Colombo, Sri Lanka to Jaipur, India - Mar 11
As an aside, I'm starting this blog on Mar 19 (after Sri Lanka, India, Dubai & Oman) and I've finally got the "ship cough and cold". From here on out there are lots of ports and not many sea days, so I probably won't begin to keep up with the blog. We have 5 sea days now that may allow me to keep up the text.
From our last trip here: 2019 Colombo trip https://photos.app.goo.gl/qqYdKbFP2QVLCagu9
Tom & Cathy are doing the over-land with us and we are excited to share the experience with such wonderful people!
Sri Lanka was another fuster-cluck by Princess. Our port was changed to a container port that needed buses to get out of the port. We’ve done that before, but you disembark normally and catch a bus outside; first come first served. This time they thought the best way to handle it was to have all independents meet in the Princess theater and handle it like a tender port. Like those have gone so well this trip....
About 16 people were doing an independent overland to the Taj Mahal not with Princess, another group was headed to the Maldives, and we have our overland to Jaipur & Varanasi. We showed up at the theater as instructed only to be told we should meet in the atrium for the buses.
We were not given a ticket. About 7:30 we were told we could leave. We go to a bus, but they wouldn’t let us on without a ticket. They knew our driver wasn’t in the port and we would meet him outside the port gate, thus needing a ticket, but still weren't given one.
Finally, after more frustration we were let on the bus. We had no luggage tags as they were in our cabin the night before, but no instructions on what to do with them so we didn't use them. We preferred to carry our luggage and not have to take the time to reclaim them. They finally took our luggage and let us on the bus.
Finally, we are outside the gate and our driver was there
shortly.
We had a couple of hours to see a few things before going to the airport. The Jami Ul-Alfar Masjid (Red Mosque) was closed so we only got some outside shots before going on to the photo op at the Pettah Floating market. We wanted to shop a bit so we were taken to the market area. They only took local currency, so we didn’t buy anything. Cathy found a great wrap skirt that would have been perfect for any mosques or temples, but they wouldn't take USD. We didn't plan on getting any local currency since our driver/guide accepted USD and we were only there a couple of hours.
Our next stop was the Gangaramaya Temple that serves as a place of Buddha worship and a learning center. Although it was a place of worship, it really was a museum and a great way for others to learn about Buddhism. We could have easily spent more time here.
No time to shop we went to the gate where bags were scanned again. We waited until they called our rows and boarded a bus to take us to the plane. We had a nice meal on the plane of biryanis with chicken and a nice mandarin pudding with real silverware, including knives????
It was a 3-hour flight to Delhi where we left all the Princess people and transferred to our flight to Jaipur. We were met by a representative from the tour company and were driven to the next terminal by golf cart.
We arrived in Jaipur and were presented with fresh Indian flower garlands called Mala to welcome us to India. We drove through the hustle of the crowded streets. Jaipur was everything I expected India to be. On our first visit in Mumbai, I was expecting cows in the street, but we really didn’t see any except an occasional one. The guide proudly said they were really trying to clean up the city. But of course, we wanted to see the cows and the chaos lol. Jaipur had many cows, some buffalo, goats, a few camels, monkeys, an occasional horse and of course dogs and the occasional cat and rickshaws, motorcycles and of course lots of people! Don't get me wrong we loved Mumbai as well, but Jaipur seemed more like the "real" India.
We drove through the new city past a colorful lighted building with no photo stop. Then we honked our way through the crowded streets of the old town. Finally, we arrived at our hotel, and it was beautiful.
http://www.samode.com/samodehaveli/
We were shown to our rooms and the guy said your room is up there and the other over there. Assuming they were the same I went to the other one. We just started to put things away when a knock came at the door, and it was Tom & Cathy saying their room was a suite and it had to have been meant for us and insisted we switch. Wow, what a room it was! Thanks Tom & Cathy! The best way to describe it is like a Sultan's bedroom or the Queen's room. It had a tearoom in the entry, a couple of alcoves with floor couches in them. Mirrored archways & pillars with inlaid patterns. Another alcove with a mini fridge and a desk. Huge bathroom with a hall leading to it with a small alcove in it. Hard to photograph to get the full affect but we tried.
We unpacked enough to shower and get our stuff ready for the next day and it was bedtime.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/DWuaahFf142TytXbA
Of course, we saw some birds:
Asian Koel
Blue-tailed Bee-eater
Cattle Egret
Common Myna
Gray Heron
House Crow
Indian Cormorant
Indian Pond-Heron
Intermediate Egret
Little Cormorant
Little Egret
Painted Stork
Spot-billed Pelican
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