Contents
The Indian Visa	Coffs harbour	Wed 25 Mar
What will India look like?	Coffs Harbour	Wed 11 Mar
The flight	Sydney to New Delhi	Wed 18 Mar
Making friends easily	New Delhi	Wed 18 Mar
The case of the non-existent supermarket.	New Delhi	Wed 18 Mar
The Great Shorts bargain.	New Delhi	Thu 19 Mar
The Questions to the Answers	New Delhi	Thu 19 Mar
Heritage Transport Museum	Gurgaon, New Delhi	Thu 19 Mar
The train to Ajmer Tuk-Tuk to Pushkar	Ajmer	Sat 21 Mar
Fruit from a stall	Pushkar	Sun 22 Mar
A chance encounter	Pushkar	Mon 23 Mar
Savitri Temple	Pushkar	Tue 24 Mar
A scam	Pushkar	Thu 26 Mar
Onward to Sawai Madhopur	Sawai Madhopur	Sat 28 Mar
Jungle View resort	Ranthambore National Park	Sun 29 Mar
Tiger Safari	Ranthambore National Park	Sun 29 Mar
If you get the chance	Udaipur	Sun 29 Mar
The land of non-existent travel agents. – Udaipur or “How to book a tour”	Udaipur	Mon 30 Mar
I expected more from an Uber driver.	Udaipur	Wed 01 Apr
Chittorgarh Fort	Udaipur	Thu 02 Apr
Fruit Heaven	Udaipur	Thu 02 Apr	✔
A half day tour by chance	Udaipur	Fri 03 Apr	✔
Some musings	To Kumbhalgarh	Sat 04 Apr	✔
An Oversight	Udaipur	Sun 05 Apr	✔
Heritage Transport Museum	Gurgaon, New Delhi	Thu 19 Mar	✔

The Indian Visa – Coffs harbour

I applied on line for my travel visa to enter India last Saturday at 6:30pm. There was a long list of questions and some that needed a bit of reasearch. Things like my last Indian visa number. Luckily I had kept most of my old passports so that was not a problem. The website said it could take 4 days to arrive via email. I did not leave for 10 days so I was not concerned. I also read that I could have applied for it 50 days ago!
I was very happy to receive an email at 2:30pm on Sunday saying that it had been granted.
Not only was it a very fast processing time but it was over a Saturday and Sunday. I was so happy that there were Indians beavering away 7 days a week, some on my behalf.

