"Which palace are you staying in?" the waiter asked as we left the beautiful restaurant on the water.
You don't get asked that very often - but here in Rajasthan, all the old havelis - mansions turned guesthouses and hotel - were once the homes of royal viziers, officials and aristocrats.
"Anjani," we replied.
"Oh, right there!" and he pointed across the water to our hotel which was in plain sight. It looked beautiful from across the water. "Anjani is nice."
So was the haveli to which his restaurant was attached. In fact, it was probably a wealthier person's haveli because it had gorgeous manicured grounds and a lakeside location. The restaurant itself was a marvel on the corner-tip of the lakeshore, looking across at the lit-up City Palace, the Lake Palace, and a giant yellow moon.
All the patrons had their cameras out, taking pictures. Only Emily had the boldness to get up and walk around like she was working for Time-Life. But others wanted to, you could tell. With the glow of candlelit tables and soft, yellow lamps - the outdoor restaurant was magical.
We enjoyed a moonlight stroll through town, past a few of the nicest, most beautifully decorated havelis and across the bridge. The cows had left the bridge and curled up together on the ghatts, seemingly also lulled by the moonlight.
These are the moments and experiences that are so enjoyable and rewarding. These are one important facet of why we're on this trip. These are the things we'll have for the rest of our lives.
This weekend is especially welcome because the week was particularly challenging. Emily was extremely busy and a little under the weather.
A few weeks ago, sitting in our thatched bungalow in Kerala, we were concerned about money. Emily seemed to have fewer classes than usual and we've been wanting to put money into our savings - so we were concerned about how this would all work.
Apparently, everyone's New Year's resolution was to take more online classes. Emily has been offered more classes than she can comfortably handle. Normally, she would have turned something down. A series of events and confusions conspired to have her teaching eight classes for four universities at the same time - as well as going through an online orientation for a new school which just asked her to join their adjunct faculty pool.
One school made a mistake and scheduled her for a class she wasn't signed up to teach. They basically begged her to please pick it up because it was two days into the term and there was no instructor. What was she going to do?
Each thing on her plate happened in a similar way. It was just one more thing - she could handle one more thing. Now she has a lot of things, is working more hours and is a little overwhelmed.
At least savings is looking promising....Emily's next few weeks are not.
Meanwhile, the inconsistent Internet speeds of India are finally taking their toll on me. It takes me a lot longer to get my work done in Region 2 than it did in Region 1 - with the exception of Mumbai which had great Internet.
As much as it pains me to say this - the iPad has a drawback. When I toggle between browser screens, it often refreshes the page as it switches to the next browser window. In Greece, Turkey, Israel and France, it was a one to two second blip that meant nothing. In India, that refresh can take a minute or two minutes if Internet is glitchy. It means that pulling up research for articles and quick-referencing it isn't really quick, referencing.
All the little delays of something as simple as changing browser screens add up. Eventually, an article that took me 45 minutes to an hour to complete takes me an hour to an hour and a half and my four to six hour workdays have become an average of nine. While this isn't much different than if I were at home, it's a definite change. More importantly, it takes away from our time out and about.
The work week has become a real, full-fledged work-week for us both.
This entire trip, I have sort of dreaded heading to Delhi, which I expect to be Kathmandu-esque - a little more developed but a lot bigger. At this point, I'm somewhat relieved. Work will probably go better there - as it did in Mumbai - and we'll have more time to get out into the chaos.
The hardest part of all is that with Emily having lots of work, any time there's a technical issue - which on a good day will cause her to want to kill her computer - she sort of melts down with frustration. The problem in India is that sometimes the Internet provider shuts down for the whole area. Sometimes, it just slows. Sometimes they're doing repairs without warning - maybe because a monkey snapped a cable. You never know.
But whatever the cause is unimportant. When it doesn't work, don't let your child, puppy, grandma or breakable family heirlooms anywhere near my wife.
We head to Delhi Wednesday and I'm actually a little excited. I'm more excited about Thailand where I understand the infrastructure is consistently better. It would be fun to get work done faster and be able to enjoy the Thai beaches.
However, the weekend is here - and we're poised to enjoy. A boat ride on the lake, visiting some palaces, shopping, dinner in other parts of town - beautiful, sunny Udaipur is out there and we're going to enjoy it.
