Ahhhhh-stralia!! Part One

Here they come... like always: The Holidays. Where to go for 2012? We always go somewhere for the holidays in December...it's not that we don't like Hyderabad...it's just that the holidays are the one time in the year that we really miss being at home in the U.S.  Your mileage may vary, but... we have found that it's not easy being away from family and friends at Christmas-time. When we're at home, we have a great system where we trade-off years with Amy's sisters and their families up in Northern California...one year they come down to Pasadena...the other years we go up to see them.  Our last Christmas together was up in San Francisco in December of 2009, when we had first brought up the idea to the family about moving to India. Since we've been in Hyderabad, we like to pick a place to go and spend Christmas and New Years in a special place. Last year we did our African Safari. This year:  Australia!

We flew through Kuala Lumpur on Malaysian Airlines...and on to Melbourne the week before Christmas.  Once again, all of our arrangements were made through Fugazi Travel in San Francisco... we scheduled 14-days to see just a small part of a huge country...it's hard to narrow down an entire continent to a two-week vacation...what will we see? What will we leave out? Once again, our travel expert Eve Wertsch got us all squared-away with a tight but wonderful itinerary ...

The trip did not actually start well when we landed in Melbourne.  For some reason we missed our connection with our driver at the airport...(we ended up taking a taxi) ... and when we got to the hotel, there was no record of us having a reservation... As it turned out...there were two slightly different itineraries and we only had one of them! Things got straightened out and that was really the last of our problems! We ended up at a great hotel...the Crown Promenade - which was actually connected to the Casino and the hotel where we had our original reservations!!

Melbourne is a cool city.  Not temperature wise...it got pretty warm...but it seems like it might be a pretty neat place to live... artsy, sports-crazed, lots of nice restaurants. Our tour-guide took us all over on day-one... shopping, the Melbourne Cricket Grounds (a cathedral of sorts for the cricket-fans of the world!)... and we got our steak on at the local Meat and Wine Company - - we had a lot of good meat in Australia - but that first steak in Melbourne ended up being the best one of the entire vacation!!

The only bummer about our Melbourne stay was that we missed connecting with our friends Hasan and Sudha... a couple from Melbourne who we actually met during our Africa tour the year before.  Just bad timing... We hope that we get to see them here in India this year!

We were only in Melbourne for two days....we left for Adelaide and on to Kangaroo Island too soon to see all of the city... but what time we did spend there was memorable...

Here are our photos from our all-too-brief stay in Melbourne:

Mel-bun - Day One

Mel-bun - Part Two

On to Udaipur (November 2012)

On the 24th of November, the Saturday of the U.S. Thanksgiving weekend, we traveled.  Due to us not wanting a huge layover at the New Delhi airport, we flew from Varanasi to Mumbai (seemingly out of the way, but the time saved was definitely worth it!) and then caught another flight to Udaipur.  Udaipur was never on my list of "must-see" places in India.  The "City of Lakes" came recommended to us by other Deloitte people who had traveled there recently and simply said "You've got to go!" 

Udaipur is the historic capital of the kingdom of Mewar in Rajasthan.  We had been to Jaipur twice now, so - we were a little concerned that it might not be much different from that part of the country. How wrong we were! Apart from its history, culture, and scenic locations, it is also known for its Rajput-era palaces. The Lake Palace, for instance, covers an entire island in the Pichola Lake. Many of the palaces have been converted into luxury hotels. It is often called the "Venice of the East", and is also nicknamed the "Lake City". Lake Pichola, Fateh Sagar Lake, Udai Sagar and Swaroop Sagar in this city are considered some of the most beautiful lakes in the state.

Due to a recommendation from a friend, we stayed at the Lake Palace Hotel by Taj.  It is indeed the same Lake Palace that was once the summer palace of a king! It was built in 1743-1746 under the direction of the Maharana Jagat Singh II (who, it was believed by those people back in the day, was descendant directly from the sun...he was the 62nd successor to the royal dynasty of Mewar) of Udaipur, Rajasthan as a royal summer palace and was initially called Jagniwas or Jan Niwas after its founder. See photo, above, with Amy and the king's depiction of the sun. Very cool!

