covered in white dust. As Piers was first to admit, it seemed like we had stumbled upon Faulty Towers. As it turns out, we would end up being very please that the construction came when it did, but that is for later.
Mountain Ridge is as you can guess by now, the home of Piers and his large extended "family" of various Indian and Nepalese friends. There are four kids in the house that keep things lively and entertaining and two young men, Padam and Amarit, who are also considered "family" but work for Piers in the kitchen. We soon discovered them to be amazing cooks and watched them closely throughout the next five days to see what we could pick up. The atmosphere was of complete comfort, something we were not expecting to find much of in India, and relaxation. These were for the first time in a while sheets that we actually wanted to sleep in and a toilet we could sit down on. We had family style dinners every night with Piers and the other guests who passed through and enjoyed nightly showings of various bootlegged movies that he projected onto a big sheeted wall. If it weren't for the occasional horn (a long song in some cases) we heard from the nearby road we might not have known we were in India at all.
Our first morning we set our alarm and woke up so as not to miss breakfast which according to the packet of info in our room was from 8:30-9:30. By 9:30 we hadn't even sat down for food; this remained the leisurely schedule we stuck to for the next five days...no rush. We would usually finish breakfast sometime after 10am and start our day around 11. Piers had an army of well trusted, honest Indians that could be called at any time to take you hiking, into town, etc. We decided to take a day to see the city and started by riding a cable car (our tickets said they were for Sea World but we didn't see any Orcas) up the hill for a view of the city. It is really quite beautiful and unique looking with almost entirely white buildings making up the city. There are two lakes as well that help create some open area. The pollution is thick making the sunsets outstanding, but the visibility and breathing horrendous. Back down in the city itself we wandered the narrow streets that were an overload to the senses. The noise (continuous honking), smells both good and bad, and market stalls to take in visually are a sensory overload. The spices piled high are as remarkable as the colourful fabrics that line the streets. We have not yet been brave enough to sample the street food and given all the dust and pollution I don't think we will. There are plenty of other delicious opportunities to get sick that we don't need to invite it quite so willingly; everything that we see being sold on the streets is deep fried and looks the same so it is hard to tell what sort of surprise lies within, but they sure add to the mix of smells as we pass by.
One of the main attractions in Udaipur is the Lake Palace Hotel which was used for a scene of an early James Bond film Octopussy. The town and hotel have run with it and for a mere $4000 a night you can stay at the Lake Palace, an island in the lake that looks back towards the town's real Palace. They both look spectacular at night when they are lit up reflecting on the water. We enjoyed a night on the town and had a delicious dinner by the lake taking in the views. Not too shabby for a romantic date.
Back at Pier's, we enjoyed his new toy that was being installed when we arrived. A brand new oven! Somehow he had survived the last 10 years without one and was chomping at the bit for some baked goods and real bread (i.e. not the usual wonder bread we are served everywhere we go). As a fair trade for watching Padam and Amarit cook Indian food Victoria let them watch her bake a chocolate cake. Using an app on Travis's phone to convert grams to ounces, Victoria used a very old fashion scale to measure out the ingredients for the cake and icing. Not knowing if anything had gone correctly she wavered on the side of too much icing to cover up any baking fiasco that might occur in the new oven. The results were well received; we think we earned our keep that night seeing as Piers went back for seconds and then thirds, a man after Victoria's heart!
In case we hadn't done enough eating, we headed back into town for a cooking class. This was one of our goals with most of the countries we are visiting, so off we went back to town dodging donkeys, cows and dogs on our way. Our class included two other women from Melbourne and us; the intimate setting allowed for plenty of hands on work and tasting. We started with a home-made batch of Chai and continued to make various curries. The class put Indian cooking into a surprisingly manageable light; once you get down some of the basics about which spices to mix together and when, your knowledge can go pretty far. We did learn one secret that makes India food taste so delicious which is the ridiculous amounts of cooking oil they use. Wow! I think our arteries clogged just watching the first recipe being cooked, but boy was it delicious. We are excited to try our tricks back at home with a few heart healthy changes.
Our other days at Pier's were spent wandering around the countryside that surrounded us with local guides, playing with the kids, and testing more delicious oven recipes including some cream puffs. Who would have thought...
These are the sort of places that really make a trip special and stick with you. I don't think any of our other India hotels will hold a candle but that will only make us appreciate our time here more. Off to the next touristy city...
T&V
