Jodhpur

In Jodhpur we stayed at heritage hotel a bit outside of the center. We relaxed at the hotel with a drink before heading for dinner at this restaurant recommended by the hotel. It was such a good place to eat: the food was lovely and the atmosphere wonderful, they actually also had a nightclub which we made sure to visit after dinner.

Next day we did some sightseeing with a tuk tuk and saw the Mehrangarh fort, Umaid Bhawan Palace palace as well as the blue village of Jodhpur. The palace is divided in three: one part museum, one area where the royal family still lives and the lastly there is a Taj hotel. We visited the museum and wanted to also see the hotel, which is supposed to be amazing, after all it is a castle! But in order to be allowed into the hotel for a drink, there was a deposit of INR 3000 (around 350 NOK) per person, which we didn’t bother to pay. We rather asked if it was possible to book a table for dinner (we had tried calling several times the day before, where upon they had just quite rudely rejected us a booking saying the restaurant was full). To our pleasant surprise they were able to fit us in for dinner and we were really looking forward to coming back for dinner J

Jodhpur: the blue city

After the castle we went to Mehrangarh fort, one of the largest in India. Lots of history and nicely decorated rooms from the old days and a really nice view. When done touring the fort it was time to go down to the old city and visit the market and afterwards we had a nice lunch at a rooftop restaurant with a nice view.

The Umaid Bhawan Palace

The evening came and we were really looking forward to our dinner plans, not every day you get to dine in a castle where the royal family still lives… We arrived in a tuk tuk, quite a contrast to what met us inside the gates of the palace… There are no words, really…But it was something royal that is for sure! We figured this environment just asked for champagne so champagne we got, mmmm…What a fit! The food was also really good and even the bathrooms were like something out of this world! This was right down our alley and we really enjoyed the evening. For someone loving good food and wine compared with a royal environment this was just heaven!

Just magnificent!

Our diningroom at the castle

The day after it was time to leave for Mumbai again and back to reality.

Jaisalmer and the Thar Desert

Jaisalmer and the Thar Desert:



View of Jaisalmer from the fort

    
After heaven in Udaipur, it was time to leave for Jaisalmer. After a long travel with plane and car (well to be honest, the car ride could have very well lasted for a bit longer, cause he drove like crazy and I wouldn’t have minded a bit slower speed). We knew we were getting close to Jaisalmer and the desert when a bunch of camels crossed the road in front of us… We had booked the whole Jaisalmer/Thar desert tour with a local operator there: Prince Desert Camp.  So everything, including pick up from airport in Jodhpur, hotel and tented desert tour with camel ride was included. We arrived at the hotel in Jaisalmer and guess what… We were UPGRADED J Again! Me like! Too bad it was just for one night this time so we didn’t really have time to enjoy the tower suite too much. The day after we went for a guided tour of Jaisalmer and the fort. We had a really interesting guide, which actually held a master degree in history. He showed us this beautiful city and told all about its history. Nice, think everything is better with a guide (except from the “showing you  where to buy this and that from my cousin/brother/friend etc.) 
  

Jaisalmer

 

In the afternoon we left for the Thar Desert, which boarders to Pakistan.  We arrived the camp and checked into our tent. Really nice place with a large tent and our own bathroom as well as air condition: that was some tent! In the evening we went on a camel ride to see the sunset, nice and scary…Was sure I was going fall off when the camel got up and when the camel guide made it go fast…But somehow survived J When we got to the sand dunes we expected to see some other tourists, though not beggars, street performers and drink sellers. But I suppose every large gathering of people and especially tourists is a possibility to earn some money for the locals, though a bit annoying while trying to enjoy a peaceful sunset. Afterwards we went back to camp and enjoyed some local entertainment and dinner. We noticed that all the foreigners went to one are for the dinner and the Indians somewhere else, as foreign Indians we had to ask why and it apparently was because the one buffet was not spicy and prepared with the foreigners in mind and the other one with Indian spice level. Off course we went for the Indian one ;) We like spicy!

Our camp in the desert!

Inside our luxury tent

Local entertainment



Most luxurious tent I have been in!




