Dec 30
We woke up too early, again. We woke up for yoga class, so that made it better. None of the boys wanted to get up so early, and Maxine and Melody took a pass as well. That left Aubrey, Koren, Michelle and Al (Hari and Pari’s son who was home from abroad for the holidays). We learned our lesson from yesterday, and did not leave our shoes outside.
Whenever we arrived back home from yoga, Hari would give us a delicious glass of lemon water. After lemon water we would gather the rest of the group for breakfast. Today’s offering was muesli, flattened rice with “catfish snacks” mixed in, and some little crunchy snacks to sprinkle on the rice that we were told were optional as they were spicy, but we did not find them spicy. This was just a “light” (Ha!) breakfast as Cooking class was starting at 10:30.
We were joined by a mother-daughter duo, Lisa and Raphaela, who crowded into Hari’s kitchen to learn how to make Chicken masala, baingen bharta (aubergine), paneer kaftan (cheese and potato balls), naan, chapatis, sweet chapatis, tamarind sauce and cilantro lime sauce. Everything was fascinating to make and tasted absolutely amazing!
After lunch we had four different activities scheduled. First was an ayurvedic massage. We didn’t really know what expect, so weren’t able to warn the boys, who had never experienced any type of massage before. There was a certain amount of variation between the massagers, but none of us were asked about injuries or any history whatsoever. The massage certainly did not feel as clinical as they do at home. I think Noam was a bit taken aback by the fact that he had a female masseuse who gave him a full body massage. Teva decided that he did not want his sweatpants off, and he had been put in a room with Melody, whom I think the women assumed was her son. She was a bit taken aback when they asked her to strip down in front of Teva. Even with the language barrier, they managed to indicate what they were and were not comfortable with. we all had a good laugh when we compared notes later.
After the massages, Aubrey, the boys and Melody went for a sunset camel ride on a flat road, as opposed to the hilly, rugged terrain from our last camel ride. Aubrey said that the ride felt more bumpy, more like riding a horse. The third activity was a Scientific Hand Analysis, by Hari’s husband, Pari. To do the analysis, Pari took a scan of our palms with a computer scanner, including our finger prints. He then, based on patterns and lines in our hands and fingerprints told us what we are meant to do, and what our path should be. It was very interesting. Only the adults, and Erez had their palms analyzed, Michelle took a pass. the final activity was Mehndi (Henna). Several took advantage of getting more henna. When we were out and about, Someone complemented Erez on his Mehndi, but then added: “You know that’s only for girls, right?”
We had planned to do a second yoga class at 7pm, but the traffic was so crazy that we ended up turning around and cancelling the class. This three day period was so busy in Udaipur, and traffic volumes were ridiculous. We returned home to freshen up and then ate dinner at another wonderful outdoor restaurant called “Tribute”. Because it was chilly, they had charcoal burning in metal cages on top of stands. They would place these coal baskets close to the table to warm up the clientele. These were portable and were moved to wherever they were needed. We were home from dinner around 10pm.
So far, our days have started early than usual, been extremely busy, and we have been eating dinner much later than we are accustomed to at home. As a result, we have been collapsing into bed at night, hence the backlog of blogposts – thanks for being patient.