Brilliant timing makes Bangkok a delightful place to Recover!

Instead of staying in India to go to the Pushkar Camel Fair, Kim and I cut our losses and left India. Good thing too as the situation there has gotten less than desirable over the last while. We departed on the 10th rather than waiting until the tour was over on the 13th or staying in India on our own longer. I booked Pat and Jessica a room at the Royal Orchid Sheraton in Bangkok and then did the same for Kim and I.

This is an absolutely delightful luxury hotel with all the trimmings and amazing customer service. It is located right on the Chao Praya River and every room has a gorgeous view. The plush beds and 2 pools were delicious as well as the food and ambiance. It was just the sort of pampering for a couple of nights that we all needed to get over the bad feelings from our trip through India.

Upon arrival the girls took a nap and Kim and I took the water bus over to the Vieng Tai Hotel in the Khao San Rd area to retrieve our left luggage. It was there and intact so we were pleased. This meant not only that I had some clean clothes again but also that Kim would have his old laptop to be able to work from.

When we got back we ended up swimming and falling asleep by the pool for a few hours to make up for the red-eye flight from Delhi that night. The four of us got together for dinner and I can't remember now but there were definitely some foot massages in there somewhere.

If I haven't talked about them let me just say that getting Thai foot reflexology is one of the best things about being here. For an hour session they wash your feet, apply mentholated rub, massage and use a stick or knuckle to work the acupressure points. It is so relaxing and most of the time for the last few minutes they have you sit up and they rub your shoulders and neck to finish.

Our second day in Bangkok with Jessica and Pat we spent going around the Khao San Rd area looking at jewelery for Pat and then while Jessica got pampered by getting massages and foot rubs the three of us went on a longboat ride through the narrow canal passages in Bangkok. It was a part of the city I had never seen before and it was both interesting and beautiful.
Later that evening before the four of us went to dinner we sat in the lobby and watched a parade of beauty contestants from all over Thailand and a small dance/music performance. It turns out that this night was the Loy Krathong Festival and there would be big celebrations, floating and flying lights and fireworks everywhere in Thailand. We took Jessica and Pat to one of our favorite restaurants(Kim and I try and go there every trip to Bangkok) it is called Tongue Thai and it was even better this time than I remembered. At the end of our meal they presented us with the flower/candle arrangements that are meant to be good luck offerings. On our way back to the Sheraton we stopped at the pier and lit and launched ours into the river.
We then sat in Pat and Jessica's room in front of the huge picture window and watched the amazing fireworks display over the river. I have to say I haven't always been impressed by fireworks displays but this was by far the longest, most elaborate and largest I have ever witnessed.

We had such a great time with the two of them, we were sorry to see them off the next day as they headed to Hong Kong for a brief layover on their way home to Sacramento.

Kim and I checked out of the Sheraton and into the Win Long Place just a few blocks in from the river and a fraction of the cost as well. Two nights there and some laundry and catching up on rest and we decided to head for Chiang Mai.
On the last night before we left, Kim and I put on our fancy clothes and walked over to the Shangri La Hotel. I had found out online that they had a live jazz band. Turned out we were the only ones in the whole bar. So, when they played a suitable song we got up and danced. The bartender gals enjoyed it and the band was delighted and asked us what we wanted to hear. So we got to dance to several more songs before heading back to our hotel. It was a great night and Kim and I plan on going back there when we go through Bangkok on our way home.(Given that the airports re-open and we go out that way.)

Next stop: Chiang Mai in the north-west of Thailand

The Doctor Fish Is In

Okay ... so I just had to share this one. DaLeiLei and I went out dancing today and on our way back to our room, we stopped for dinner. After dinner we decided to have a foot massage, as one does when one is in Thailand.

We came across this place called "Fish Spa". Now, there are a lot of weirdly named places in Chiang Mai offering massage so we just figured it was an odd name ... then we looked in and found out that they offered to have these fish eat your feet for 30 minutes before giving you foot massage.

We had just seen an episode of "Ugly Betty" in which the main villainess does the same thing to help rid her feet of callouses so she can more readily seduce a man so we thought ... I've gotta try this!

