Sunday : Our plan for a lie in was trashed by the preparations for breakfast behind the wardrobe but at least we could take things at our own pace and enjoy a few more hours in Blandings Castle. Breakfast itself was suitably eccentric with cold garlic mushrooms and fried chicken salami amongst the options. R's boiled eggs arrive in egg cups bearing the family crest but have already been shelled. The Japanese coach party have disappeared to be replaced by a French one. We wonder where they were last night. D has a filthy headcold and goes online to find out what to ask for in place of Sudafed.
Buddhu arrives promptly with the car and we set off. It is a misty morning but the sun keeps threatening to break through. We make good time on the NH3 toll road towards Agra then turn off onto mainly empty backroads. We know that we are in Rajasthan because there are lots of camels about. Most of the rest of the traffic is shiny new Massey-Fergusons. We emerge onto another big highway and recognise where we are. It is the road from Agra to Fatehpur Sikri and on to Jaipur that we travelled three years ago. We go by FS this time and are soon on the outskirts of Bharatpur. By this time the sun has won the battle and we are going to have our first sunny day since Orchha.
The language barrier is hit once more as D tries to explain that we need to go to a pharmacy before being dropped at the hotel. Buddhu ropes in a Sikh cycle rickshaw driver as an unlikely translator and eventually the message gets through. We have a brief detour to the market area, shop successfully and are then deposited at the Bharatpur Ashok Hotel, inside the gates of the national park. D sorts out the paperwork with Buddhu who looks very relieved to be parted from us.
The room is fine with a decent bathroom a fridge and a balcony. We go straight down to lunch which we have on the terrace outside the restaurant. The food is fine but beer is not an option here so we have water. At the end of the meal there is a row because we pay with a 500 note. They expect us to have change. We ask for the charge to go on our room bill. No. D gets cross. "I have no change because you people are always holding your hands out for tips. Go and find some change."
We are approached by one of the Park guides who offers to show us around for 3 hours for 700 rupees. We agree a 3 hour walk starting at 3 p.m. and go to sort ourselves out. Sattu is there and has a powerful telescope on a tripod. The park is quite busy as it is Sunday afternoon but he soon finds us some good spots. There are all sorts of waterfowl and ducks, herons, egrets and a couple of painted storks as well. Old favourites include grey hornbills, rufous treepies, the snakebirds that we saw last year on the Backwaters near Alleppey and, always cheering, a white throated kingfisher. The day was topped off with a distant sighting of a crested serpent eagle.
It was almost dark by the time we got back to the hotel. Sattu explained that the place used to be licensed but had not bothered to renew it as the level of business did not justify the licence fee. He offered to go and get some beer for us on his motorbike as long as we drank it in our room. We also agreed to hire him for the full day tomorrow. While we waited for his return we discovered that there was wifi in the lobby, free to use and a good signal. After a surreptitious beer we caught up a bit and then went into dinner, half an hour before service started. This gave us chance to catch up fully before giving the restaurant another go. "Buffet tonight , sir. Fifteen minutes." We were starving but had no choice. The soup was OK but the rest of the buffet was unappetising and luke warm. For this we were charged 1100 rupees, a real rip-off.
We retired in poor humour.
No comments:
Post a Comment