What will India look like? – Coffs Harbour

The flight – Sydney to New Delhi

Well, dear readers, it has happened, I have left the shores of Australia and I am on the way to New Delhi (and Old Delhi) in India. The flight started well with a drinks trolley. The young Indian lass who was dispensing the lifesaving elixir (we are going to India so it is probably ‘elixir’) to our side of the cabin had to put up with a man in seat 13C who clearly thought he should be receiving 1st class service whilst paying for an economy ticket. Although I could not hear the exchange there was much pointing by the man and much forced smiling by the air stewardess. Full marks to her as she maintained her composure throughout.
I have to digress at this point and explain my consumption of drink. Now I do drink every day, milk, water and sometimes this is sparkling. 7 weeks ago, I had two glasses of wine on the same day!
I do have this view that to properly mark that I am on holiday I celebrate the fact with a vodka and tonic. So, when the air stewardess reached me and asked what I would like to drink it behoved me to request a vodka and tonic. I could not resist acknowledging how she kept her cool with the 13C man. She then handed me a triple (at least) vodka with 300 ml of tonic. The rest of this part of my newsletter may be illegible as a result.
However, I clearly don’t have the same positive effect on all those whom I meet. I am seated in the middle section of the aircraft; the layout is 3-3-3 seats across. I am in 16D so from the left 3 seats, aisle then me. As soon as the seat belt sign was switched off, the 2 ladies to my right thought there was better company down the back of the plane. It was not all bad as I had 3 tray tables at my disposal.
As I was flying with Air India the music selection was a mixture of western and Indian. I did find an album that was of a piano played in, or maybe near, the sea. I could hear the surf clearly. With my work of getting in the way of serious committee members of the Coffs Harbour music society (7 concerts this year, seat prices are very reasonable see https://www.coffsmusicsociety.com.au/) I have learnt a little about the care of a grand piano, although not an expert, I think I can safely say that it should not be played in the surf, the sand and seawater would play havoc with the tuning.
Sadly, unlike me, my diabetic meal missed the plane. I chose the chicken curry dish with curried potatoes and rice and rice pudding for dessert. The name of the airline should be a clue, ‘Air India’ therefore I should not have been surprised at Curried Chicken.
We now have about 2 and a half hours to go but earlier we were woken up with a hot snack. (The stewardess did the waking not the snack). It was very tasty; I would have described it as an Indian Cornish pasty or “Roti”.
I have been travelling overseas now for over 40 years, not continuously you understand but with breaks at home. I think I have finally solved the problem of keeping all my required electrical bits and pieces together on the plane. I prefer to think of myself as hearing challenged rather than deaf, daft and stupid. I need a gray box to connect the aircraft sound system to my hearing aids assorted cables, battery backup etc. etc. So, before I left, I invested in a pouch, like a small toiletries bag. It has elastic restraints to keep cables tidy. The tidy bag is available at all good Target stores (maybe some of the bad ones also)
I have just calculated that I have been awake for 19+ hours so I hope you will excuse me for my ramblings. I am wondering if breakfast will be curried eggs and curried bacon.

Making friends easily – New Delhi

Tuesday March 18th was not a good day for yours truly. Earlier I gave you my awake stats, now the stat is a sleep of 4 hours in the last 48! My main task of the day was to buy a Sim card mainly, to give me access to the Internet. I had been walking for about 2 minutes when my first new best friend fell into walking beside me. By the end of the day, I had made about 8 new best friends. I realised after a while that the questions are always the same but not always in the same order.
Here is a challenge for you which I am sure, being one of my readers you are up to completing without difficulty.
I will supply you with my answers
here and see if you can guess the questions. The correct questions are here, do try to guess first though.

1. Sydney, Australia (White lie: Too difficult to give the correct answer of Coffs Harbour)
2. 6 weeks
3. 3 all grown up 1 girl – 2 boys
4. In their 50’s
5. Retired
6. Computer software, now for pleasure
7. Pushkar, Udaipur, Surat, Ahmedabad then home. (Abbreviated list)

My new best friends all had a wide knowledge of the best places to visit, stay and way to travel. They all had big families with brothers, uncles, cousins etc. many ran excellent restaurants, shops, travel agents etc.
NBF5 (New best friend No5) was useful as he took me to a sim card shop which was the size of half our walk in wardrobe. I did a bargain on a 2-month Sim card which, so far, has worked well.
One of the other new best friends persuaded me to look at his uncle’s garment shop even after me saying repeatedly I do not buy anything when I have not slept. It was on the way so I succumbed. Hies uncle (or more likely a perfect stranger) showed me traditional Indian shirts and trousers, all vastly overpriced. His main sales line was faulty. He said if I buy one of these sets, I would pass for an Indian and not be overcharged. I thought but did not say “You are in dire need of new spectacles if you think I would ever pass as Indian”. I did say “Me, an Indian” my eyebrows could not have gone higher. Also, I agreed with him that westerners are charged outrageous prices. I wonder if he saw the irony. Lucky for him I did not buy a pair next door and then came into his shop for another pair. His prices would have been rock bottom.

The case of the non-existent supermarket. – New Delhi

The case of the non-existent supermarket.
Two supermarkets were clearly marked on Google maps with photos and opening times. I could not find either of them. I talked to locals at the spot where they should have been but they could not help. Most knew of markets that were good if not better than those that did not exist. They were, in the main, run by a member of their close family.