It was weird. You sit for 30 minutes with your feet submerged in a tank with 1000 of these little fish called "Doctor Fish" [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_fish ] as they swarm over to your legs, feet and toes and proceed to "nibble" off bits of your old, dead flesh. It was creepy, it tickled, and by the end of the 30 minutes it seemed like the most natural way to remove skin that could be imagined. We've already decided to try it again ... and the two women, Ann and Ead were great therapists for our feet.

Here's a video of the fish in action! [ http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1925518/garra_rufa_fish_in_action_giving_a_natural_pedicure/ ]

Staying safe and enjoying Thailand

Let me just begin by assuring everyone that we are safe and staying out of harms way. I know some of you have seen the political protests on the news and I just want to let you all know, in case you were concerned. We are relaxing in a small and fairly touristy city, Chiang Mai, in the North of Thailand. Kim is staying on top of the news and making sure we are nowhere near any demonstrations/protests/marches or meetings for these political groups and activists. We are still doing just great and it is not very apparent that there is trouble afoot. Since our flight out is not for quite a while we are not very affected by the shut down of the airports at this time and I am certain that it will all have worked itself out by the time we are set to fly again. But regardless we are being careful.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!!
Dana

My first haircut

Okay ... not my first, but it's been a while since my last official haircut. In 1993, I had my friend, a hair stylist, cut my hair and started a new job at Apple Computers. (Yeah ... I know that it's weird to get a haircut to work at Apple, but I'm wacky like that!)

So, I had my hair cut and then let it grow out for the next five or so years. I had hair down my back, most of the way to my waist until I moved back to the Colfax area. Both myself and one of my best friends had very long hair at the time and we were both sick of how hot it was in Auburn and Colfax with pounds of hair hanging down our backs so we then got a set of clippers and shaved our heads. That would have been around 1998 or so.

Since then, the only hair-cutting I've had done is with a set of clippers and a 1/2 inch guard to shave my hair off. I've gotten to the point that I can trim all the hair of my head in under five minutes and do a pretty darn good job of it.

So today, my shaggy hair and I went in search of a barber in Chiang Mai. The first woman that I asked for a hair cut said she only cut women's hair and sent me down the street to a barber. The barber was a nice Thai ladyboy who did a fairly respectable job trimming my hair up. It was funny when she got to the grey hairs because the look on her face was definitely questioning what a "boy" like me was doing with grey temples. The hair cut was 120 Thai baht (approximately $3.50) and I threw in an extra 20 baht for a shampoo ($.60). So, for under $5 I got the first haircut I've had in 15 years. Not sure if I should make it a habit or not!

India/Swindlia a Grand Failure!

I last blogged to say we were on our way to an overnight train to Varanasi and would give the trip a few more days before we passed judgement overall. I can now say that the India portion of this trip was a complete failure. We lasted until the 10th and left along with the three other travellers Pat, Jessica and Kim. (not counting our leader and her ex-boyfriend, who were going to travel further after we left anyhow) So we never made it to the Pushkar Camel Fair. I have to say even if we'd gone we wouldn't have had a good time because at that point we were "DONE" with India and our tour altogether.

Although we did get swindled a few times in minor ways from the $50 at the Kali Temple to any purchase we made at white people prices, the biggest swindle of all (hence my nickname India-Swindlia) was the tour itself. Our guide touted 1st class hotels, heritage sites and lovely pools in said resorts and then we were in what I would call 2 star hotels at best. They were dirty and no pools except one. So I would say overall our trip should have cost about $2500 at the most. We had paid $8k so the big swindle was unexpectedly from our trip leader from Sacramento who put on the trip.

Everyone else I know who has gone to India in the last few years has gone with a group trip and had an excellent time. They all said..."you have to go first class so that you have a refuge from the filth and overwhelming crowds you will experience there." I thought that is what we had signed up for. Instead it was more like a group of backpackers mooking along not quite sure what there was to see. Our leader's travel book was 3 years old and she hadn't been to India for 28 years, both things we didn't know before embarking on this adventure.

