Ellen Besso Coaching

Made it from Jaipur to Udaipur on the overnight bus on Wednesday. I had no problem with the bus like when I attempted to take the upscale ‘Magic Bus’ from Bangkok to Laos last January.  I had to get off the bus right in the Bangkok station; my daughter thought it was claustrophobia & I think she was right. (Some of you 50 or over will remember the old, decrepid, colorfully painted Magic Buses that went from Europe to India via Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan & Pakistan during the 60′s & 70′s).

Anyway, the desk clerk at our beautiful upscale Jaipur hotel booked us onto the overnight government bus & the manager decided since we were good customers & he’d taken a liking to us, to comp us with a car & driver to the bus station a short trip away, instead of us shlepping over their with our bags in an auto rickshaw. The irony of it, as it turned out!

The bus left at 7:20, a little late, & was to arrive in Udaipur at 5:30 am. The hotel manager, who was from Udaipur, said it would be dark when we arrived, so just to have tea, then get an auto rickshaw to our hotel. Our hotel was expecting us, & said they had a place where we could rest until our room was ready at 10 am.

The bus itself was fine; the route & ‘amenities’ not so good…We were given 2 reclining seats plus a double berth up top. I didn’t want to use the berth as it seemed like a closet to me; also it would be difficult to climb down fast enough when the bus stopped for washroom breaks (I knew from previous experience that the bus would stop suddenly, apparently at random, & an employee would  shout instructions to us in Hindi).

We went along fine for over 2-1/2 hours, then we stopped at what I guess was a ‘typical’ rural, small town bus station; it was full of Indian men, not a woman in sight; men who had no English, they just stared & stared (quite typical).  When I asked the driver, he said it was a 5 minute stop. Don found us a door marked ‘toilet’ in big letters & we went past the doorman, who did not ask for any money, to the inside squatter cubicles. So far so good…

The next stop was only 1-1/2 hours later, at 10:15; it was a foodstop also, a bit more upscale I think, but we didn’t need food or toilets at that point. Then the bus stopped again at 1 am at another bus station; this one with 2 women waiting with partners for buses. I got off & asked the driver where the toilet was. ‘No toilet’ was the reply, so I got back on, not really needing to go but not wanting to get caught out uncomfortably.

Then we stopped once again at 2 pm & we both got off. Again I was told ‘no toilet’, & told I could go around behind the building. But 2 nice men showed me a room that looked like a washroom, however there were no squatters in there, so I just went in one of the little cubicles anyway, with one of my feet in mud (I hoped)! I felt comfortable then, & went back to my dozing, stretched across the 2 seats of the bus, while Don slept upstairs.

At 4 am, much to our surprise, we suddenly arrived at Udaipur, 1-1/2 hours early. I had a headache from my head bouncing on the seat for so many hours! We weren’t sure what to do & there was no answer at the hotel, so we agreed to take an auto rickshaw ride with a patient middle aged man who hadn’t hassled us, for a very high fee. While I was sitting on a bench in the bus station while we decided what to do, a bird shit on my head & my hand. The kindly auto rickshaw driver & Don wiped me off.

The ride through the sleeping city of about 500 thousand was quite remarkable. We wound through narrow lanes, all the businesses had their garage doors closed, it was very still. When we arrived near the hotel, a 5 km ride away, the auto rickshaw driver told me to wait with the luggage in the auto rickshaw while he & Don went up the hill to the hotel to awaken the staff.

I told Don to stay within earshot, but they disappeared for about 10 minutes. I became increasingly concerned standing there by myself, for women, especially western ones, are not safe in deserted places at night in  India . Finally I decided that the guarding of the luggage was not worth the potential harm to me, so I grabbed my carry-on bag & went up the steps to the hotel, where I lost my temper & cursed at Don for leaving me there alone!

We were taken to the rooftop restaurant, where there were 3 Rajasthani-type couches with low tables. We were given the largest area to rest on; it was about 15 feet long & about as wide as a queen size bed, with a woven blanket covering a foam mattress; we also asked for blankets & were given 2. It was cool & damp there, but we slept for a couple of hours.

I awoke to a pink sunrise over Lake Pichola, where the hotel is located. The whole trip was quite surreal.