This was a faulty approach. I hadn't noticed that up though my service had been a good sturdy three bars of 4G at the top, it degraded very quickly on the way down. When I decided it was time to get the meeting set, I pulled out my phone and was roundly disappointed by the dreaded E. Emergency calls only. Super.
Being a free-spirited couple, we decided that it didn't much matter; we'd just walk down the road to what seemed to be the unofficial parking area for the fort attraction. So we did. No car, no driver. But from certain corners of the ersatz parking lot I found that my phone could, in fact, get a signal and make a call. Huzzah! So I called our man, and the phone rang. And it rang. And it kept ringing. And it didn't stop ringing.
As I have noted elsewhere, voicemail is not a thing that people do in India. More on that in the Pages, specifically the one named "All the Complaining."
Cool, so here we were, sweaty in the great wild countryside. No driver. We eventually determined to walk back to the drop-off area, sacrificing cell signal for an opportunity to look around for clues. So we did. I forgot to mention before that we'd walked a kilometer or so since making it back to the bottom of the mountain. That meant that we'd climbed up ~500 meters, walked around for a couple km's, then climbed down ~500m, then started the pedestrian search for Mr. Driver. Oh well.
So we got back to the base, and started checking the cars parked in random nooks and crannies about the area. We were approached by a pair of young fellows with a sunny disposition and guided over to one of these crannies that contained our empty car. The driver apparently had gone off to schmooze around, but at least left instructions with the neighborhood youngsters to keep an eye out for annoyed white people. There aren't a lot of white people wandering around the interior of Maharastra in monsoon season, so this worked out for us. We hung out by the van while they scampered away in search of our man.
After 20 or so minutes, he came sauntering over out of the general chaos that the fort area had become by mid day. Everyone was now awake and about in typical Indian style, which is to say the style of maximum chaos. He arrived smiling with nervous apprehension and apologizing, clearly able to detect that we were irritated. Why wouldn't he just take flight and leave his goddamned phone in the car? Cool cool cool.
Oh well, there was nothing to do for it now but to get on with the rest of the day. This little episode did, however, drive a certain dynamic in our communications henceforth; namely, I would ask him over and over where he was to be and when, and excoriate him to keep his phone on him.
Moving on, with a certain amount of miming, pointing, and map-showing we conveyed that we would now like to go check out the nearby Bhaja Caves. These are the lesser of the two famous sets of Buddhist caves in the locale, containing some pretty fantastic ancient relief carving. We made our was down the short but winding road, passing perhaps dozens, perhaps hundreds of Indians on foot walking the back roads. It had bloomed into a beautiful, sunny Saturday and everyone was out making the most of it. The many small waterfalls that lined the sides of the narrow road were filled with exuberant people splashing, lounging, and playing.
We found plenty of people at Bhaja, but it was not actually crowded. The caves were charming in areas and boldly impressive in others. The 'main' cave contained a soaring ceiling of maybe eight to nine meters. There are a number of wooden ribs or horseshoes that arc up into the vault of the ceiling. These are called chaitya, and are apparently a ancient feature of some renown. They are certainly impressive as one stares up at them from the stone floor in the center of the largest chamber. The other most prominent feature of the area in the number of huge stone stupas. There is a 4-meter-tall stupa in the main chamber, and seven smaller ones on the path to the waterfall. Some of them are very simple, but some of them have complex carvings that have faded to shadow.
Aside from the 2,000 year old caves, there was something else we found interesting. Occasionally someone would want to take a picture with us. Sometimes it was individually, and sometimes it was as a family. Sometimes it would just be me or it would just be my wife. We got plenty of looks, with degrees of discretion varying from a covert gaze to out-right slack-jawed staring. Random white people are not common in the area. I had read about it being kind of a thing in India to take pictures of blonde kids and things of that sort, but it was a little odd to experience first-hand. Kel and I looked at each other with a smile and a shrug after these encounters and said, "Ah, India!"
This has come to be a little catch-all between us for when things are unusual and new, for when they are challenging or annoying, or for when we simply don't know what else to say.
Ah, India!
On the way to meet back up with Saresh the driver, we stopped at a little roadside stand to get some grilled corn. This is, as the name suggests, corn which has been grilled. This is done by stripping off the husk and placing the ear or corn directly into a pot of merry red-hot coals. Once it gets nice and hot with a good bit of char, it is rubbed with a little butter and seasoned aggressively, as most things are here.
It was delicious. This may have been a partial consequence of having used the seven or eight hours since breakfast to hike up and down a mountain and partake of other adventures. We polished off our snack, found Saresh and the van at the appointed place, and set off for the hotel. Lagoona Resort, here we come.