A few days into the trip, I had to have a sit down with our leader and tell her it was unacceptable for us not to have local/informed guides with us to show us the sights, look out for swindlers, and that meals needed to be included for the price we paid for the trip(as we found out when we arrived that they weren't going to be!)

The 2 overnight trains were a nightmare of cockaroaches and disgusting toilets that I would rather not go into detail about as I would rather block them out of my mind. I can say with certainty that none of the other members of our group were pleased with the train and accomodations either.

The final straw for me was after an overnight, miserable train to Delhi we checked into another dark dank cold showered dirty hotel room with sheets that were so filthy we had to use our hostel sleepsheets. Thank goodness we brought them! As Kim had his cold rinse I sat there ready to cry and thinking "This was supposed to be my "Orient Express" trip as it was just as expensive and was supposed to be posh. We had never spent so much on a trip in our lives, including the 65 day trip Kim and I did in Europe back in '95. I had packed a cocktail dress and my dance shoes in case there were any live musicians at the "heritage hotels". We never needed any nice clothes and the clothes we did wear got filthy within minutes.

Ok enough griping...it was a bust...so we left. The five of us got a car (at our own expense mind you) to drive us from Jaipur to Delhi. We hired him to take us into Delhi so we could have dinner and then to the airport. We had him take us to the Imperial Hotel which was of the caliber we had all hoped to experience throughout the trip. That was where I could have pulled out my heels and dress but since no one else dressed up I just wore my nice silk shirt and Kim wore his sports coat. After the best meal of the trip we went to the airport and made our escape to Bangkok. How do you make Bangkok feel as clean as Europe? Go to India on the cheap first!

I am sorry it has taken me so long to post but I had to wait until the sting of it had passed enough to write about it.

One positive thing I will say is that the Taj Mahal was as lovely and impressive a piece of art as it is touted to be. I expected to be dissapointed and I was not! It was the one bright gem in an otherwise depressing trip.

If you want even more gory details of the day to day along with the sights we did see check out Kim's blog. http://wwfam-kstj.blogspot.com/2008/11/my-india-review.html

Coming soon....Thailand makes it all better!

Thai time and the livin' is easier!

So after a bit of a stress filled trip in India, it is awesome to be back in Thailand. If you haven't read my dry review of India you can find it here: My India Review

Also, my photos are posted here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwfam/sets/72157609642570017/

So D and I left India a few days early with three of our fellow companions. The five of us decided that getting out of the situation we were in was going to make us much happier and that we'd rather go back to Bangkok and pamper ourselves than continue on to Pushkar. I'm sure I will regret it later as I hear the camel fair at Pushkar is quite amazing, but at the time, we were ready to get back to a more pleasant place and enjoy ourselves again.

The five of us got to the airport in India and one of our companions flew to London while four of us flew back to Thailand. We all got in a taxi and headed to the Sheraton and we all spent the next few days eating, getting multiple massages per day and enjoying the pool and amenities at the Sheraton.

We also did a great "tour" of the canals off the Chao Phraya river and we were able to watch all the fireworks and launch our own "good-luck" candle in the river during the Loy Krathong festival.

After two great days with Jessica and Pat, we then changed to a much cheaper hotel in Bangkok for a few days and spent our time walking the streets, eating well, receiving massage and planning our next two month stay in Thailand.

We decided to head North and caught a flight to Chiang Mai. Once in town we went to a guest house we had read about named "The Garden". It's a great bed and breakfast run by an Englishman and his Thai wife, Tim and Thong and the vibe there is fantastic. If you're looking for a very reasonably priced guest house with great people running it, give it a try. Although we enjoyed The Garden, we decided that for 2 months we would prefer to have our own bathroom versus a shared one and found the place we are currently staying.

We are now in the "Queen Victoria Inn". The proprietor is a Korean born man raised in Switzerland, who owns an English pub in Thailand and speaks French, English, German and other languages, and adds to my complex about being a mono-glot white boy from California! The room is wonderful and we're planning on staying here until we head to Hong Kong in January. (We have talked about a trip to Cambodia before Hong Kong ... check back to see if we do it!)

