The 'A.C. Sleeper bus' from Pushkar to Udaipur was one of my less pleasant transportation experiences in India. When the bus pulled up close to 1am it slowed down just enough for me to hop onto the bottom step and then we were going again. I made my way to the very back of the bus, all my bags in hand, only to find someone already asleep in my bed. The conductor woke and cajoled the man out and I tossed my bags up and climbed up...they had told me there was no room under the bus for my backpack.
It quickly became apparent that I was in for a long night; with my bags in the bunk with me there was little room and laying straight the bunk was too short for me, and with every bump that we hit, which was pretty much constant, I slid and shuddered around. I was sort of getting used to this about 20mins into the ride and starting to doze off when there was a screech and we hit a speed bump hard and I flew up and slammed into the ceiling, smashing my forehead, and then crashing back to down onto the bunk, leaving me with an immediate headache. This happened many more times during the night, but fortunately to a lesser degree.
Despite being 'A.C' (which I've realized in India seems to mean just 'climate controlled' as opposed to 'cooled'), cold air still managed to leak in through every window and much like my ride to Rishikesh it got very cold. As the night wore on we seemed to pick up speed and the faster we went the more cold air rushed in, the more extreme the bumps became, the louder the screeching, and the more exaggerated the swerving; I kept waiting for the bump/swerve that would either topple us completely or toss me from my bunk and break my neck in the process.
When we would slow down enough to ease my fear or death, air circulation would diminish and a pungent foot odor would take over and being to overwhelm, an odor that might gag the average person but that I, thanks to months of raw sewage smell conditioning in Africa, managed to resist, but only just. Despite the difficulties I did manage to catch a little shut eye and at 8am emerged from the bus in Udaipur suffering only minor fatigue and a sore head and neck.
Udaipur turned out to be a fantastic place. I ended up at a hostel down by the lake with a great view of the floating palace, which is now used as an exclusive hotel, where apparently Mick Jagger was staying around the time I was there. I have to confess that I didn't make much of an attempt at seeing all that Udaipur had to offer, I spent my days lazily wandering the streets and shops, eating good food on rooftop restaurants while looking out at the lake or watching the sunset, and chatting with fellow travelers about past and future destinations. My last day there I wound up in a fairly large group of fellow travelers and we did manage to squeeze in a tour of one of the local palaces, which left me with more palace/monument fatigue, but a few interesting photos.
Photos: Udaipur
It quickly became apparent that I was in for a long night; with my bags in the bunk with me there was little room and laying straight the bunk was too short for me, and with every bump that we hit, which was pretty much constant, I slid and shuddered around. I was sort of getting used to this about 20mins into the ride and starting to doze off when there was a screech and we hit a speed bump hard and I flew up and slammed into the ceiling, smashing my forehead, and then crashing back to down onto the bunk, leaving me with an immediate headache. This happened many more times during the night, but fortunately to a lesser degree.
Despite being 'A.C' (which I've realized in India seems to mean just 'climate controlled' as opposed to 'cooled'), cold air still managed to leak in through every window and much like my ride to Rishikesh it got very cold. As the night wore on we seemed to pick up speed and the faster we went the more cold air rushed in, the more extreme the bumps became, the louder the screeching, and the more exaggerated the swerving; I kept waiting for the bump/swerve that would either topple us completely or toss me from my bunk and break my neck in the process.
When we would slow down enough to ease my fear or death, air circulation would diminish and a pungent foot odor would take over and being to overwhelm, an odor that might gag the average person but that I, thanks to months of raw sewage smell conditioning in Africa, managed to resist, but only just. Despite the difficulties I did manage to catch a little shut eye and at 8am emerged from the bus in Udaipur suffering only minor fatigue and a sore head and neck.
Udaipur turned out to be a fantastic place. I ended up at a hostel down by the lake with a great view of the floating palace, which is now used as an exclusive hotel, where apparently Mick Jagger was staying around the time I was there. I have to confess that I didn't make much of an attempt at seeing all that Udaipur had to offer, I spent my days lazily wandering the streets and shops, eating good food on rooftop restaurants while looking out at the lake or watching the sunset, and chatting with fellow travelers about past and future destinations. My last day there I wound up in a fairly large group of fellow travelers and we did manage to squeeze in a tour of one of the local palaces, which left me with more palace/monument fatigue, but a few interesting photos.
Photos: Udaipur
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