Mount Abu, December 16th 2010
We are in urgent need of toast and cornflakes as W is melting down and wants to do ‘all of this’ blog…
W: nuffin’ not funny poopy woopy L. (WM: I’m transcribing straight from the horse’s mouth - Please, please breakfast come fast!) I feel very sorry for monkeys ‘cos the people tease the monkeys by throwing crackers. They are meant to eat bananas and they’d have a much happier life if they ate bananas. The monkeys were swinging in the trees and being crazy like Max. (= Maximillian, W’s cuddly monkey) Cornflakes!! With cold milk! (W now engaged with eating only)
WM: Coffee, poopy woopy Wolf-Dad! [= Please bring Wolfmum’s coffee urgently.]
WD: It’s a beautiful sunny morning high in the hills with palm trees and eucalyptus growing around the lake under a deep blue sky. So peaceful, perhaps? For a change it’s actually cold and, as ever, Hindi music drifts our way. Welcome to Mount Abu, Rajasthan’s only hill resort.
We drove here yesterday along one of India’s great new superhighways: dual carriageways cut straight through the hillsides leaving a smooth road sweeping across the landscape. It’s always best to drive in the middle of the road to avoid the landslides and indeed cows, goats, villagers. There’s plenty of space for drivers as no-one else seemed to be on the road – the steep toll charges every 50km perhaps? Men wearing huge red turbans herd their long-horned cows down the road, ladies in billowing bright red or yellow saris walk down the central reservation carrying firewood home and children sit hopefully by the side of the road with baskets of custard-apples. Good roads and no traffic means that one can – amazingly – travel over 40km/hour, so reaching Abu from Udaipur only took three hours. We’ve finally used the booster seats (thanks Ellie and Ruth) and have contrived some way of three children being tied down with two belts.
L: We went up the mountain to reach our hotel. We saw monkeys sitting by the road. They were sunbathing, itching their toes, eating packets of crisps. We think they only eat masala chips, as they are Indian monkeys. [WM: memories of dassies eating cheesy-wotsits up Table Mountain, Emma and Robert.] I don’t think it’s good for them. I think they need to eat bananas and fruit. We were late for lunch so we ate lots of greasy, yucky snacks [WD: stuffed parathas, pakoras, deep-fried omelettes –we need bananas and fruit.].I really like our hotel here because it is right next to the Nakki lake and that reminds us of our cousin, Annabelle, she calls her dad Nikkinakkinoo [WD: Can you cope with the publicity, Nick?].
Today we went to the Sunset Point. We went to where we could see the view and other people followed us. The people at sunset point were copy cats because they kept following us. It was very busy and noisy. There were some honeymooners there. Dad says sometimes they do kissees.
M: As we arrived in Mount Abu it was hard to decide exactly where we were since we saw a mini model of the Eiffel tower and then a road stall selling baguettes, so it looked a bit like France. Then it seemed as if we were in Australia because there are huge rocky outcrops and gum trees surrounding us, a bit like I’d imagine the Australian Outback to be. Yet you don’t get wild monkeys and palm trees in Australia and that was what made it India. W still asks ‘Are we on Planet Earth?’
Yesterday evening we realized quite how high up we were. Lakes were puddles, forests were merely a plate of broccoli and people were impossible to see even as specks in the distance. There were a few honeymooners but mainly Gujerati holiday makers wearing strange items of clothing like a sarong but mostly cold weather clothes (luminous yellow woolly hats and furry jackets and children in balaclavas and special camouflaged ear muffs).
WD: For all you readers in Europe (and Montreal) you’ll be pleased to know that The Times of India is today reporting that the ‘cold wave intensifies’ over north Gujarat. Apparently in Abu “life in the hill station has been thrown completely out of gear.” It reports a nocturnal temp of minus 2 degrees – doesn’t bear much relation to our experience. Our taxi driver couldn’t believe we were going to spend 3 nights here. “Much before evening, the roads wear a deserted look with residents venturing out only in case of an emergency.” Sounds dramatic! Rest assured that we are wearing jumpers as well as a shirt to survive the cold snap, and Wolfmum has promised to buy me some ear-warmers for Christmas.
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| Alarming neon ice-cream |
It’s back to the children being mobbed – they’re under our balcony in the hotel playground (swings, slides, roundabout!) holding up the traffic as hundreds gather the other side of the wire to chat… In Udaipur, we weren’t at all interesting – as the place was full of foreign tourists and even some with children – we were outclassed by one family with 4 kids, including a baby in a back pack…
Actually the point of being here is to go to some very fine Jain temples at Dilwara. As long as I’m not menstruating, I can go too. We were all very tolerant field assistants for Wolf Dad last week when we went to the Jain complex at Ranakpur. And we’re even planning a half-day trek with Charles, the local snake catcher, tomorrow, to ensure our diet isn’t just temples and fried food.
Kids are fighting, time to go boating…
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