At this point, I'm back to work and am enjoying days filled with good food, massage, warm weather and a decent Internet connection to work with. I'll try and keep everyone posted with new updates / events that happen while we're here in Chiang Mai for the next few weeks. Happy Holidays to everyone!

Peace.

My India Review

So let me start my review of India by saying this ... I will go back in the future and try again. That being said, let me give you a bit of detail about this trip and how it happened for DaLeiLei and I.

There are a few places on the globe that both of us considered ourselves ill-prepared to visit on our own and India was one of them. A friend of ours who travels quite extensively was putting together a trip and described it to us about 18 months ago. She described a trip with 5 star hotels, a second "tour operator" who had experience taking other groups into India and a "first class" experience all the way. We talked about it extensively because the cost was the highest of any vacation we had ever taken and it ended up costing us over half of Dana's massage income for the previous year.

I will be the first to admit that this trip was probably a "failure" for me due to expectations on my part which may or may not have been valid based on the tour operator's ideas of how the trip would work.

When we arrived we found out that meals wouldn't necessarily be included, tips were generally up to us and that there would not be a "guide" every day to give us some history or direction in the locations we were visiting. After two days, I was ready to leave and DaLeiLei had to calm me down. She tried tell the tour operator how we were feeling about this trip and that it was rather unacceptable to not have guides every day or meals included for the $8000 ticket price that we had paid for this trip. (The price didn't include the airline tickets or all of the other extraneous things such as visas, travel vaccinations, transportation back to the airport at the end of the trip, etc.) Also by the time we were on the trip we found out that there was only one tour operator who was on the trip and she hadn't been in the destination cities that we were visiting for the past 28 years. So, needless to say, the trip had a few major blows from the beginning in my mind. But for now, on with the review!

(Also forgive the holes in my memory since my luggage was opened on the flight between India and Thailand and all my notes were lost somewhere en route!)

Day 1 - Kolkata

• Arrived in Kolkata (Calcutta). Immediately had the tour guide take one cab and leave Dana, myself and one other passenger arguing over the cab fare from the Airport to our hotel. After 5 minutes of playing dumb he finally decided to take us to the hotel and try and get the money from our guide.
• Got to the first hotel (HHI / Hindustani Hotel International). It wasn't too bad. It wasn't clean in our room and certainly wasn't what I would have considered much more than a 3-star any where else in the world. At this point, I did some math and started noting that DaLeiLei and I paid a total of $650 per day of our trip and if the hotel room wasn't at least $250 for the two of us per night I was starting to feel a bit ripped-off.
• Went for a cab ride to visit the famous flower market at the Howrah bridge and ended up not getting back to the hotel for a few hours with the cab drivers taking us all over Kolkata and beyond to raise the cab fare. Also, we never made it to the flower market. On the flip side, we almost died numerous, numerous times at the hands of psychotic drivers who were ready to start their next incarnation on this earth!