The next day we were booked in for a camel safari and candle light dinner at the sand dunes. So here we went again on the camels…Amazing and scary at the same time, but a really nice way of experiencing the desert J It was just us, the camels and the desert. On the way we passed lots of watermelons which is one of my favorite things in the world! Out camel guide asked if we wanted some and off course we said yes, so he picked some for us and brought to lunch – fantastic!



Mmmm, fresh watermelon



Camel safari

 
We had lunch in the middle of the desert under a tree, nice to relax in the shadow for a while during the warmest hour of the day.  Afterwards we continued to the sand dunes where we were supposed to see the sunset and have our dinner. When we arrived, the manager of our camp was there to prepare for the dinner and he gave us the one thing we wanted the most exactly at that time: a nice cold beer! J Sooo nice! Then after we had a fantastic dinner under the full moon, just us, our waiter and the sand dunes. Really nice experience!












Nothing like a cold beer in the middle of the desert ;)



Our dinner being set up...








The day after it was time to leave the camp and head towards Jodhpur, our next and last stop in Rajasthan.



Royal Rajasthan - Udaipur

Royal Rajasthan

We went for a week’s holiday in Rajasthan and visited Udaipur, Jaisalmer and the Thar Desert and lastly Jodhpur.

Udaipur:

First stop was Udaipur and in good Indian style the experiences started already at the airport, or the transfer from the airport to be more specific. We had booked a pick up from the hotel, but 45 minutes after arrival this had yet not arrived. So we had to surrender and go for the pre-paid taxi (in general a bit skeptical to taxi in India as they are always looking to trick you and this can end up in quite an argument which I was not in the mood for since we were here on relaxing holidays). But we paid for the taxi and this guy, who we thought was to be our driver, showed us to the car park. First sign of tricky-trick was when he said: non AC (air condition), we had already paid the fee and there was no talk about not being an AC car so I objected, but then (off course) he wanted INR 100 extra for AC. As I am a stubborn person of principles, I did not accept this. We got to the “car”, ohh, what a “car”! Don’t think I have ever seen a car in such a bad state, tiny, old and quite messed up…  AND this car had another driver, which our guy gave some money and then sent us off…. Must say we were quite skeptical at this time… But hey, we were at least heading towards our hotel and would arrive there quite soon and everything would be ok right..? No… Just minutes after hitting the highway, we pulled into a gas station: there was no gas left and the guy driving this “car” probably had no money so he had to wait for our payment before he could refill…. Ohh, arghh…. End of the story is that we did finally arrive at the hotel, AND the guy driving the so-called taxi tried to convince us to use him also for return to the airport!! Ehh, no thanks…  Ohh, well this is India – gotta love it!

Our stay in Udaipur can be divided into two: pre Taj Lake Palace and Taj Lake Palace.

The first night we stayed at this nice little heritage hotel, really good value for money J We did a sightseeing trip of the city with a tuk tuk and the tuk tuk driver actually spoke English! It was a great tour, even if off course tried to sell us everything he could and whatever we said ended up being used to get some money out of us… As per normal in India… One example is that he asked us where we were going next and we said Jaisalmer, ohh the best way of getting there was definitively by car so you could enjoy the trip and stop to see a couple of these really famous temples. AND by coincidence did he actually have a car and driver that could take us there… By road it takes around 10 hours! So we had booked a flight to Jodhpur and hired a car from there to take us the last 4-5 hours to Jaisalmer. There is no public airport in Jaisalmer as it is too close to the boarder to Pakistan, only military (lots of!) so Jodhpur was the closest we could get by air. The fact that we had already booked a flight did not stop him from promoting his services; we should cancel and rather go with his car…

Well, except from this continuous selling effort (as most here in India engage in once they see you are a foreigner) the tour was really nice and we got some good views of the city. Udaipur is known as the city of lakes and we saw some of these beautiful lakes with the palaces close by. I think the pictures tell more than words…

Then…. It was time to go to Taj Lake Palace, we were sooo excited!! This is supposed to be one of the best hotels in the world. So we jumped out of our tuk tuk, picked up our luggage at the hotel and walked towards the jetty where the boat to Lake Palace was leaving from. There were (as most places in India) high security to get through the gate and they looked upon us like we were crazy as we were first of all walking and not driving (people that can afford not to, don’t walk to places in India, they get a driver to take them) and secondly we carried our own luggage! But they let us through and we walked in excitement towards the jetty and a luxury life never experienced before.