As we got back into Lonavala itself, the resort town traffic was doing its thing. Still not a shadow of a shadow of back in Mumbai. We wound our way through town then out to our hotel, Lagoona Resort. I hadn't had the foresight to get a reservation in the books until about a week and a half before our little escape, so options were a little limited. This is not the nicest place in town, but it's still pretty nice.
The courtyard hold a pretty cool fountain, and the facade has a nice Italian air about it. Once through the doors, the lobby is airy and open, with graceful staircases and, for some reason, a koi pond. Whatever. We made our way over to check in and were greeted with a nice refreshing lime soda to replenish us. We got signed in and escorted up to the room, then promptly moved to another slightly nicer room. We did get a little downgrade in the view, seeing as we got to look out upon a construction dump from the balcony.. Ah, India!
Since we'd had plenty of time on our feet, we elected to go grab a drink and a snack at the restaurant, to be followed by a dip at the pool. This is where we got some comedy.
The restaurant had only a few select offerings for the afternoon lull in service. We were guided to something that would have been forgetable if it hadn't been both weird and bad. Kind of steamed vegetables in a weird white sauce with no flavor. Gora food! White people hate things that have "tastes" and "flavors" - everyone knows this. Also, white people drink beer and only beer. This is the only way I could guess at causes for what happened next. Kel ordered a gin & tonic. The Hindi word for gin is "gin," and the Hindi word for tonic is "tonic." After ascertaining these facts, it became clear that they simply had no idea what a gin & tonic was. They brought over a gin with some soda and lime. After going a few rounds of attempted explanation, I had a brilliant idea; I'd go down to the poolside bar and just buy a tonic. So I tried. The bartender down there was more sympathetic and understood relatively quickly. He apologized and informed me that there simply wasn't any tonic to be had. Okey dokey, gin & soda it would be. Ah, India!
Oh well, first world problems. So we went up to the room and solidified our dinner plans out at Parsi Dhaba, a highly rated Parsi food place that was actually located out in the Della complex. This is kind of an all-inclusive high-end joint out on the Western end of Lonavala. We went there in a torrential downpour and were treated to some absolutely magnificent Parsi cuisine. The kheema in particular captured a place in my heart. The staff was on point, and the decor was lovely.
Then back to Lagoona for a restful slumber before heading out the next day to our highlight for sightseeing - Karla Caves.
As we got back into Lonavala itself, the resort town traffic was doing its thing. Still not a shadow of a shadow of back in Mumbai. We wound our way through town then out to our hotel, Lagoona Resort. I hadn't had the foresight to get a reservation in the books until about a week and a half before our little escape, so options were a little limited. This is not the nicest place in town, but it's still pretty nice.
The courtyard hold a pretty cool fountain, and the facade has a nice Italian air about it. Once through the doors, the lobby is airy and open, with graceful staircases and, for some reason, a koi pond. Whatever. We made our way over to check in and were greeted with a nice refreshing lime soda to replenish us. We got signed in and escorted up to the room, then promptly moved to another slightly nicer room. We did get a little downgrade in the view, seeing as we got to look out upon a construction dump from the balcony.. Ah, India!
Since we'd had plenty of time on our feet, we elected to go grab a drink and a snack at the restaurant, to be followed by a dip at the pool. This is where we got some comedy.
The restaurant had only a few select offerings for the afternoon lull in service. We were guided to something that would have been forgetable if it hadn't been both weird and bad. Kind of steamed vegetables in a weird white sauce with no flavor. Gora food! White people hate things that have "tastes" and "flavors" - everyone knows this. Also, white people drink beer and only beer. This is the only way I could guess at causes for what happened next. Kel ordered a gin & tonic. The Hindi word for gin is "gin," and the Hindi word for tonic is "tonic." After ascertaining these facts, it became clear that they simply had no idea what a gin & tonic was. They brought over a gin with some soda and lime. After going a few rounds of attempted explanation, I had a brilliant idea; I'd go down to the poolside bar and just buy a tonic. So I tried. The bartender down there was more sympathetic and understood relatively quickly. He apologized and informed me that there simply wasn't any tonic to be had. Okey dokey, gin & soda it would be. Ah, India!
Oh well, first world problems. So we went up to the room and solidified our dinner plans out at Parsi Dhaba, a highly rated Parsi food place that was actually located out in the Della complex. This is kind of an all-inclusive high-end joint out on the Western end of Lonavala. We went there in a torrential downpour and were treated to some absolutely magnificent Parsi cuisine. The kheema in particular captured a place in my heart. The staff was on point, and the decor was lovely.
Then back to Lagoona for a restful slumber before heading out the next day to our highlight for sightseeing - Karla Caves.