Day 2 - Kolkata / Varanasi

• Had breakfast and then sat through deliberations on what the day's schedule would include. In many cases, I think it is nice to have flexibility in group settings, but in this, I was relying on someone else to tell me what to see and what was important to visit while in India so the hour long confab as to where we would visit was a waste of time.
• Went to a temple for Kali. At some point, a "priest" associated himself with our group and led us on a tour of the temple. At the end of the tour he took each of us individually through a semi-religious ritual and indicated that we should give money to feed the poor. While normally, I would feel a bit more cynical about such a thing, we were outside Mother Theresa's hospital and the people in front of me in line were giving large sums of money to help feed the local poor. I ended up giving way more than I wanted (approx. $50) and then found out that they were lying through their teeth about how much previous people had given and most-probably about giving any money to the poor. I was livid at this point when I was told about my mistake. What the f**k am I paying a tour operator if not to look out for me in such situations!!! (The best part was reading our tour operators guide book later that afternoon and having it spelled out in the section on visiting the Kali temple ... that says to me that she didn't even bother reading the tour guide book or just figured it wasn't important to inform us about what might happen during our visit to this site. This was the point at which I was truly ready to leave the trip. The remainder of the trip was done with me feeling very, very skeptical about anything else that took place. Any chance of the trip having a spiritual awakening for me was pretty much right-off at this point.
• The remainder of the group went to a planetarium in the afternoon (I couldn't figure out why the hell I would travel to India to go to a planetarium) and I stayed in the hotel trying to lick my wounded wallet and reduce some of the frustration I was feeling at that point.
• We made our way to the Kolkata train station for the 1st class train ride we would take overnight to Varanasi. We then ran back and forth through the station as our guide had no clue where we needed to be to catch our train and when the train arrived on the platform we ran up and down the length of the train (which was no small feat) to try and find the car we were all situated in for the night. Finally we were in our compartments and as we started to think of getting under the sheets to sleep our way to Varanasi, I noticed a plethora of antennae waving roommates who would be traveling with us in our newly acquired roach motel on rails! I slept quite poorly with every few minutes seeming to bring another set of itches across my arms, back or legs. EEEEEWWWWWWW!!!! 1st class my eye! If she had done this in the last 25 years she would have known to hire a van and have us drive or have us fly instead of having most of our group's first experience in a sleeper car be filled with roaches, disgusting toilets and layers of filth on all the floors, seats, walls and windows! By the way, the train ride was covered in our $650 per day and I'm sure the train tickets didn't cost more than $100 for each of us. I'd look into what the actual cost was but I think I would find it depressing to know that it was incredibly low!

Day 3 - Varanasi

• Arrived in Varanasi after the roach coach train and headed into our hotel. This was another HHI but was of a lesser quality than the first one. The pool was out of commission and the building was quite a bit shabbier. Had breakfast and then tried to take a walk from the Hotel.
• Taking a walk was near impossible. "Auto-rickshaw" drivers (similar to Tuk-Tuk) would actually pull their vehicles in front of our path and then block us from continuing so they could try and get us to hire them to drive us around. This didn't go over too well for me, and after walking a few blocks it was evident that our hotel was no where near any part of the city that we wanted to be walking through.
• I believe it was at this point that DaLeiLei had a talk with the tour operator to try and let her know that we weren't pleased with the services being offered for the amount of money we spent and that if she wanted to try and make the trip better, we would suggest she start lining up tours as well as taking care of meals as well as the hotel rooms. Honestly, at this point, our operator did start paying for all of the meals (minus drinks) and there were also tours being given almost every day from this point forward. It looked as though things might get better from here.
• We hung out in the hotel until Gaurav, the gentleman from Delhi whom our tour operator had befriended over the Internet while booking hotels for this trip, arrived and took us down to the Ghats to view the Ganges river.
• The Ghats were one of the more interesting things I saw in India. I enjoyed the life down there when it wasn't busy trying to separate me from my wallet (which was 90% of the time) and watching the holy-men bathing in the Ganges river was quite fascinating. I personally would not set a toe in the river for fear of any number of diseases which could creep into your system but hey-ho ... they certainly wanted to bathe in the "mother" Ganges for religious reasons as well as hygiene (of a sort).
• We took a boat ride to the largest crematorium on the river and watched as bodies were placed on the pyres and then set alight. Afterwards we watched the religious ceremonies being performed to say good night to the river.

Day 4 - Varanasi

• A tour guide took us to the ghats in the morning and we got aboard another boat and went up and down the Ganges looking at the ghats we had seen the night before. He told us some things we didn't know but mostly repeated what Gaurav had said the night before.
• We then were taken to a shop as part of the tour but it was really just a stop so the guide could make a commission of any of the sales that were made by us. We then walked back to the rickshaws and were taken back to the hotel.
• We were then at the hotel with the option to go back to the ghats again that afternoon.
• For the life of me I can't remember if we did anything else on day four. If we did, I'm feeling that it wasn't very memorable at this point.