The Great Shorts bargain. – New Delhi

Wait, I am sure you will agree when you have heard the tale. Despite my 3 weeks spent with a mixture of planning to and actual packing I managed to come away without a pair of running (Who am I kidding) walking shorts. I decided to invest in a new pair if the stars aligned.
I spotted a rack of shorts for INR150each. I found a pair that I was prepared to be seem out in. They were INR300. The shop did not have online payment facilities and I only had INR90 on me. Despite my best entreaties that would not sink below INR 200. Sadly I had to leave.
I did, subsequently, find an ATM with Indian Rupees in it and so returned to the shop. The price had not risen in the interim so I paid INR200.

The Questions to the Answers – New Delhi

I am sure you got 7 out of 7 but just to check here are the questions

1. Where do you come from?
2. How long are you staying in India?
3. How many children do you have?
4. How old are they?
5. What is your job?
6. What did you do?
7. Where are you going in India?

Heritage Transport Museum – Gurgaon, New Delhi

I made a last-minute decision to visit the Heritage Transport Museum, by now you will have seen the photos. It was a collection made by Mr.Tarun Thakral between 1994 and 2006. It went on public view in 2013. It was the largest private museum in India. It took a couple of hours to get there, 50 minutes to the end of the Yellow metro line. Nothing about the line is yellow except perhaps the yellow footprints pained on the station floor as a guide. The ticket cost Aus 0.90 cents.

This ride was followed by a 47km tuk-tuk ride. I emerged from the Huda City centre metro station to be greeted by a sea of tuk-tuk drivers. The first price quoted was INR2,500. I laughed at that fellow. After some discussions with a group of other drivers, walking away, discussions with others, I settled on INR600. As you read on you may think I should have gone for the higher price as his vehicle may have gone up hills.

In a tuk-tuk the passenger sits behind the driver. My bargain price driver frequently checked the way on my phone using Google maps, shook my hand and smiled all whilst driving down the freeway. On reflection I would have preferred him to face forward rather than smile at me in the back whilst driving.

I did not notice until later that he hugged the left-hand side of the road close to or over the white line where pedestrians walk. There were a few hills along the way and near the top of one the engine stalled. The engine would restart after a few tries but cut-out again when put into gear. It there was such a thing as an India smile-o-meter he would have bent the pointer at the top end.

A fully ladened tuk-tuk with 2 men stopped and after many entreaties and hand waving our knights in dirty overalls pulled up behind us and pushed us up and over the hill. When we were ‘over the top’ the engine started and did not miss a beat from then on.
When we arrived at the museum, we wanted to discuss the return trip. As I speak no Hindi (Some days English is a problem) and he spoke little English we went into the museum and found that the man at the ticket counter spoke both languages.

I asked if the driver would wait until 4pm and then take me back. The clerk on hearing this said that the staff taxi back to the metro left at 4:30 and had a spare seat. Would I like it at no charge? This was an offer that, for me, was too good to refuse. So, sadly my smiling driver had to go. I was not quick thinking enough but, on reflection, I should have given him something, I really wish I had.

The train to Ajmer Tuk-Tuk to Pushkar – Ajmer

My last day in New Delhi required an early start to catch a 6:10am train to Ajmer from where I went on Pushkar.
I had planned to get a taxi at 4:30am and asked at reception if I could pick up a snack breakfast the night before. No problem, they would bring a hot breakfast tray to my room at 4am, it arrived on the dot. How about that?
By buying my seat as soon as booking opened, I had secured a seat facing forward at a table in the middle of the carriage. Train travel is really cheap in India, compared to say, Europe, so I decided to book a top-class seat (Executive Class). The cost was Aus $33 for the 7-hour trip. This included a cup of tea and biscuit plus a cooked breakfast.
The carriage was pretty much full until Jaipur. The young man in the seat adjacent left at Jaipur and when he had gone, I noticed he had left a carrier bag. No one claimed it and one man tentatively looked inside, thank goodness there was no bomb but only chocolate cake. I observed that chocolate cake can kill but not as quickly as a bomb!

