Another eventful day, although the eventfulness was rather unexpected. First I will explain with a little background. Everyone on the bus is hacking away with a cough/cold so for a few days now there have been stops at chemists and I have been checking what’s in the drugs for them. So I have become the completely inappropriate advisor on health issues. This is the background and now I will begin the day.
We left Jodhpur and drove for about 4 hours to lunch. We stopped for lunch and were getting ready to leave when one of the group, a lovely Englishman called Frank ( I love this English couple, Frank and Karen) blacked out and face planted on the floor. He was unconscious for maybe 30 seconds before he came around. Blood pouring from a cut to his nose where he had hit the table on the way down and taken a goodly chunk out of the bridge. He’d cut his lip etc but more worrying for me was why he had blacked out.
Anyway Hassan is yelling out Susan, Susan and everyone was running for strapping etc. His poor, dear wife Karen was distressed of course. Anyway they thought it needed stitching so there was a very small hospital nearby. Karen, Hassan and I went to the hospital with him. We bypassed the many Indian people waiting for attention and were ushered straight in. Yes, they wanted to stitch it, I didn’t know how they were going to stitch a chunk out of a nose but I didn’t want to make the call.
They sent us all out and wouldn’t let us watch the procedure….god knows what the hand hygiene or sterile technique was like and I haven’t been able to look at the job they did because its got a bandage on it. I’ll just have to keep an eye on it over the next few days. Frank was shaken up but is OK now. Karen described a previous episode where he had blackout out at the dinner table so I’m guessing he’s having little TIAs…not that I’d know but I’ll certainly be telling them to go to their doctor when they get home.
Next stop, the most beautiful Jain Temple in all of India. Ranakpur. Built C15, The main temple in the complex is Chaumakha (four faced) Temple. And it is truly superb. There are 1444 pillars that are carved intricately and magnificently. There are 29 halls with roofs whose carving is hard to take in it is so beautiful. All in all stunning.
Then on towards Udaipur through a mountain range where the superb driving skills of our driver Mr Singh were put to the test as we twisted through the passes, meeting other busses/trucks/cars and having to negotiate our way around them. The route was lined with monkeys along the side of the road. We finally descended into Udaipur, a beautiful town with 5 large artificial lakes, palaces, temples etc. To be explored more tomorrow.
To our hotel, the Hilltop Palace…and it is just incredible and so very beautiful. It overlooks a large lake. Our room has a balcony and a glorious view (and two beds very close together!!!). We went up to the rooftop bar and sat out on a gorgeous balmy night having a drink before going downstairs to the outdoor dining area overlooking the lake.
We have a big day tomorrow so wont be able to enjoy too much of the hotel but it does feel like a lovely place to be.