The (non present) Eye of the tiger
After two hours on train we arrived at Sawai Madhoupur at 7:30 in the evening, and was promptly picked up by a jeep driver holding a sign with the name "Mr Sothie". We figured that was our ride :) Generally at the National Park and the hotel where we stayed there seemed to be a general confusion regardning this, as one of the safaris had us listed as Mr Sopin. Also, Joakim was the only person they ever adressed while speaking. Joakim even got a big happy new year hug just before we left the hotel and the national park this morning.
The hotel we stayed at, Ranthambore Forest Resort, was by far the most expensive hotel of the trip, but it can hardly be said to be the best. Only the hotel in Delhi was worse. And the service was absolutely dismal, except that we had one guy following us around and helping us pick up the buffet food and offering us cookies and chai. A bit strange.
Also on the strange was Joakim having a discussion with an indian man, who just spontaneously sat down and started talking, with his wife eagerly filming the entire event. Yes, yes, we felt like monkeys at a zoo, but we were at a national park, and it is always nice to be of amusement.
Long before we left, when the trip was booked, we booked the stay at the hotel along with two jeep safaris. Upon not receiving the voucher for the Jeep safaris, Sopin e-mailed the company (Tour My India) and asked for the voucher. This kept on going for several months, up until two weeks before the trip when we were told that the voucher would be "given us on time". Well, upon arriving at the hotel, still no voucher. And after much work we managed to convince the "helpful" hotel staff to call the local agent and find out. (mostly the staff just wanted us to do everything later, probably so that they would go off their shift and have someone else do it). Generally though, the staffs at all the previous hotels have been extremely helpful.
Anyway, we got our jeep safari early in the morning, and spent that morning driving around after tiger tracks and alarm calls by monkeys. It was kind of fun, but we are still not sure if the tiger tracks werent put out there on purpose (we saw an indian "tracker" carrying a inverted clay tiger footprint for instance). So no tiger, but some antilopes and gazelles and spotted deers.
For the afternoon we were supposed to have a jeep safari as well, but Tour My India apparently fucked that up, so we got a open bus safari (20 seater) instead, which was nice but not what we payed for. During that trip we got to another part of the park (location 3, which supposedly is the best one) and saw some crocs, more antilopes, deer and such, but again no tiger. Still, this part of the park was a lot more open, with two lakes, you got close to the animals, got to see the Ranthambore fort, so it was a good trip after all.
Also part of the the package we booked was some sort of new years eve gala dinner (which turned out to be a regular buffet dinner), and some sort of entertainment (which turned out to be a genuine blinking 70s dancefloor, playing indian disco from the 70s) :) We did not attend.
New years day we got up just before 4 in the morning in order to catch the train from Sawai Madhopour to Agra (where we are now). At the station we were stared at for 1 hour straight until the train arrived, and the staring continued in the coach we had. Not as bad as China though.
On the ride in to Agra, like 3 minutes before we stopped in central Agra, we passed the site where people (50 or more) just sat and pooped in the open, on an open field, next to the train track. It was... interesting...
We were a bit worried that we hadnt arranged a pick up, but it turned out ok. The hotel we are staying at is an ok place, with a wonderful roof top view of the Taj Mahal. That alone is worth the money for it (which was really cheap actually)
So tomorrow it's Taj Mahal at sunrise, and then get on the night train to Varanasi in the evening. It leaves from a different city, so we have to take a taxi there in order to catch it.
Happy new year to everyone!
The hotel we stayed at, Ranthambore Forest Resort, was by far the most expensive hotel of the trip, but it can hardly be said to be the best. Only the hotel in Delhi was worse. And the service was absolutely dismal, except that we had one guy following us around and helping us pick up the buffet food and offering us cookies and chai. A bit strange.
Also on the strange was Joakim having a discussion with an indian man, who just spontaneously sat down and started talking, with his wife eagerly filming the entire event. Yes, yes, we felt like monkeys at a zoo, but we were at a national park, and it is always nice to be of amusement.
Long before we left, when the trip was booked, we booked the stay at the hotel along with two jeep safaris. Upon not receiving the voucher for the Jeep safaris, Sopin e-mailed the company (Tour My India) and asked for the voucher. This kept on going for several months, up until two weeks before the trip when we were told that the voucher would be "given us on time". Well, upon arriving at the hotel, still no voucher. And after much work we managed to convince the "helpful" hotel staff to call the local agent and find out. (mostly the staff just wanted us to do everything later, probably so that they would go off their shift and have someone else do it). Generally though, the staffs at all the previous hotels have been extremely helpful.
Anyway, we got our jeep safari early in the morning, and spent that morning driving around after tiger tracks and alarm calls by monkeys. It was kind of fun, but we are still not sure if the tiger tracks werent put out there on purpose (we saw an indian "tracker" carrying a inverted clay tiger footprint for instance). So no tiger, but some antilopes and gazelles and spotted deers.
For the afternoon we were supposed to have a jeep safari as well, but Tour My India apparently fucked that up, so we got a open bus safari (20 seater) instead, which was nice but not what we payed for. During that trip we got to another part of the park (location 3, which supposedly is the best one) and saw some crocs, more antilopes, deer and such, but again no tiger. Still, this part of the park was a lot more open, with two lakes, you got close to the animals, got to see the Ranthambore fort, so it was a good trip after all.
Also part of the the package we booked was some sort of new years eve gala dinner (which turned out to be a regular buffet dinner), and some sort of entertainment (which turned out to be a genuine blinking 70s dancefloor, playing indian disco from the 70s) :) We did not attend.
New years day we got up just before 4 in the morning in order to catch the train from Sawai Madhopour to Agra (where we are now). At the station we were stared at for 1 hour straight until the train arrived, and the staring continued in the coach we had. Not as bad as China though.
On the ride in to Agra, like 3 minutes before we stopped in central Agra, we passed the site where people (50 or more) just sat and pooped in the open, on an open field, next to the train track. It was... interesting...
We were a bit worried that we hadnt arranged a pick up, but it turned out ok. The hotel we are staying at is an ok place, with a wonderful roof top view of the Taj Mahal. That alone is worth the money for it (which was really cheap actually)
So tomorrow it's Taj Mahal at sunrise, and then get on the night train to Varanasi in the evening. It leaves from a different city, so we have to take a taxi there in order to catch it.
Happy new year to everyone!
Labels: India
posted by Joakim at 3:49 AM
1 Comments:
GOTT NYTT ÅR !
Kram
Barbro och Ulf
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