Lunch with Grandpa

Melanie and I met with my grandfather for lunch again, this time at a restaurant in Ximen.

The restaurant was down in the basement of a department store, down in the B1 food court. It was very delicious and affordable - mainly serving Beiping-style (Northern Chinese) cuisine. This includes great stuff like Dao Xiao Mien (knife-cut noodles) in a delicious beef broth, Xiao Long Bao (steamed dumplings), etc.

It was great to see my grandfather again. It had been a few months since we last had a chance to get together - mainly because we live on opposite sides of Taipei, and neither of us actually drives here. We did not have a chance to spend a whole lot of time together because he was a little tired due to the trek from where he lives over to Ximen, but it was still fun to get to hang out and chat for a while.

Beer Dispensing Machine

This is a little gem that I just wanted to share with everybody - the Incredible Beer Dispensing Machine!

The first time I saw this was during a layover en route to Asia. The United Red Carpet Club in the Tokyo-Narita airport had a few of these sitting next to the soft drink and coffee dispensers. At first, I wasn't sure about exactly what it was I was looking at. I stood there and stared at this machine for a good 30 seconds before a fellow traveller walked up next to me, pulled a frozen glass out of the freezer next to the machine, loaded it up and pushed the beer button.

At this point, I heard the heavenly chorus, cherubs descended sprinkling laurels and rose petals, and a bright spotlight came on from up above. I had just witnessed my first automatic beer machine!!!

The way it works is simple:

1. Place the chilled glass onto the small stand
2. Press the button with the beer icon
3. The machine tilts the stand at a 30 degree angle and starts to pour in the beer
4. When it is 4/5 full, the machine then tilts the stand back to the starting position and pours in ~1.5 inches of head
5. Remove the beer from the stand
6. Enjoy a perfectly poured frosty Japanese beer

There really isn't any better way to pass the time in an airport...

I love this shirt

Not much to say here except to reiterate how much I enjoy wearing this t-shirt, and that this picture was taken on the grounds of Humayun's Tomb.

India - Udaipur's City Palace, Spice Market and Train Ride

Today is our last day in Udaipur – real pity.

We managed to crawl out of bed in time to watch the sun rise over the lake at 6:45am, and it was nearly as beautiful as the sunset we had seen the previous evening.

We then went for breakfast at one of the smaller local hotels, and decided to try some of the Indian omelets that we’ve seen so many people raving about online. I’m not sure if it was this hotel’s take on them, or if people just have really low standards for omelets, but I have to say that it was rather boring and unimpressive...not bad, just not particularly good.

The restaurant was on the rooftop of a hotel up on a hill, so we did manage to enjoy a very nice view of the city and the lakes, which certainly enhanced the meal. We even managed to catch sight of a woman making chapati on her terrace. There were even a few kids dancing to the radio a couple rooftops away - very cute.

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After that, Doulet took us to the City Palace complex, where we wandered around for about 2.5 hours. I have to be honest here and confess that it was not terribly impressive. In particular, given all that I had heard about the decadence and splendor of the Rajput kings, I had really expected to see…more... The primary points of interest are found within the palace complex, which has been progressively built upon over the years by various generations of Maharanas.

After Independence in 1947 (see also Midnight's Children), the former aristocracy found that they no longer had the cash flow to maintain their lavish palaces. While many royals decided to sell off some of their holdings and move into middle class Rajasthan life, many others cleverly decided to convert parts of their palaces into more lucrative assets. One can now find many of these converted into museums and “Palace” or “Heritage” Hotels, and perhaps even have an audience with the local Maharaja (or Maharana in Udaipur). While they have literally sold out, it makes sense since all they were able to keep from back when they were kings were their palaces – might as well make some money and promote your family’s greatness.

Incidentally, nearly all of the art depicted scenes from the Udaipur royal family’s history…some bloody, the rest mainly boring. We did see more monkeys, which were probably among the high points of the tour. There were some pretty interesting rooms, courtyards, and even what appeared to be the precursor to the modern discothèque. Still, we ended up moving through this fairly quickly due to a general lack of interesting things at which to look.

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From there, we went and had Thali for lunch. This was a great all veg style of meal where it’s basically all-you-can-eat, except there are only a few things to eat, and practically no choices aside from the 7-8 things that they bring to the table. The good news is that pretty much all of the food they bring is tasty. This was quite a bit of fun, and we quickly stuffed ourselves on the things they brought over. Great experience. Great food. Super-cheap. We’ll probably be doing this again if we run across Thali elsewhere.

