This morning we were lying in and took it easy as we were going to travel via Abu Road to Mount Abu. After showers and breakfast in the hotel we finished packing and spent the remaining time relaxing until 11:00 checkout. Afterwards we spent the time before our 14:25 train departure from Jaipur in the reception area, which had seating.
Another couple from England were also waiting there and we got talking to them - turns out that she had Delhi belly and we advised them on what to do, i.e. drink water/dioralyte and when it stays down proceed to dry toast - then if that stays down, consider more adventurous foods.
At 13:30 our rickshaw, which we had booked with the hotel, arrived and we were on our way to the station. Again, Claire went and spoke to the station master and we quickly found our platform where we waited for about 30 minutes before the train arrived - and that's when the fun started.
Our booking had given us carriage G10 (AC3), seats 76-78 (side upper+lower), but there were only 75 seats in this carriage, unlike the two adjacent carriages, which both had 78. So we got on G9 and waited for the conductor to finally arrive to sort us out. He was not really very nice and after some to'ing and fro'ing he ended up planting us in the midst of 5 sweaty Indian men - so much for our own corner with no disturbances - sigh. We were a bit pissed off and when another conductor came around Claire tried to rectify the situation to no avail. We really should put in a complaint for their stupidity and incompetence (and maybe get a partial refund ;-) - but life really is too short...
Anyway, we settled and got talking to a couple of the guys there - we actually had a good conversation about India, life, the world economy, Europe and so on with one guy in particular, who was very nice. I also sampled a couple of Samosas from the local Wallah - and didn't get sick with Delhi-belly from it, despite this high-risk food acquisition approach. Claire still had a sick stomach so didn't eat much and certainly not anything off the Wallahs, just in case.
After 6:30 hours on the train we finally arrived at our destination and were immediately greeted by a horde of men wanting to bring us to Mount Abu - although overwhelming it actually worked in our favour as we didn't need to do any haggling - they did that amongst themselves in front of us until they came to an acceptable figure, which we accepted - and we were on our way on the 28km journey by Jeep.
After about an hour's drive, and after paying a weird Rs.10,- tourist tax per passenger at a Mount Abu "entrance", we arrived at our hotel at 21:45 and immediately had big misgivings.
While the hotel looked OK and was reasonably new there was a huge party going on and lots of local pop music playing with big base at a very high volume. So we immediately expressed our concerns and asked for a quiet room away from the party - the reception staff asked us not to worry as "It will all be over in half an hour". We got to our room and realised immediately that this would probably be the most noisy room in the hotel given the fact that it was under the ball room and had 3 walls facing hallways and the small garden outside (via a big glass facade) - but we decided to give it a chance.
Nearly an hour later the music finally died down and we thought this was the end - but no, then loads of young people started spilling out into the hallways and started banging doors to their rooms (the party moved from the ball room to the guest rooms), yelling and screaming, laughing, messing and even busying themselves inside the rooms in more animal ways. So I didn't fall a sleep for a long time - and neither did Claire.
Another couple from England were also waiting there and we got talking to them - turns out that she had Delhi belly and we advised them on what to do, i.e. drink water/dioralyte and when it stays down proceed to dry toast - then if that stays down, consider more adventurous foods.
At 13:30 our rickshaw, which we had booked with the hotel, arrived and we were on our way to the station. Again, Claire went and spoke to the station master and we quickly found our platform where we waited for about 30 minutes before the train arrived - and that's when the fun started.
Our booking had given us carriage G10 (AC3), seats 76-78 (side upper+lower), but there were only 75 seats in this carriage, unlike the two adjacent carriages, which both had 78. So we got on G9 and waited for the conductor to finally arrive to sort us out. He was not really very nice and after some to'ing and fro'ing he ended up planting us in the midst of 5 sweaty Indian men - so much for our own corner with no disturbances - sigh. We were a bit pissed off and when another conductor came around Claire tried to rectify the situation to no avail. We really should put in a complaint for their stupidity and incompetence (and maybe get a partial refund ;-) - but life really is too short...
Anyway, we settled and got talking to a couple of the guys there - we actually had a good conversation about India, life, the world economy, Europe and so on with one guy in particular, who was very nice. I also sampled a couple of Samosas from the local Wallah - and didn't get sick with Delhi-belly from it, despite this high-risk food acquisition approach. Claire still had a sick stomach so didn't eat much and certainly not anything off the Wallahs, just in case.
After 6:30 hours on the train we finally arrived at our destination and were immediately greeted by a horde of men wanting to bring us to Mount Abu - although overwhelming it actually worked in our favour as we didn't need to do any haggling - they did that amongst themselves in front of us until they came to an acceptable figure, which we accepted - and we were on our way on the 28km journey by Jeep.
After about an hour's drive, and after paying a weird Rs.10,- tourist tax per passenger at a Mount Abu "entrance", we arrived at our hotel at 21:45 and immediately had big misgivings.
While the hotel looked OK and was reasonably new there was a huge party going on and lots of local pop music playing with big base at a very high volume. So we immediately expressed our concerns and asked for a quiet room away from the party - the reception staff asked us not to worry as "It will all be over in half an hour". We got to our room and realised immediately that this would probably be the most noisy room in the hotel given the fact that it was under the ball room and had 3 walls facing hallways and the small garden outside (via a big glass facade) - but we decided to give it a chance.
Nearly an hour later the music finally died down and we thought this was the end - but no, then loads of young people started spilling out into the hallways and started banging doors to their rooms (the party moved from the ball room to the guest rooms), yelling and screaming, laughing, messing and even busying themselves inside the rooms in more animal ways. So I didn't fall a sleep for a long time - and neither did Claire.
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