The Taj Lake Palace in the evening...

Our amazing suite....

Arriving at the jetty, the luxury life started… Servants everywhere, they gave us a nice cold facial wipe and bottle of water, there were traditional musicians and dancers performing at the jetty and the boat was looking very nice. After screening of both us and our luggage we entered the boat and set sail towards the Lake Palace which as the name suggests lies in the middle of the lake and the only way of getting there is by boat. To my pleasantly surprise, they provided all guests with life vests that they ensured we used on the way over. Safety first – me like J

We entered the hotel jetty, ohh my god! Amazing!! This butler-type with an umbrella met us and when walking towards the entrance, roseleaves were raining over us… Inside they gave us a welcome drink and told us some fantastic news: we were upgraded!! J To a Royal Suite…. Wow, having looked at their web-page for prices and booking, I knew the price of such a room and to be honest, we had to consider whether we felt we could afford the cheapest room they had (which was the one we actually had booked) as the price of this was NOK 3500,- per night…

Enjoying a pre-dinner glas of champagne with a view!

THE most lovely swimmingpool!

The suite was AMAZING!! There are no words to describe it… It consisted of a hallway, baggage room, large bedroom/wardrobe/office area, lounge area and dining room as well as the most beautiful bathroom. The view was lake, lake, lake from all windows! Just fantastic!! I almost had trouble breathing taking all this in… I have never before in my life experienced such luxury and most likely never will again in the future.

The early evening was spent drinking champagne, looking at the sunset outside our palace, just looooovely J The palace was built in 1743 and is covering a whole island in the Lake Pichola and used to be the summer palace for the royals. It is managed by the the Taj group who runs a hotel there.  All rooms come with a private butler. Must admit we worked hard on figuring out what to use him for… Ended up just asking him to bring some champagne one of the evenings and that is all we requested from him during our 2 nights stay… Hmm, next time I will try to be better prepared and know what to use a private butler for, have not a great lot of experience in this.  

The Taj Lake Palace

Instead of trying to explain this amazing experience with words, I rather include some photos to tell the beauty of it all.

Sunset from the beautiful Taj Lake Palace

Happy Diwali!!

Here in India, we are now celebrating Diwali - the festival of lights. It really reminds a lot of Christmas back home, have lots of bright decorations and "Christmas lights" on all the buildings around and people give each other presents. Many also take the whole week off; two days (yesterday and today) have been public holidays for me and my colleagues. On Monday, we had a Diwali celebration at work with games, fireworks and a catwalk for all of us wearing traditional Indian wear. Great fun! The Indians really knows how to have fun and celebrate :)
 

Colleagues enjoying a snack. Funny how at Indian parties always all the men end up at one side and women on the other..

 

Some of my colleagues in their beautiful saris

 

Fireworks at our rooftop terrace at work






















Yesterday, I went to a friend's place for a little Diwali celebration, we enjoyed some good food and wine while watching the fireworks. Oh, my god, the fireworks have been full on here the last couple of days and yesterday it was just crazy! They really do not have the same security measures here as back home...Firework is shooting out everywhere in all directions, on people's balconies inside garages etc.! But, hey we are having fun J  


Happy Diwali and Hindu New Near!!

 

So today I was supposed to go to a mall and do some necessary shopping… (Yes, all shopping is necessary and when I say I need another pair of shoes, I do!) But, however, my driver called in sick…Hmm…Not a 100% sure I believe he actually was sick…Maybe just celebrated Diwali and the new year a bit too much yesterday…
But as a bonus, the maid came today! She was supposed to come yesterday…. But , man this is India, you cannot always get it to work your way so just roll with it the best you can…

Just a little update from Mumbai where it is all bling-bling and boom-boom celebrations at the moment! Have definetely learned that festivals in India are LOUD and FUN :)

 

View from the office

 

My bulding decorated for Diwali



Fantastic India

The last weeks have really comprised of the differences this beautiful country has to offer. It started off with some interesting and enjoyable social events in connection with some maritime and oil events happening here. The Norwegian embassy invited Norwegian companies working within the sector here in India to the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel for a formal night with meeting and greeting which was great fun! Met many of our clients as well as other Norwegians who were here for the exibition. Innovation Norway also had an advertising video playing in the background which almost made me miss home... The next day was an informal gathering which we also attended, met some of the same people here and it was also fun! But we had to leave early from the event as we were flying to Goa the next day after half day in the office and had yet not even started packing because of all these great events that took up our time ;) In Goa we actually had another event to attend that evening, dinner and entertainment at the Oil Spill Conference also arranged by the Norwegian Embassy.... So 3 days in a row with meeting and greeting events within the business sector I work within was just such a great experience! Though also a bit tiring.. But hey, we were now at Goa, which is like paradise :)


Taj Holiday Village Goa = paradise!!