Fruit from a stall – Pushkar

I have been looking for fruit to buy and found some bananas and I saw a barrow in the road with good looking tomatoes. I thought I would only buy a few this time as I would pass it every day into on my way into town. I selected 5 and handed them to the stall owner. He put them into a bowl and started adding more, I thought this was an upsell ploy. I said nothing waiting to hear the cost. What I suspected was true as when I returned to the hotel, I found he had sold me 1kg. They turned out to be a much better price that at Coffs Harbour Woolworths as I paid Aus$0.19c a kilo!

A chance encounter – Pushkar

Savitri Temple – Pushkar

I have been looking for fruit to buy and found some bananas and I saw a barrow in the road with good looking tomatoes. I thought I would only buy a few this time as I would pass it every day into on my way into town. I selected 5 and handed them to the stall owner. He put them into a bowl and started adding more, I thought this was an upsell ploy. I said nothing waiting to hear the cost. What I suspected was true as when I returned to the hotel, I found he had sold me 1kg. They turned out to be a much better price that at Coffs Harbour Woolworths as I paid Aus$0.19c a kilo!
If you look at the photos page you will see that I have climbed the Ratnagiri hill to visit the Hindi Savitri Temple to the Goddess Savitri. The temple is situated at an elevation of about 750 ft and a flight of 970 steps. In 35C+ temperatures it was, to say the least, an arduous climb. It was worth it as the views on the way up and from the top were stunning. I did cheat, however, I came down by cable car.

A scam – Pushkar

Scam #1
This involves one or more (usually men) asking if they can take a selfie with the person being scammed.
When this happened to me the first time, I initially said no then relented as I thought I was being rude.
I quickly realised that were after my phone which I held on to tightly in my pocket.
The one standing next to me brushed my pocket and found my hand there. No luck for them.
The second time it happened I said forcefully no, no thrice no and walked off.
One has to be very aware.

Onward to Sawai Madhopur – Sawai Madhopur

Today, after a week in Pushkar I travel on, by train from Ajmar to Sawai Madhopur. The trip is scheduled to take 4:30min but we have just left Jaipur and we are 20 minutes late already.
I am travelling in 3rd class Air-conditioned. This train started in Ajmer and will end in Ernakulam 32 stations and 42:05 mins later being a distance of 2553 kms. The layout of the carriage is 3 pairs of bunks 3 up and 3 down. I opted for a lower bunk as I cannot stand heights.
Tomorrow I hope to meet some tigers in the Ranthambore National park. I will report back.
At Jaipur some workers are dismantling some concrete stairs on the adjacent platform. You will see from the photos that 9 workers are staring at a truck, one man is operating the jackhammer up the stairs and one is with him looking on.
Just now the jackhammer man cut a large piece of concrete and pushed it down on to the platform. It did, of course, shatter in a number of pieces some of which went on to the track.

Jungle View resort – Ranthambore National Park

Is a very nice resort with 18 cabins in a rural setting. Jungle View is stretching the imagination as the jungle is nowhere near here but anyway some license should be granted, I suppose. I had dinner in the restaurant last evening when it opened at 7.30pm. I had the set menu; you can see a photo of the dishes I had on the photo page.
I was the only guest at that time and the waiter, who was very attentive, hovered. That is except when all the staff came into the restaurant at one point. I was introduced to the chef and felt duty bound to take a photo of everyone. See below.
There was a rock wall being constructed at the back of the resort. Throughout the day a middle-aged man and woman have been carrying rocks from front to back, two at a time each in a stainless-steel bowl on their heads. Indians carry all sorts on their heads, suitcases are very popular.
After breakfast I asked to keep the room until 3pm as I had a late train. They said no problem, champion. When I paid, I said I had been given the rate of INR3,000 they said fine and when they asked if I wanted a train to the station, I said the tour operator said he would organise one. I showed the photo of Guddu on What’s app and the reply was, Oh! The owner is organising it!
Oh! Ye! Of little faith.