Now...a bit of editorializing.  We have been so blessed during our time in India...we have traveled to places we would have never seen if we had remained in Los Angeles. Our trips have taken us all over India, to Egypt and Jordan, to a safari in Africa, to Southeast Asia, to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur... to the Maldive Islands...and now, Australia (stay tuned for soon-to-be-published blog on that incredible trip.) We've gotten to stay at some wonderful and historic hotels...and of every-possible "star rating" you can imagine. I've actually been to some places that were a little scary!

Amy might disagree, giving the "nod" to the Four Seasons Resort in the Maldives... but for me... i have never been more impressed with a hotel both in luxury and service than I was at the Taj Lake Palace Hotel. Words fail me to describe just how incredible this place is! It's a beautiful white palace. On an island. In the middle of a beautiful lake. And you get to and from the hotel on a boat! What's not to love!!

Our time in Udaipur was spent sightseeing. Lots and lots of sightseeing....and stair climbing!! Our first tour was of the City Palace, on the bank of the same Lake Pichola. The palace is humongous !! Not only is it filled with treasures, but they have a museum of incredible crystal from the collection of the kings. We took a sunset cruise on the lake to yet another palace (the so-called "party-palace" where a wedding had been scheduled the first night we arrived - I can't imagine what that cost!)

The next day was more sightseeing - made ever-so-much-more interesting by our guide who we affectionately called "Dr. Talks-a-Lot"....this day it was two beautiful temples...one perfectly preserved temple at Nagda (Dedicated to Lord Vishnu...but had carved idols of the Hindu Trinity). We also visited a very active (and jam-packed!) temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. We got lots of stares.  We had an incredible lunch at the Devigarth Palace .... where the food was grand, the beer was perfect...and I think we were the only luncheon guests!!

At night we did something special...we met with the family of a local teacher and housewife for some local-market vegetable shopping...and then off to her home for a spectacular meal that was really a cooking-lesson, a'la Master Chef! It was really special to break out of the "restaurant" mode and eat with a real Indian family. Kid of scary at first...but our hosts could not have been more gracious!

The final day, Amy laid-low at the Lake Palace because there was one more temple I needed to see...and - as it sometimes happens...she was just plain "templed out"!  It was a beautiful whitish temple tower in the northern Indian style...and it seems that you could see this temple from just about anywhere in the city. From the City Palace (see photos) - from our hotel room, just all over! I had our guide take me over to see it. It was dedicated to the Lord of All - Sri Jagdish - also called "Jaganatha" - another incarnation of Vishnu/Lord Krishna.  We got to the foot of the temple and...low and behold...even more steps! I should have brought mountain-climbing gear! But it was stunning, very active with chanting and bhajan singing to Sri Krishna... I wish I could have just plopped-down and stayed there all day. It was mesmerizing... 

But alas, out trip was nearing the end...that very afternoon we caught a flight back to Delhi and then on back "At Home in Hyderabad" from there.

There are lots and lots of photos from our time in Udaipur....there were just so many beautiful things to take pictures of!! Here - below - are our many photo-albums from this part of our journey on Facebook:

Arrival in Udaipur

Udaipur - Day One

Udaipur - The City Palace

More of the City Palace in Udaipur...

Last of the City Palace - Udaipur

Local Public Park in Udaipur

Back to the Taj Lake Palace Hotel

Lake Pichola Cruise in Udaipur...

The King's Party Island....

Old Vishnu Temple

Lunch on the road...and back to the hotel...