Day 5 - Varanasi / Sarnath / Delhi

• Hung out at the hotel until the afternoon when we went to Sarnath. An interesting site, this was where the Buddha gave his first teachings after receiving enlightenment. We visited the museum, viewed the Stupa (memorial) and then went to the local Buddhist temple.
• Headed back to the train station. This was exciting. One of our fellow travelers had brought "leftover" food from lunch and upturned the plastic bag on the train quay for a cow who seemed to be waiting for the train as well. We watched locals stepping up to the tracks and then urinating onto the train tracks without any sense of modesty. Another member of our group screamed rather excitedly at the rats that were enjoying the comforts of the ladies toilet. It was all great and we got to spend an extra hour and half waiting for the train to arrive so that it was about midnight before we got in our sleeper cars and were able to go to sleep. I didn't see quite so many roaches on this train ... but it was still nothing like a first class sleeper in Europe!

Day 6 - Delhi

• Arrived in Delhi around noon and made our way to the hotel. Not really a great hotel and it didn't bode well when the drivers couldn't find the destination no matter how many times they stopped to ask for directions.
• Our tour operator attempted to find us another hotel and was unsuccessful for the first night so we got to stay in this lovely slice of heaven. The shower never got hot, the towels were filthy and our bed sheet looked as though some one had blown their nose on them while making the bed. We were grateful to have brought our hostel sheets to travel with at this point.
• One of our groups members reported back that when the room porter brought them their two bottles of "complimentary" water, he then announced that it was complimentary at the cost of 40 rupees and waited for them to pay him to leave. They instead, strong-armed him from the room and told the front desk to not have another person bother them in their room or they would start throwing the bodies down the stairs rather indiscriminately!
• Our group all got back together and headed over to the Imperial for a late lunch, early dinner. It was a wonderful meal in a beautiful hotel and while everyone enjoyed it, it depressed Dana to no end. She went to the front desk and asked what the room rate was for a single night. The rack rate was $450 US per night. This room had been announced as far too expensive for us to have on this trip, but even at full price, it would have left $200 in our nightly budget if our operator had only bothered to do the math. (Another excuse our operator kept telling us was that there were no more rooms available anywhere in India and that when she had booked the trip four months prior she had gotten the best that was available at the time. I personally would have been much happier if we had been told that the trip would be in sub-standard hotel rooms because of this issue, but didn't really receive that type of info until we were already in the country. After our time traveling around, however, I am convinced that a bit more research could have turned up rooms that would have been much more suitable to the amount of money we were paying.)
• We tried to go to a "sound and light" show that was being displayed in the city (according to the 2005 guide book our tour operator had) and when we arrived found out that the show hadn't been displayed for 3 years or so. Might have known that with a bit more recent guide book!
  
• We walked through some markets, had a few drinks (well others did ... I had a few sodas) and the strain of the trip started becoming evident on most all of the other members of our group!
  
• We returned to sleep in our dingy room and hoped to not catch any communicable diseases that may have been lurking between the bed sheets.

Day 7 - Delhi

• Moved to a new hotel which was a much nicer hotel and then went on a few tours.
• Somewhere around day 3 I contracted "Delhi Belly" and couldn't eat much throughout the trip. Around Day 7, the intestinal cramps got really, really bad and I was starting to lose weight from not eating and having most of my insides forcefully removed every time I stopped by a toilet!
• We went to see the world's largest Muslim Mosque, Jama Masjid, a Sikh temple and some other sites around the city before returning to the hotel.
• As a group we talked with our tour operator and told her how unhappy we all were with the way the trip had gone. We asked her to find out if we could receive any refund on the portion of the trip in Pushkar and let her know that if we could, we would like to cancel the last few days at the festival. She said she would let us know if there was any chance of canceling that portion of the trip. (By the end of the trip, I had never been informed what the outcome of that request was ... I had to ask our other companions to find out that she told them that refunds would not be made no matter what!)
  

