Back to reality

Sigh. We're back at the Pride Hotel in Pune. The afterglow of the Taj Holiday Village is slowly dissipating, but we're so glad that we went this weekend. It was exactly what we needed. It was absolute heaven. Thank you so much to Sonia from SSS for arranging it for us.

This morning I woke up at the crack of dawn so I could squeeze as much activity (or inactivity) from our last morning as possible. We were among the first people at breakfast and we got a lovely table overlooking the sea. Today I tried the tea that was being served (since the tummy trouble, I have been avoiding tea) and it turned out to be delicious Indian chai tea. At our hotel, they only serve black tea from tea bags (grumble, grumble). It was delicious. As for the breakfast, I started with freshly squeezed watermelon juice, fresh fruit (pineapple, papaya, watermelon, canteloupe), bhel puri, porridge, medu wada, and chicken sausage. After a short break, I went on to my second course of a boiled egg, white toast, another chicken sausage, a mini chocolate glazed doughnut (waddle, waddle), and a glass of mango smoothie (tasted just like mango ice cream). We lingered over tea for a bit and then set off to explore the fort and hotel next door.

The Taj Fort Aguada was where we had originally requested to stay. We poked around the hotel grounds a bit (facilities are open to guests from both hotels) and realized that ours is way better. At least one star better if not more. We are so glad that we couldn't get in and we stayed at the Village instead. One interesting thing about that hotel is that there is a a full-time astrologer. Also, it is built around old fort ramparts from around 1620. We followed the fort wall around the hotel and it ended in an open area with small altars overlooking the water. It was beautiful and serene.

What is isn't serene is being pestered by all the jet ski/dolphin cruise/parasailing hawkers who chase after you with a "hello, my friend!" Marcelo must have turned down at least 12 offers during the time we were walking around the forts. It's a wonder that they can do business at all with so much competition.

After our walk, Marcelo hung out in the chaises longues on the beach and I swam in the sea for an hour. The water may be extra salty or something because it's so easy to float. Or maybe I'm just getting really fat. In any case, I just hung out there and looked up at the clear sky. I loved it. I miss swimming so much when I'm in Toronto. I didn't want to leave. For most of it, I was the only person on the whole beach swimming.

Checkout time was at noon, so at 11AM we hightailed it to the pool to have a last dip and lounge. By 11:15AM, we went back to our cottages to shower and get packed up. The front desk offered to send a golf cart to pick us up, but we roughed it and walked to the lobby. Checkout was a bit more complicated than it had to be because they didn't seem to have very accurate records of web bookings. Marcelo already paid a deposit online and they didn't seem to know about it. They believed us and finally sorted it out, but something seems a little faulty with their systems. I think AV should extend its functionality to include hotel reservations and Marcelo and I could stay in Goa to facilitate. Please?

The whole trip back to Pune went much smoother than the way over. The drive to the Goa airport was fine. Darcy told me that the airport was on terrorist alert because of it being high season, but I didn't think it was any different than the other Indian domestic airport. They're really serious about security and they have scary-looking military guys everywhere with big guns. All bags, including carry-ons, are carefully screened and they must be tagged and stamped in order to bring them on the plane. Even after you've been through security, they get checked again before you board. When we landed in Mumbai, a guard requested to see our boarding passes before we entered the terminal. I know it's all for safety's sake but it makes me nervous that I could be pulled aside at any time and questioned. It hasn't happened yet (fingers crossed).

We flew on Kingfisher Airlines, which is the very same company that makes Kingfisher beer. I think it's sort of like an Indian Hooters Air, but much less racy. I think that the flight attendants' outfits are risque by Indian standards (skirts above the knee). The planes are also very nice with personal TVs at each seat. They gave us little kits with a welcome message, food menu, pen, earphones, Mentos, cream candy, flight schedule, and wet nap. And even though the flight was only 1 hour long, they fed us a full meal (dhan sak, lacy vegetable kebabs, brown rice with fried onions, and bread & butter pudding). It was all pretty good.

When we got to Mumbai, we had a little trouble finding Pradeep because it was so crowded, but we hooked up okay. He told us that the drive back would take 3 hours, but he managed to do it in about 2. The Irish guys in our hotel said that their drive to Pune from Mumbai took them 4 hours. We have the best driver ever.

We got back to the hotel at 7:45PM and we went straight to the Indian restaurant in the hotel. We had a one week break from Indian food, so we're back on the horse again. I had raita (yogurt salad), paneer kadai (cottage cheese in curry), aloo hara pyaz (potato and green onion), kalonji ke baignan (eggplant), sarson da saag (mustard greens), steamed rice, and buttered naan.

On our way back to our rooms, we met up with the guys from Ireland. They had spent the weekend at the Taj Aurangabad and they visited the Ellora caves. It sounded amazing and it's really too bad that we were sick and couldn't go. But, I'm glad we didn't miss Goa.

I took a million pictures today, so if you'd like to see them, please click here. Tomorrow's a school day, so I gotta get to bed. Goodnight everyone.