King Rat (gkr) wrote,
King Rat
gkr

  • Mood:

Ranakpur

Hello my readers! Today I bring you a dirty oily tale!

Ranakpur is a village near Udaipur that is the site of some famous Jain temples. The main temple was gorgeous. But there's little else in Ranakpur, and the travel agency has me here for 2 days. I had thought to go to Kumbalgarh today, but the driver says it's on the way to Delwara, so we might take that route tomorrow when I head to my next hotel.

So what to do with today then? The hotel is quite new, but they do have ayurvedic massage on site. Rs. 800 for 50 minutes. Holy boiling oil Batman! Rs. 800 is about $18, give or take. Sign me up!

I arrived at the massage cottage at the appointed hour of 10 a.m. Now, I have (had) no idea what the difference between a regular Swedish massage is and an ayurvedic massage. But the table looked pretty much the same, though a bit sturdier than most I've seen in the states. Get undressed and lay on the towel. Normal stuff. Well, except… he stepped outside the room, but stepped back inside before I was finished undressing. Procedure I'm used to is they step outside until you are suitably covered by the towel. Ooh, there's another difference. No towel on top of me!

I'm not particularly shy, so I finish undressing and hop on the table. The oil the masseuse used smelled… like Pledge®. I figure, different smells help different cultures relax. I can deal with that. The practitioner didn't really avoid the naughty bits though. Not that I got sensual massage with release as may be found at certain massage parlors in Seattle. But I have massage oil in places I never expected to get massage oil.

He finished up by by offering a head massage. I should have turned him down, given what will be my rant of the entry (coming up). He poured some oil on my head and massaged away. Quite relaxing in fact.

Then get dressed and head to my room to shower off the worst of the oil and get it out of my hair, as I looked like a cross between Richard Nixon and Ozzy Osbourne in the hair department. But, shock of shocks, no hot water! Not again, I think. It gets worse though. I figure I can handle a cold shower for a bit, even though the ambient water temperature here seems to be that of the Wenatchee river despite the average November air temperature of something like 95°F. So I twist the knob for the cold water. Guess what happens next?

You are right, loyal fans, I have no cold water either! So I call down to the front desk. They'll get someone working on it. A half hour later, nothing. So I call down again. Turns out the motor that pumps the water to the roof tanks is broken. I left the hot water turned on and lay back on the bed to watch the limited number of television channels. Water never comes on. After a couple hours, I get up and check the cold water. It's working. So I take a quick shower to get the Pledge® off me, and I finally feel ready to step outside the room again.

Down here to tell ya all about the experience, and the front desk thinks the hot water is back on. In a flurry of activity, they rushed off to rectify that. Meanwhile, I get to tell ya all my story.

Isn't that lovely? Massage was wonderful though, other than the bad touching and the furniture polish smell.

Last night I was one of two customers in the hotel. So I got to chat with most of the hotel staff for an extended period of time. They were bored. Today the hotel is full. Nothing else to say for now.

Subscribe

  • Last post

    I don't plan to delete my LJ (I paid for permanent status, dammit), but this will be the last post. I don't plan to read it anymore, either…

  • The Fighting Lady

    The first image is a screenshot from The Fighting Lady at 6:55. The subject at that moment is the maintenance and operation of the ship's…

  • Operation Hailstorm

    Last summer my aunt requested the military file for my grandfather. It finally came through last month. I scanned all 600+ pages a couple weeks ago…

  • Post a new comment

    Error

    Anonymous comments are disabled in this journal

    default userpic

    Your reply will be screened

  • 14 comments

  • Last post

    I don't plan to delete my LJ (I paid for permanent status, dammit), but this will be the last post. I don't plan to read it anymore, either…

  • The Fighting Lady

    The first image is a screenshot from The Fighting Lady at 6:55. The subject at that moment is the maintenance and operation of the ship's…

  • Operation Hailstorm

    Last summer my aunt requested the military file for my grandfather. It finally came through last month. I scanned all 600+ pages a couple weeks ago…