Tiger Safari – Ranthambore National Park

I booked this safari on the Internet in January via the site Trip Advisor. About 5 minutes after the booking the owner of the tour company, Guddu, phoned me on What’s app. He thanked me for my booking and asked if I had booked a hotel. I had not so he said I should stay at his resort. I kicked into Indian mode and I said how much I wanted to pay INR 3,000 and to my surprise he accepted my offer. It was a half to two thirds the going rate. Although the end of March is low season, being hotter months. I was apprehensive as I wondered if he was genuine. I asked him to get his hotel to confirm the booking as I liked to have a paper record of all my travel bookings. He just said no worries it will all be OK.
On the train I received a message from Guddu asking when I would arrive in Sawai Madhopur, I texted back 14:30. I got a call from him at 12:30 asking if I had met his driver so I said no I had just left Jaipur and we were running 20 mins late. He said he would call his driver. Not a good sign.
Now there is a thing, we were nearing Sawai Madhopur and were 15 minutes early. We picked up 35 minutes somehow. I think the driver knew a shortcut; it is the only thing I can think of.
I might give this event a new name “Anything but Tiger Safari”. Oh, well you will see from the photos I did see a host of other interesting animals. A German couple in our group had been on two yesterday with no luck either. There are 10 zones in the park and we went to number 10. A lady in our group saw 1 yesterday in her safari in zone 6. As the tour guide said many times “Tiger or no Tiger depends upon luck and the sun” In the morning the tigers, all 75 I suppose, get up stroll about then sleep from 9am. Some might not get up at all if they had had a bad night thus reducing the odds of a sighting even more.

If you get the chance – Udaipur

I can recommend that you travel on #20982 Agra to Udaipur train in Executive class. It has to be one of smartest trains in the Indian railways fleet. It beats the regular Aussie train by quite a bit. I had been sat down for around 5 minutes when this snack tray appeared. A bit later I had a non-vegetarian diabetic meal also.

The land of non-existent travel agents. – Udaipur or “How to book a tour” – Udaipur

I want to go to and see the 7th-century Chittorgarh Fort, a vast hilltop complex with the remains of many temples and monuments which is a 2 hour drive each way from Udaipur. I looked on line and the prices quoted are each for 2 people. A single person pays Aus$150. This is an all-day trip (4 hours travel and 3 hours around the fort with an English-speaking guide for the whole day.
I came up with the idea that if I could talk to a local travel agent, I might be able to make up a 3rd person with a booking for 2 already made. (Driver/guide plus 3).
I found 3 travel agents within walking distance of my hotel. Mr Google thought he knew where they all were so I headed off. The first I could not find even though I had an exact address, other people in the laneway did not know it. I was looking for No15, the lady at No3 had never heard of the agent. His phone was switched off.
Number 2 was the same. I went to the exact spot and there was nothing remotely like a travel agent. The phone did ring but no answer. Later in the day the agent did ring back and his call came up as Bit café.
A liberated man (he was hanging out his family’s washing) did not know of the agent but he summoned up his next-door neighbour.
He was, wait for it, a travel agent, not the one I was looking for but an agent none the less. He understood what I wanted and said it is not worth hiring a guide from Udaipur, just look out the car window, he would arrange one to meet me at the fort. All up the cost for the day was Aus$70 – less that half the online cost. I paid a deposit and the rest on my return.

I expected more from an Uber driver. – Udaipur

Today I decided to go to the Shilpgram Craft village and accordingly booked an Uber car to get there. The driver arrived and immediately said that the craft village was closed as it was hot today and that It only opens in winter.
If I liked art and craft, he could show me some places. Now I know that Google is in a make-believe world when it comes to supermarkets and (as you will see later) travel agents. I did believe him (Google has to be a man, he often gets things wrong) about craft villages. A lot of other websites agreed with Mr Google that it was open every day 11pm until 9pm. I just said I would go anyway and see.
Conversation at that point surprisingly stopped. Of course, the village was open albeit with very few guests.
You will see (I hope that you agree) that there were some interesting sights.

