Today
is yet another day bathed in glorious sunshine. Myself and Brian are
up early and looking forward to visiting Udaipur lake. Bob picks us
up and has us at the lake in no time at all. Driver Bob is not his
usual self today and he puts no effort into selling the history or
joys of the lake and we leave almost straight away.
With
the day still open, I ask Bob if he can find us a swimming pool.
We end up at some ridiculously over the top hotel and pay 150 Rupees.
The pool itself, which is outside, looks like it was last cleaned
during the Raj. Theres a green slime on the sides and is full
of insects. Undeterred, we swim for an hour then collapse on the
sun loungers.
Brian
announces his intention go into town and says hell take a
taxi home. I continue to sunbathe till 2pm, which is when driver
Bob has promised to return. I head down to where hes due to
pick me up. A hundred yards ahead of me, Bob is just arriving. But
to my horror, I see him turning the car round and heading off. I
shout but it's clear he had no intention of stopping.
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Palace
Hotel, Udaipur Lake
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I am
non too pleased by this but refuse to get uptight about it. I walk
the couple of miles into town and flag a rickshaw down. But it's
only when I get in the thing do I realise that I don't know where
I'm going. I tell him to just drive. Thankfully we pass the
paddling pool roundabout from the night before and I get out there.
I manage to then find my way back on foot.
Back
at the hotel Bob comes running up to me. With tears in his eyes,
he says, "My Peter, my poor Peter, I lost my poor Peter."
His act is quite convincing and it seems a shame to spoil it, so
I play along. But then when I ask him for a lift into town to get
my camera repaired it seems he can't be bothered. All this and the
tears barely dry on his cheeks. I am too flabbergasted to argue
and end up on the back of a scooter. The ride was actually quite
a buzz, and I really enjoyed weaving in and out of the traffic rather
than being stuck in it.
The
camera shop people tell me that my pocket Olympus has had its day
and they fit me up with a simple instamatic for 500 Rupees.
At
some point in the evening, Brian phones Stacy and finds out that
Bob has failed to give her a blue ticket that was for her train
journey to Delhi. Because of this, she will have paid for the journey
twice. Brian is less than pleased. I
think tomorrow's breakfast will be an interesting affair.
The
views expressed on this page are those of the contributor and the
opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the BBC.
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