Commendation

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Sat, 24 May 2008 19:02:36 +1000

cmcrawford@westnet.com.au

Dear Shweta

The company is so good to us and so very helpful and thoughtful. 

We can’t praise Compass highly enough.  We loved our trip and the experiences you organised for us.  I only wish we’d had even longer to explore some of the fascinating places we visited.

Our driver, Piarchand was exceptional.  We enjoyed his company and were always safe with his excellent driving skills.  He really was very thoughtful when I became sick.  Peri cried when we left him in Delhi because she said she would miss him AND the car!!!

Our hotels were fabulous but I didn’t really like the one at Mandaw or Bikaneer that much because they were pretty old and run down and didn’t give us any water and that was when I was really sick.  This could have coloured my viewpoint a bit as Mark and Peri didn’t complain.

Also, we didn’t know that on arrival in Nepal we would need $100 cash in US dollars for visas and that was a real hassle, especially as I was still really sick there.  We took ages to get out of the airport.

I think I have already told you about our wonderful guides.  I can’t remember all their names but the man in Delhi was great and the one at Agra was truly exceptional.  Sham in Jaipur was also exceptional as was Vickram at Udaipur.  Sham took me shopping for saris in the truly Indian way and that was an absolute ball!  I just loved being smothered in layer after layer of gorgeous fabric.  It was so hard to select just one.  I ended up with 4!  The temple at Ranakpur was incredible and so worth seeing.  We bought some wonderful carpets nearby there and that in itself was a great experience.  Our guide in Jodhpur, I cannot recall his name but I will never forget him.  He was a beautiful man and so well educated and his knowledge of the area and history was detailed and totally fascinating.  I Iearned so much from him.  I remember he said he had been to Australia last year to visit an uncle in Melbourne.  He was a lovely man and we loved the time spent with him.  Also, he had the coolest shoes and took us to a really fabulous place for fabrics and textiles and I just loved that.

You know, I really learned a lot about marble and granite and sandstone and how to tell true quality stone from the ordinary.  I particularly loved the buttery golden stone of Jaisalmer.  The way it wears down to become so soft and shiny and smooth.  Sandstone in Australia is always ‘sandy’ and grainy.  Not at all like the Indian sandstone.

Nepal was great and I finally saw a doctor there and she got me on the road to recovery quickly.  ( I should mention that Piarchand was always wanting to get me a doctor but I kept thinking I’d be fine the next day.  I should have listened to him and got one sooner, but not to worry.)  Our guides there were all so friendly, fun and knowledgeable.  The hotels were gorgeous too.  We loved Fishtail Lodge but the beds were as hard as rocks.  It was so nice there though, we made allowances!  It’s a gorgeous place.

I am almost forgetting the truly magical night we spent in Deogarh.  What a gorgeous place and a simply stunning location.  Their nightly entertainment with some most unusual dancers that danced sitting down and with cymbals on their arms and legs, was fantastic and mesmerizing.  To have dinner on the castle walls and watch the sun set was just exquisite

 Truly Shweta, there were so many ‘moments’ like this that just cannot be compared to anything else.

I always find after traveling that I need a few weeks to process my experiences and let it all sink in.  As soon as we arrived home we had to head straight back to work and change our brainspace back from being in India to being back at school.  That was hard to do after such overwhelming experiences.  I mean being in Varanasi and on the Ganges one day and then in my classroom the next, it was pretty much ‘culture shock’ for me for a while

My class loved all the gifts I bought back for them and they hear a little more each day about India.  We took so many photos.  They have filled 3 CDs.

I hope this feedback is helpful and we cannot praise Compass highly enough.

Colleen

Hello, Shweta—
I am also sorry that we did not have a chance to meet--I hope your dental agonies are over.  We enjoyed the tour very much and have no major complaints. The Wall Street hotel in Jaipur was perhaps not up to the standards of the other accomodation (no hot water from the sink tap) and the tents in Pushkar could have used a second sheet on the beds, between us and the quilted top covers. There was a bottom sheet but that was all. It struck us as not hygenic. The breakfasts at the Pushkar Bagh were also sub-standard. Nevertheless, seeing the Pushkar Fair was a highlight of the tour.  

We experienced our most outstanding guides in Jaipur (Vikram), Agra (Vishu), and Varanasi (Aman Chouderey). Among the rest, a couple of them struggled with English, but on the whole all were helpful.

Arrangements with regard to food were inconsistent. In some cities we had a say in where we wanted to eat while in others not only the restaurant but the choice of what to eat was all prearranged.

Naturally, we like it best when we had a say in where and what to eat.

Some days we had "tourist tummy" and had no desire to eat three big daily meals.

You may want to offer travellers the option of not having all meals included in the package--that would be our preference on future tours of India.

Your agents in every city were deeply solicitous of our well being. I would recommend Compass to any Canadian friends wishing to travel in India. I understand more hotels are being built so travel there will be even better in future. Some of this critique has already been made by my husband Daniel to your colleague Sanjay, but I wanted to let you know as well.

I hope to meet you when I'm back in Delhi some day. Sincerely,

Judy