Amy Feeds the Monkeys

Vegetable shopping with Menakshi Singh

Home Cooking with the Singh Family

Sri Jagdish Temple

Last Hours in Udaipur

November Trip to Varanasi (Benares)

How do you describe Varanasi? I recently told an Indian friend of mine that it's like "the rest of India is a Cafe Latte...and Varanasi is like espresso".  It's concentrated. "India on steroids".  One-hundred-and-fifteen years ago, Mark Twain perhaps said it the best: "Benaras is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend and looks twice as old as all of them put together". (1897)

It is a city that I have wanted to visit for many, many years.  It probably was not that high on Amy's list...but I had been telling her since we arrived in India that I was not going to leave this place until I had seen Varanasi. We had some time over the Thanksgiving (U.S.) holiday...so we booked a trip with Eve at Fugazi Travel once again.  Thank you, Eve! It would be a three-stage trip.  Amy had to be in New Delhi for Deloitte recruiting duties (this was Part One - we left on Sunday, she needed to conduct interviews Monday and Tuesday.  Part Two would fly us from Delhi to Varanasi for three days of seeing the sights. Then, in order to avoid a full day sitting in the Delhi airport, we would fly to Mumbai and then up to Rajasthan to see the palace city of Udaipur for Part Three.

We headed for Delhi (actually Gurgaon) and the Leela Palace there so ASB could do her every-so-often recruiting thing. Deloitte has a new office in Gurgaon.  The hotel is always nice and it's adjacent to a huge mall - and the mall has a micro-brewery/restaurant inside...and a Chili's, too! She was all finished by Tuesday evening... so we got a good night's sleep and headed out on Jet Konnect 9W 2423 direct and non-stop to Varanasi.

Our first hotel choice, the Taj Palace, was sold-out because this was truly the "high-season" for Varanasi.  We ended up staying at the Radisson Hotel in town and it was just fine for our needs. Our very-good guide - provided by Abercrombie and Kent through Fugazi Travel... took us that same evening to the main ghats down on the Ganges River where we participated in our very own special private aarti at the riverside.  Then we had great seats on a rooftop where we could see everything... Amy went for a wee walkabout and I think she scared our guide a little... But all was well....

The next morning we got up at the crack of dawn and visited the Daswamedh Ghat and watched the sunrise over the Ganga (Ganges) from our own private boat....and watched the locals and the pilgrims take their ritual baths.  Another great touch...we had a masseur on board that gave us both intense foot-massages for about $1.00 each.  Yeah...that was a bargain at 10-times the price!  We saw a body arrive for funeral preparation as we exited the boat at the final ghat... Amy said that whe had never seen a dead body before...so - some local kid took her down to get a closer look.  The steps were steep and slippery so I just stayed above and watched...

Walking the old narrow streets and alleyways of Varanasi is where you really understand how old the place is....and that Mark Twain was right all those many years ago. The place is ancient!  There's a huge security problem in part of the old city...the Kashi Vishwanath Temple is there...one of the most holy, if not THE most holy place dedicated to the Lord Shiva.  What makes it a security risk is that - right next-door to the temple...literally sharing the same "lot" - is the Gyanvapi Mosque or Alamgiri Mosque. Evidently, unless you are Hindu or Muslim...you are not going to see these two famous places up close and personal... we got pat-down searched and went through a metal-detector...and all we got was a peek while standing on the top step of somebody's porch. A little disappointing, but I have seen the inside of the Shiva Temple on the television...and it's really crowded inside.

Later in the day, we went to an amazing place just outside of town called Sarnath.  Sarnath is the deer park where Gautama Buddha preached his first sermon...a very holy place indeed.  

The next day we had breakfast and headed out to the 18th Century Durga Temple...drove through the Banares Hindu University and went to the Bharat Mata Temple - which pays homage to Mother India.  It was this day that Amy showed her St. Francis side, feeding dogs and elephants and monkeys at every stop.

As usual...we needed to find a luggage store to buy an extra suitcase for taking along all our treasures...and for keeping our check-in bags below the 20-Kg. per bag limit.  Not an easy task...but we commandeered a local auto-rickshaw and got the job done!

Next: On to Beautiful Udaipur in Rajasthan!  

Please see our Facebook Photo Albums of our amazing time in the holy city of Varanasi: 

Benares (Varanasi) Day One 

Sarnath - Near Varanasi

Weavers of silk brocade (Varanasi)

Amy Suzanne to the Rescue - Durga Temple

Elephants and Monkeys and Snakes - Oh, my!

Out and about - Last Day in Benares