New Room allocation at The Panorama Guest House in Udaipur

Going down.
Room 13 to 12 to 10
Room 10 has a dual aspect, views to the lake and to the courtyard access to the GH (see 3 pics) It's lovely.
Tomorrow evening I move to the North and west of Rhajasthan, a 7 hour sleeper bus to arriving at 0430 hrs in Bundi.
Time for a change........

Namaste

It becomes second nature after a while. The universal Hindi greeting namaste (nam-as-tay)is used on occasions when you meet friend or acquaintance, when you thank someone for a service and as mark of respect; namaste is your spiritual self recognising another's spiritual self. Hands together prayer pose next to heart and offer the greeting together with a modest bow. It's lovely really.

Interesting that namaste has almost the same metric pattern as 'hava-nice-day'............

Toe by the pool, Nizwa, Oman

Goodbye to an Old Friend

This morning I said Goodbye to an old friend, my Canadian canoe. She's gone to a good home down in Dorset,  to a sporty family who plan to canoe the Thames in the spring. Thanks for many happy hours paddling on the rivers outside the house.

Going Home

I know one day soon, THE DAY will arrive and I’ll be on my way.

If this were a tsunami or an earthquake, animals would be heading for high ground, sensing a change in air pressure, a distant ‘tummy rumble’ deep in the bowels of the earth.  In a way this is my seismic disturbance, my upheaval, my awakening to a new dawn. For me this is no ‘trip’ as I have done countless times to places far and near for many and varied reasons. This for me is a significant event, made all the more personal since I travel alone; choices, decisions, actions and consequences are my own. Most of my thoughts are unvoiced, weighed up, considered and decided in my head and occasionally in my heart. Preparation, physical and mental (emotional) is an inevitable part of travelling and I enjoy the practical detail. The emotional preparation is difficult to control; I prefer that it is left to run free to sample where when and how it chooses. The first few hours after arriving at my destination will determine the outcome, test the preparedness.
Going to INDIA for me IS a big deal, no, correctly it’s not the GOING, it’s the BEING in INDIA that’s the big deal for me; knowing and unknowing, I’ve been preparing for this all my life.


The idea of just simply being in India for me is indescribably delicious; I’m told India touches all your senses, all the time; if so, I look forward to being enveloped in such a blissful state, (That’s not expecting much!) though mindful of Ying and Yang.  I can eat one peanut butter sandwich but there’s a law of diminishing returns the more sandwiches I eat. I try to be realistic.


Going Home is what I’ll call this blog.


The pace is quickening, there’s a buzz in the air, an excitement mounting, a growing anticipation. My tail’s wagging; I find it hard to concentrate on writing. Items on various lists are growing, more and more struck through; items of clothing, useful bits and bobs are beginning to form small piles on the floor of my room like so many molehills. Things need sorting; currency, medications, e-tickets, passwords and usernames, addresses, camera stuff, chargers; all these businesses are the outward manifestation of a gathering excitement, a testing of preconceptions built up over decades from magazines, films, radio programmes, music, food and dribs and drabs of conversation, real and imagined. I try not to load too much anticipation, but is it fair to tell a child not to get excited about a birthday party? The anticipation is a reflex action; it’s the pituitary gland on full bore, it’s a prime-evil response to an expected event, the battle-cry of Baden Powel’s army of scouts: Be Prepared. Momentum is achieved, hopefully there’s no-going-back!


No, I’m perfectly calm and in full control:   YABA-DABA-DO!

Nielsens Wooden Boat Restorers - Gloucester

NOT my conveyance to Mumbai, but what a journey that would be?

This is Nielsens Boat Yard in Gloucester. I visit the yard whenever I'm on my bike and near the city of Gloucester. It's one of only a few traditional boat builders restoring working boats. From time to time beautiful sailing craft rub gunwales with scruffy dredgers; it's busy yard full of dreams.

INDIA

passport, guide book, toothbrush and mozzie repellent...in case

So now I begin a NEW BLOG, as yet nameless, inviting you on an adventure to India, the country of my birth, drawn to it like a moth to a lamp. Time’s moving on and I feel now is my best chance to see if India’s is in my soul; its tastes, sounds and sights were after-all my first experiences. It’s time to get the truck moving, slowly at the beginning, gathering momentum. So here goes........

Jabs administered: Hep.A and Typhoid being the minimum requirement. I thought for 10 seconds about Rabies (3 doses at £450) Japanese Encephalitis (2 doses at £320) and Hep.B (3 doses at £90) and rejected them. Costs an arm and an arm (leg)! Anti-malarial stuff, I bought from Boots for £20, ready to begin a week before departure. I was advised by the nurse to consider having the jabs IN India where they are manufactured, at a fraction of the cost. I’ll be looking out for the dogs! (I’m boring myself already with the cost stuff; I promise no more from now on!)

Flight booked for 15^th March, from Birmingham to Mumbai via Paris, arriving 2355. I’ll  book a hotel though I plan not to spend any more time in Mumbai than can be helped. I thought I could be on a train heading for Udaipur, via Ahmedabad on the 16^th March. However, having researched the fiendishly complicated seating/sleeping arrangements on trains, I’ll have to sit down and think very carefully about this. Beginnings (like endings) are important when travelling, don’t you think? Perhaps I should spend a couple of nights in Mumbai and get things properly sorted?

We'll see....