Which to have for lunch?




Wonderful loooong beaches...



So we stayed in Goa as I was to attend a management meeting at the Taj Holiday Village, fantastic place to stay as it was more of a small village feel with many smaller cottages... Really enjoyed it! After some days at the Taj in the North of Goa, we moved to the South and checked into another hotel. Also this was a nice location with a fantastic beach. Just loved Goa, going from Mumbai to Goa is like two different worlds! Just amazing to relax, sunbath, be able to wear "short" dresses again and just chill by the pool....

We stopped at one of the local beach shacks and asked for a beer, which apparently was the ONLY thing they had there so lucky with that one ;)

Ice-cream bicycle man, what a life :)

Ahh, life is good at Goa

After Goa, we went back to Mumbai to work for a short week, before heading up to the far north Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh. Again this is something totally different then Mumbai, and Goa for that matter...The season there ends in September so we were a bit late, but this would be our only chance to travel there as it is not season again before May/June. The region has a very interesting history and only became a part of India as late as in 1947. The population is very much influenced by tibetians and actually the local language, Ladakhi, is based on tibetian. It is very much a strategic area for India, boarding both to Pakistan and China and there is quite heavy military activity there.

In Ladakh we ended up staying at a homestay kind of accommodation as the hotels were actually closed for the winter. We stayed at a so-called 4 star A-hotel, but it really ended up being a room at the end of the hotel the family stayed, eating the same food as them and getting served our meals in their living area. We really got to experience it the way locals live. It was however a bit cold up there in the North, around 10 degrees...Outside AND inside... People keep saying that as a Norwegain they guess i am used to the cold...Well, when we are outside we wear proper warm clothing and inside we actually have heating...

Fantastic landscape of Ladakh...You can see the road we drive on along the mountain side.

 The landscape of Ladakh was amazing...Kind of moonlike...Leh, which is the main city and where we stayed has an altitude of 3500 meters. And the highest we travelled was to Khardung La Pass, which is the worlds highest motorable road at 5359 meters altitude. We were trying to drink as much water as possible as well as avoiding alcohol and coffee in order to prevent altitude sickness. Our guide also got us some tablets that were suppose to help. And I was pleasantly surprised over my body actually coping ok with the altitude :) Off course, I got short of breath quite fast when walking up stairs and such, but did not otherwise feel sick at all! Thank you my body for that ;)



Lunch the local way in the living room





Khardung La Pass: we reached the top!!! By car ;)

  

Other things we experienced in Ladakh was lots of fantastic budist monestries as well as the Pangong Lake, which lies in the boarder between India and China. I find it difficult to describe by words or pictures the beauty of this part of the world, it is just too great. I think the only way to really grasp it is to see it for yourself. 

Lake Pangong at 5 475 meters above sea level. Behind the mountain to the far left is China



Attending the munk's morning prayer. We even got offered butter tea, which is what they were having: amazing experience!



Thiksey Gompa: a fantastic buddhist temple



Local kids having some fun!

A jet set weekend in Mumbai!

Last weekend was filled with fun and great experiences. (Am a bit delayed in posting the blog so this happened 2 weeks ago...) It all started on Friday when we attended our neighbor Karsten’s moving in/moving out party (also knew the ones moving out of the apartment so a fun combination, though would prefer if they also continued staying here). Espen had his first business trip in India to Hyderabad that same day, and he arrived back a bit later than planned (was nothing more serious than a little bomb search at the airport after some luggage left unattended… Well suppose they are on a bit high alert here now as there has been reports that someone might try a similar 9/11 attack here in India by hijacking a smaller airplane). Well, anyways being India it didn’t really matter that much that we arrived the party a bit late as that’s what most people do.