You don't get asked that very often - but here in Rajasthan, all the old havelis - mansions turned guesthouses and hotel - were once the homes of royal viziers, officials and aristocrats.
"Anjani," we replied.
"Oh, right there!" and he pointed across the water to our hotel which was in plain sight. It looked beautiful from across the water. "Anjani is nice."
So was the haveli to which his restaurant was attached. In fact, it was probably a wealthier person's haveli because it had gorgeous manicured grounds and a lakeside location. The restaurant itself was a marvel on the corner-tip of the lakeshore, looking across at the lit-up City Palace, the Lake Palace, and a giant yellow moon.
All the patrons had their cameras out, taking pictures. Only Emily had the boldness to get up and walk around like she was working for Time-Life. But others wanted to, you could tell. With the glow of candlelit tables and soft, yellow lamps - the outdoor restaurant was magical.
We enjoyed a moonlight stroll through town, past a few of the nicest, most beautifully decorated havelis and across the bridge. The cows had left the bridge and curled up together on the ghatts, seemingly also lulled by the moonlight.
These are the moments and experiences that are so enjoyable and rewarding. These are one important facet of why we're on this trip. These are the things we'll have for the rest of our lives.
This weekend is especially welcome because the week was particularly challenging. Emily was extremely busy and a little under the weather.
A few weeks ago, sitting in our thatched bungalow in Kerala, we were concerned about money. Emily seemed to have fewer classes than usual and we've been wanting to put money into our savings - so we were concerned about how this would all work.
Apparently, everyone's New Year's resolution was to take more online classes. Emily has been offered more classes than she can comfortably handle. Normally, she would have turned something down. A series of events and confusions conspired to have her teaching eight classes for four universities at the same time - as well as going through an online orientation for a new school which just asked her to join their adjunct faculty pool.
One school made a mistake and scheduled her for a class she wasn't signed up to teach. They basically begged her to please pick it up because it was two days into the term and there was no instructor. What was she going to do?
Each thing on her plate happened in a similar way. It was just one more thing - she could handle one more thing. Now she has a lot of things, is working more hours and is a little overwhelmed.
At least savings is looking promising....Emily's next few weeks are not.
Meanwhile, the inconsistent Internet speeds of India are finally taking their toll on me. It takes me a lot longer to get my work done in Region 2 than it did in Region 1 - with the exception of Mumbai which had great Internet.
As much as it pains me to say this - the iPad has a drawback. When I toggle between browser screens, it often refreshes the page as it switches to the next browser window. In Greece, Turkey, Israel and France, it was a one to two second blip that meant nothing. In India, that refresh can take a minute or two minutes if Internet is glitchy. It means that pulling up research for articles and quick-referencing it isn't really quick, referencing.
All the little delays of something as simple as changing browser screens add up. Eventually, an article that took me 45 minutes to an hour to complete takes me an hour to an hour and a half and my four to six hour workdays have become an average of nine. While this isn't much different than if I were at home, it's a definite change. More importantly, it takes away from our time out and about.
The work week has become a real, full-fledged work-week for us both.
This entire trip, I have sort of dreaded heading to Delhi, which I expect to be Kathmandu-esque - a little more developed but a lot bigger. At this point, I'm somewhat relieved. Work will probably go better there - as it did in Mumbai - and we'll have more time to get out into the chaos.
The hardest part of all is that with Emily having lots of work, any time there's a technical issue - which on a good day will cause her to want to kill her computer - she sort of melts down with frustration. The problem in India is that sometimes the Internet provider shuts down for the whole area. Sometimes, it just slows. Sometimes they're doing repairs without warning - maybe because a monkey snapped a cable. You never know.
But whatever the cause is unimportant. When it doesn't work, don't let your child, puppy, grandma or breakable family heirlooms anywhere near my wife.
We head to Delhi Wednesday and I'm actually a little excited. I'm more excited about Thailand where I understand the infrastructure is consistently better. It would be fun to get work done faster and be able to enjoy the Thai beaches.
However, the weekend is here - and we're poised to enjoy. A boat ride on the lake, visiting some palaces, shopping, dinner in other parts of town - beautiful, sunny Udaipur is out there and we're going to enjoy it.
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