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Doulet then brought us over to a tribal art cooperative on the outskirts of Udaipur. There we found a bunch of neat stuff – wacky rugs, wall hangings, shawls, bed covers, etc. While there, we bought many, many things, and in all honesty, we will probably end up keeping about ¼ of it. Not proud, but that’s just the way it is.

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Soon after, we went over to the spice market, which is as far as we could tell frequented only by locals. This place was amazing, with all sorts of sights and sounds and colors and smells - oh the smells. Everything was colorful, and we marveled over the bowls with the spices stacked high and proud. While here, we bought some crazy cool canvas shopping bags which had various India-specific scenes (a seated Ganesha, Krishna looking like a rock star, ‘om’, etc.).

Doulet then took us to the place where he preferred to get his real local "masala chai", which was right in the middle of the market area. There was also a significantly sized fruit and vegetable market where local farmers plied their wares to local citizens. Not as convenient as a supermarket, but the food is fresher, and the farmers get a bigger cut. We saw all sorts of vegetables that looked related to those that we've seen elsewhere, but they were all somehow different in their own way.

We also managed to pick up about 1.5 pounds of Indian tea, as well as the masala (spices) that magically transform it into Chai. We drank some local chai, which is as delicious as it is sketchy. We could not help but notice the (sadly consistent) presence of blotches and stains on the cloth that he used to filter the chai, but we figured we have already had all of our shots and what happens, happens.

When we strolled back to the auto rickshaw, we also bought some very potent cardamom pods, that will serve as a vital link between future memories and present experiences. We truly had a rewarding experience overall just seeing how Udaipur residents live and interact.

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Afterward, Doulet took us to see the sunset over yet another lake. Again, it was spectacular.

From there, we went and bought a cheap suitcase in which to place all of our local purchases, and then headed over to a cheaper art school where this time we actually bought a few items – again, souvenirs as well as gifts.

At that point, it was getting close to departure time, so Doulet dropped us off at the hotel so that we could wrap up our packing. When we finished packing, a young German couple (students from Dresden named Klementine and Bernd) showed looking for a room (cheap) for the night… we chatted with then for a while before or took off. Since they had another couple days in Udaipur, we introduced them to Doulet. We then took some time to write in Doulet’s recommendations book. What we missed was his request that we fill in his book as we packed and then leave whatever payment we consider as fair for the previous 3 days worth of pickups, drop-offs, advice, conversation, and general super-guide activities.

From there, we headed to the train station with our entire newly enhanced luggage in a rickshaw (good times). Doulet made sure we were set up and then started to leave. I stopped him stating that we had not paid yet, and that was when he explained his request for us to pay via the book. This made it a wee bit awkward, but we then got it and had to hand him some cash. Sigh…

We plan to keep in touch with him (doulatkalra@rediffmail.com). Really, he was a really good guide, and we will definitely recommend him to any friends we have visiting Udaipur and looking for a guide.

We then got onto our train (2A class sleeper) and knuckled down for our ~10 hour train ride over to Jaipur. Since we did not feel comfortable with both of us sleeping at the same time, Melanie slept first, which has left me some time to read a little and then spend a few hours updating this somewhat. Given that this whole journal is becoming increasingly less interesting to even me, I think it’s time to wrap up for the night and wake Melanie up for her turn to stay up and listen to the symphony of apnea and flatulence that has been going on all night long. I’m glad I have my allergies to sustain me, but I confess to feeling particularly bad for the rest of family in the larger Dutch sleeper oven across the aisle.

India - Udaipur’s Royal Cenotaphs and Boat Ride

We woke up fairly early and tried to get in touch with travel desk person to see about changing our tickets to delay our departure from Udaipur, but it just seemed as though it would be too much of a hassle to change everything downstream (i.e. train tickets, hotels, flights, etc.). We did still try since Udaipur was turning out so much better than we had initially anticipate, but it was not looking very good...so, we went downstairs at 9am to meet with Doulet, who took us for breakfast at Café Edelweiss.

Quick Digression:
Along the way, Doulet told us that one of Udaipur's claims to fame is that it was the setting for a significant portion of the James Bond movie, Octopussy. It was the eponymous Bond girl's island in the movie. Many enterprising hotel owners and merchants around town show the movie a few times a day on little movie screens or large TVs to tourists curious about exactly where it turns up. Melanie and I ended up passing on the movie, but got a kick out of the whole situation.