We had so much fun at the party! Many interesting people from all over the world J Ended up staying until 4 in the morning, which is quite late for me as I usually falls asleep around midnight! Luckily we only had to walk across the road to get to our flat so too easy! We also met a singer, Carlyta Mouhini who invited us to a gallery for a concert she was having the next day. Fun J

So Saturday we did not get up until… Well, let’s just say quite late and it was PM ;) But in time to go to the concert/culture walk we were invited to. We had booked our driver for the evening so that made things easier getting around as the event was a bit away from where we live. I must definitely say I enjoyed my input of culture at the gallery… Very interesting and different from what I usually do. And they even took our photo and we met a lot of quite interesting (and important?) people so who knows, maybe we’ll end up in a magazine or something ;)

After this cultural event, it was time to go to the Swedish crayfish party we had signed up for. It was arranged by the Swedish chamber of commerce and was my first ever crayfish party! Quite something, coming from Norway and experiencing my first crayfish party in Mumbai… We had soooo much fun!! J With matching hats and bibs and of course lots of Swedish vodka and even some smuggled aquavit! They had actually imported the crayfish from Sweden and it had arrived at 13:30 that very same day! Talk about being lucky, would most likely not been the same having a crayfish party without crayfish!

And when ABBA came out of the speakers the success was a fact! Dancing, eating, drinking and having fun – fantastic way to spend a Saturday evening J And so many interesting people, mostly Scandinavians, always fun talking with them about their experiences in India, also many of them lived in New Delhi, Pune and other places in India, really enjoyed networking with them. And when we were ready to go home, it was just to call the driver and he took us home.

Must admit that the Sunday was spent relaxing, watching films from bed. And enjoying a culinary pizza from Dominos together with a coke. But that was just totally ok after such enjoyable days!   

My first visit to an Indian customer...

 This week I went on my first official visit to a customer here in India. I was quite excited about experiencing this as it is one of India’s largest companies within its segment. We went there by car, and as it was not that far away in distance this seems like no problem, though being in Mumbai it is. Traffic can be quite bad and the roads are of variable standard, well mostly bad standard… So it took us 1,5 hours one way… But I am still enjoying the scenery of Mumbai and having my Indian colleagues sitting next to me in the car providing interesting facts about the areas we pass by and generally about Mumbai made the trip even more fun J We passed Dharavi, which is Asia’s largest slum. And actually a large production area for goods exported and sold in the Western world. It is estimated that the turnover is around 500 million USD a year! They produce a lot of different goods from leather clothing and belts to plastic wheels for suitcases. Amazing that all this goes on in this slum area of the city.

Well, after some time in the car and some new sights of Mumbai, we arrived at the customer’s office area. Driving through the gate I was asked to show my passport and they looked for my employment visa… I was quite amazed by this! Apparently, if one is here only on a tourist visa, the larger companies won’t let you into their premises… Well, my passport and visa was approved (almost felt like I was entering another country..) and we continued towards the main building. Upon entry here, we were met by some security guards and led to a room where I had to again give them my passport and register in order to be allowed in to the building… The others did not have to do anything as they were all local Indians.

So after all this we went for the meeting. I was (as so many other times here) the only female. But am getting used to it now. Though, what surprised me a bit was that when greeting and shaking hands, I was standing on one side of the room with two of my male colleagues, while the other male colleague was on the other side of the room, the representatives from the customer still greeted all the men first before me. Totally ignoring me before he had greeted my male colleagues! I assume this shows how India still has quite some way to go before men and women are considered equal. But other than this experience, I felt like I was treated with respect.

They actually also took a photo of me and together with me to publish in their internal news as they clearly was happy about having visitor from the head office of our company coming there J

After the meeting we were invited to join them for lunch and finally I got to try Indian canteen food J And as all Indian food it was goooood!! Though served in these prison-like plates in metal as you can see in the photo.  
 

Indian canteen food, tastes much better than it looks!



Well this was just a short summary of my first visit to a local company. I have not mentioned how the meeting itself was (some quite interesting observations here to) but believe this kind of information I should keep to myself. But it was very interesting to participate in such a meeting and I hope there are several more to come so I get to experience more of Indian business culture.