Chittorgarh Fort – Udaipur

Chittorgarh Fort is about 115kms from Udaipur and a journey of 2 hours mostly along a freeway
You will, I hope, agree when you see the photos that the fort was really beautiful and given it was built in the 7th century AD the craftsmanship superb.
I chose to sit in the front seat as it had a seat-belt something that the back seats did not possess.
I chose to read newspapers on my phone as the driver appeared to be trying to beat a land speed record. It was scary, we braked suddenly to avoid an accident at least 8 times in the journey both ways.
I now understand why The people of India need so many Gods to worship, just on the road you need all the help you can get.

Fruit Heaven – Udaipur

If you have been following my jottings carefully you will have observed that I have been lamenting the lack of a proper fruit shop in Northern India. Well, as the title suggests I have found Fruit Heaven. You will see from the photos below that I have found my way Mahila Mandel Sabjee Market.

A half day tour by chance – Udaipur

I was out for a walk to visit the Ambrai Ghat (a lakeside bathing place) via a Jain temple. As on a normal day every few minutes I was hailed by a Tuk-Tuk driver who knew where to go for a very cheap price. Remember in a previous episode I did not buy an Indian style shirt so I look “non-Indian”. I still maintain that even with an Indian shirt the white/pink skin and wide-brim sun hat I would still struggle to pass muster. Anyway, I digress…
I was asked by a Tuk-Tuk driver if I wanted a 3-hour tour of the Real India. This meant a wholesale fruit and vegetable market and a Royal burial ground. I agreed, what was a motivating factor for me was that I understood every word he said. His English was very good. We struck a deal of Aus$19.

Since writing the above I have taken the half day tour, you can see the photos of the market on the photo page. It was so very interesting; many people wanted their photos taken and happily posed for me. We had a drink of Chi at a friend of Guddu’s vegetable stall. I did not realise that although Chi looks like a brown tea drink, and may contain black tea but it is a mixture of Marsala (14 spices ground together), ginger and a few other ingredients. It is, apparently, a very healthy and certainly a very enjoyable drink. Guddu bought some fruit and veg and I invested in 1 kg of tomatoes at Aus 0.38c.

I extended the trip and we saw a couple of temples out of town. A great morning’s adventure.

Some musings – To Kumbhalgarh

I have just seen 3 public buses go past in the opposite direction with the inside full to capacity and the roof full of passengers also. I should check with the bus company and see if it is cheaper to ride on top, also, does the conductor go on top to collect the fares. Travelling on top you would have to be alert to low bridges.
An aside
In building construction while metal is certainly used for scaffold timer poles are common too.
Petrol station
Petrol pump attendants are alive and well in India. Petrol dispensing appears to require a lot arm waving, talking and pointing. The good thing is that petrol is sold and put into the tanks of cars.

An Oversight – Udaipur

In the supermarket I thought I was buying a packet of rice and marsala, anyway, that was what the picture on the packet conveyed to me and the instructions talked about how to boil rice and add the spice. In reality the packet contained marsala spice mix and the rice was nowhere to be seen.
I got creative and have started having Marsala porridge for breakfast, very Indian, very tasty.

Heritage Transport Museum – Gurgaon, New Delhi

New Heading

I asked if the driver would wait until 4pm and then take me back.

Sub heading

The clerk The clerk on hearing this said that the staff taxi back to the metro left at 4:30 and had a spare seat. Would I like it at

• Item one
• Item two
• Item three

• Item one
• Item two
• Item three

no charge?

Header 1	Header 2	Header 3
Row 2, Col 1	Row 2, Col 2	Row 2, Col 3
Row 3, Col 1	Row 3, Col 2	Row 3, Col 3

This was an offer that, for me, was too good to refuse. So, sadly my smiling driver had to go. I was not quick thinking enough but, on reflection, I should have given him something, I really wish I had.