Day 8 - Agra

• We hastened our trip to Agra because it was determined that our second day in the Agra, the Taj Mahal would be closed. Glad we found out before going since we were scheduled to see the Taj the second day in Agra instead of the first.
• We arrived and went pretty much straight to the Taj Mahal. It is an astounding sight to see and is quite beautiful. I was feeling so sick at this point and couldn't care any less about visiting India so one of the eight wonders of the world was nice to see ... but I wasn't as blown away as I thought I might be.
• We stopped at a marble factory on our way to our hotel (which was the first hotel that was booked that I felt lived up to the hype our operator presented before we signed on for the trip) and one of the tour members purchased a very nice marble table for the sum of $2k. They threw in some Masala Chai for us all so we were happy to drink tea and encourage our traveling companion to spend way too much money on a table for his home in Tahoe.
• Another member of the tour suggested we go to the "nice" restaurant attached to the hotel instead of eating at the buffet as we had been doing everywhere else. It looked like a lovely meal and everyone seemed to enjoy it. I had chicken broth and white rice ... and then got rid of it all quickly thereafter.

Day 9 - Agra / Jaipur

• We went to the Red Fort and then loaded into our van for a 5 hour drive to Jaipur. This was the fort that housed the Muhgal emperor Shah Jahan, the builder of the Taj Mahal, when his son overthrew him and placed him under house arrest until he died.
• We stopped en route at the Fatehpur Sikri. The palace that was to be the capital seat for the Emperor Akbar but was abandoned after too many problems with water arose at this site.
• We then drove-on to Jaipur and arrived at the hotel that would end up being the final hotel of our trip. The hotel in Jaipur was named the Naila Bagh Palace and was quite a lovely place. It didn't live up to the expectations set by our tour operator but was nice none-the-less. If you have proper expectations set, I would highly recommend this as a place to stay as the staff and owners are very, very nice and the hotel itself is the family home that has housed their family for the past 140 years. http://www.nailabaghpalace.com/
• We talked with our fellow travelers and they all decided that they would be leaving the organized trip early and not continuing on to the Pushkar Festival and Camel fair. That was going to leave DaLeiLei, myself, our tour operator and her ex-boyfriend who was planning to travel with our guide after the end of our trip.

Day 10 - Jaipur

• Went on a tour of the City Palace, the Observatory and the Amber fort. Also saw the Palace of Wind and the Water Palace in Jaipur from our tour van.
• The sites were somewhat interesting, the only problems for me was that it was hot and I was having worse and worse stomach problems at this point in the trip.
• That afternoon, we had lunch at a Jaipur restaurant and then skipped dinner that night.

Day 11 - Jaipur

• We spent the day shopping in Jaipur and then our companions and us went and had a beautiful lunch at the Hilton. It was another case of disappointment for us as we found the room rates quite reasonable and the hotel grounds miles above most of the places we stayed during the course of the trip.
• We talked further with our companions and Dana and I decided that we would be much happier leaving with the rest of the group and heading back to Delhi and then on to Bangkok for a little rest and relaxation after the trauma which was called India.
• We broke the news to our tour operator and one of our companions overheard our guide explaining to the hotel owners that all of the members of the tour were leaving because we were inexperienced travelers and it was just too much for us to travel so far from home. We surveyed our group and each of the 5 members who left Jaipur to return to Delhi had traveled through a minimum of 15 different countries around the world.

Day 12 - Jaipur / Delhi

• We said good-bye to our hosts at the hotel and to our tour operator who was heading on to Pushkar. We hopped in a private car that drove us to Delhi. We ate a fantastic dinner at the Imperial again and then drove to the airport for a 1 AM flight to Bangkok. Once in Thailand, our spirits lifted, our smiles grew and our adventures continued but in a much more positive light!

All in all, the best part of the trip were our traveling companions. We made some great friends and shared our woes and disappointments and swore that we would all travel again together to try and have a much better trip with fond memories to be shared in the future! Kim, Jessica, Pat, Dana and I all bonded quite a bit during this trip and when we have saved some money again, we're looking to take them all on a trip with us that doesn't have quite so many roaches!

I'll be posting about Thailand soon! Thanks for wading through such a long rant about India!