Café Edelweiss is a German bakery that was highly recommended in most our guidebooks (they're even top of the list of the Udaipur travel guide on Wikipedia). While my personal preference would have been for a traditional India breakfast, I didn't want to be high maintanence, so we just ended up dining there. If you do ever find yourself in Udaipur at this particular restuarant, my advice is that you don't get the marble cake (which was dry and flavorless) and instead get the cashew nut crumb cake - very unique and quite delicious.

We also got a kick out of the fact that all of the patrons of the tiny restaurant were tourists, and between the two of us, Melanie and I could understand every conversation going on around us. There was a Swiss family, an Austrian couple, a French family, a Chinese couple from Taiwan, and also some English travelers. Oddly enough, there was only one American there.

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After breakfast, we went to visit the cenotaphs (memorial sites) for all of the Udaipur Maharanas (other former kingdoms had Maharajas, but Udaipur was different). Doulet gave us a very good explanation of many things, including Satis, city naming conventions, different aspects of Udaipur and Hindi, etc.


We spent quite a bit of time walking around the various cenotaphs. Doulet had quite a bit of information on whom the various structures were constructed for (all of them were Maharanas - some were greater than others). Size usually gave a good indication of what the sons (who were responsible for building and paying for the cenotaphs) thought of their fathers.

Going back to the Satis, we also came across various tombs for the mothers of kings. These were special because they usually represented the now outlawed practice of the Sati ritual, which basically involves the wife (or wives - all of them) setting themselves on fire at their husband's funeral pyre. Apparently life as a widow was a very terrible one that involves being ostracized by general society and waiting for death. Going the Sati route at least offered promise of a beautiful rebirth.

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From there, we visited a small Jain temple just across the street. For those that don't remember, Jainism is a very old religion that stresses non-violence to all creatures, and spends all of its money building beautiful temples for worship. It was still being added to even though various parts of the structure already appeared quite old. Many statue/temple fragments (mainly statues) from what appeared to be other ruins were mounted in the outer wall surrounding the Jain temple complex. I must confess that I was a little taken aback when I saw our volunteer tour guide within the premises (who had terrible English skills and wanted to practice with us) swat down a spider (!!!???!!!). The good news is that the spider was still alive after it hit the temple floor. I asked a few minutes later i he was Jain, and he said that he was, so I guess he must be a special sort of Jain.

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Afterward, we proceeded to a store that sold Kashmiri shawls, carpets, and other assorted handicrafts. This place had quite a bit of very interesting merchandise…over the course of the time that we spent there, we purchased gifts for my grandmother, grandfather, mother, father and Xiao Ma – Melanie got some nice things for her family as well as herself. We also picked up a nice enamel frame, some cool papier-mâché boxes, and a nice box to store our wedding notes from our guests. After spending 3 hours there, I also made a friend of Ram (our salesperson), who ended up hugging me as we were leaving. I assume this is normal, and that I am not now somehow married to an Udaipuri.

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After shopping, we went over to the City Palace to buy our tickets for the boat tour at 5pm. It was only 4pm, so we figured we had enough time to grab a quick late-lunch/early-dinner at a local restaurant called “Honey Dew.” This was a purely “veg” meal and was rather good, but a little on the slow side. Because of this, we ended up being several minutes late (we had mistakenly thought we could catch the 5:30pm boat) and missing our boat altogether.

Fortunately, there were still some boats running, albeit only for tour groups with prior arrangements. After looking sad (which we really were), acting pathetic and asking for help from the attendant, he took pity upon us and approached a tour group about letting us take a couple seats on their chartered boat. There was a very nice French-Canadian guide taking his tour group from Quebec all around India, and he cheerfully welcomed us to join his tour (but only for the boat tour).

It was thus that we had a very nice boat tour of Lake Pichola (the main lake of the seven in Udaipur). It was very peaceful, and we saw one of the most spectacular sunsets I have witnessed in years. Just the way that the sun turned both the clouds and lake surface into an impressionist tableau in that mysterious time between when the shadows all disappear and when the darkness comes.



For what it is worth, I know I'm not terribly poetic, but it really was a singularly amazing experience.

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We also saw a ton of monkeys just after we stepped off the boat– nothing terribly earth shaking, but still pretty darn cool. We couldn't take very good pictures of them since it was already a little too dark, but these pictures show the best that we were able to manage.

The monkey is the one on the left (I'm totally gonna get it now)

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After that, we went to an art school to look at their “miniature painting” – apparently a specialty of Udaipur. They had some amazing works, although we eventually decided against buying anything due to the high prices. We ended up regretting this later, but that is a story for another day.

The good news was that we did get our luggage back from Jet Airways at the end of the night – nice work, Ashish!