28 KATHERINE TIMES, WEDNESDAY JANUARY 22, 2014 www.katherinetimes.com.au HOT DEALS MARKET FORCES A guided walking tour of Kathmandu is included in a new fly, stay and tour package from Direct Flights. The package includes return flights with Cathay Pacific to Kathmandu, five nights at the three-star Hotel Tenki in the Nepalese capital and a guided city walking tour with a market visit to buy lunch ingredients, before heading to a nearby home to cook and eat with a local family. The package must be booked by January 27 for travel from February 3 to March 25, April 1 to 10 and April 28 to June 26. It costs from $1413 a person twin share from Melbourne and from $1430 a person twin share from Sydney. directflights.com.au COAST WATCH Return economy airfares are included in an American cruise package along the Californian coast and part of Mexico. The eight-day voyage on Celebrity Century stops at Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Monterey, Catalina Island and Ensenada. The return economy airfares between Australia and Los Angeles are with Delta Airlines. The Destination International package costs from $2399 a person, departing from Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane on March 21. ditravel.com.au COOL FOR CATS A 13- day India tour with luxury safari company &Beyond offers accommodation in fabulous hotels and lodges. Stays are for three nights at the Taj Mahal Hotel, Delhi, three nights at the Banjaar Tola Tented Camp in Kanha National Park, three nights at Mahua Kothi Jungle Lodge in Bandhavgarh National Park, two nights at the Rambagh Palace, Jaipur and one night at the Oberoi Amarvilas, Agra. The tour costs from $8533 a person twin share and includes accommodation, all transfers, sightseeing and overland trips, all internal economy flights, park fees, guides and three meals daily with beverages including wine and beer, laundry and emergency medical evacuation insurance. The offer is valid for travel until March 31. andbeyond.com CRYSTAL CLEAR Book a stay at Snow Crystal Apartments in the heart of the Niseko ski area in Japan and receive a complimentary breakfast grocery pack on arrival. The price also covers an English- speaking greeter at Chitose Airport, return airport transfers, six ski-lift passes and on- ground support. It costs from $1780 a person based on six sharing a three- bedroom deluxe apartment in the Snow Crystal complex next to the Ace Family chairlift. The offer is valid for stays from February 8 to 28. P skijapan.com Domes, sweet domes Richard Tulloch tours a historic palace - and lives in it like a prince. V iren bounces with the enthusiasm of the young manager in the film Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. “I want you to take away a memory! I want you to have an experience! Please be careful, sir, if you step back to take that photo you will fall in the swimming pool.” Viren’s passion for the history of the Taj Mahal Palace, combined with his theatrical flair when telling a story, encouraged his employers to allow him to work full-time researching the hotel’s colourful past and leading daily heritage tours for guests. There’s plenty to tell. Mahatma Gandhi’s bare feet padded up the carpet of the colonial staircase. Lord Mountbatten’s speech in the grand ballroom ushered in Indian independence in 1947. Ravi Shankar taught George Harrison to play the sitar here. The elaborate domes, the central one a replica of the cupola of Florence’s cathedral, the light filtering through latticework onto the potted palms in the corridors, the glorious masses of fresh flowers and the turbaned doormen all point to an exclusive institution established by the British in the glory days of the Raj. Quite wrong. The Taj is proudly Indian and always has been. Parsee industrialist Jamsetji Tata opened it in 1903 “for the common man”, meaning Indian guests were welcomed, when most hotels of the day excluded them. Rooms cost from six rupees, at a time when a pound sterling bought 13 rupees. The Taj was ahead of its time in other ways, too. It was the first hotel in India with electricity, elevators, ceiling fans, a fine dining Indian restaurant, and ensuite bathrooms. The first fashion parade in the country was held there. During both world wars it served as a hospital for soldiers. The celebrity guest list could be transcribed directly from Who’s Who. King George V and Queen Mary kicked things off by staying there in 1911. Since then, the hotel has hosted a constant stream of royals and presidents, sporting stars and film stars. Photos of Oprah Winfrey, Mick Jagger, Jacques Chirac, Prince Charles, Sachin Tendulkar and John Lennon tell us discreetly this is the place to stay when in Mumbai. Viren goes around the nationalities in our tour group, rattling off the names of our more celebrated compatriots. My wife is associated with the former Dutch queen Beatrix. I score the Australian cricket team, Hugh Jackman, John Howard and Kylie Minogue. In the Masala Kraft, one of 11 restaurants in the hotel, we share a superb modern Indian meal and learn we are sitting at Hillary Clinton’s table. Famous or not, we are all treated to the highest level of service: friendly without being casual, attentive without being obsequious. Local Mumbai people have a particular fondness for the Taj, too. “They say all marriages are made in the Sea Lounge,” staff member Nikhila says. She celebrated her engagement there, looking out at the ferries bobbing on the bay. Viren grew up just down the street from the Taj and, as a child, came for ice-creams, and to run screaming with excitement down the echoing marble corridors. The Tata business empire is renowned throughout India for its success and revered in Mumbai for its philanthropy. A share of the hotel’s profits regularly goes to support local charities, and people spontaneously tell us of other generous gifts by the family. On request, Viren runs art tours, too. The art on the hotel’s walls comprises more than 4000 pieces, hundreds of them of museum-quality. During the 1950s and 60s, the hotel offered gallery space to up-and-coming artists in return for donations of unsold work. Over the years, some emerged to become India’s greatest artists, incalculably increasing the value of the collection. The witty interior of the iconic Joy Shoes shop is a work of art in itself. It was designed by India’s most successful painter, M. F. Husain; this is ironic, since the artist notoriously went barefoot all his life. At the end of Viren’s heritage tour, we pause at a list of 32 names inscribed on the wall in a corner of the lobby. It can’t be avoided. These people died in the terrorist attack on the hotel in November 2008. Among them are 12 members of the hotel staff and, poignantly, a dog. Including Lucy reminds us of the innocence of all the victims. The Taj people naturally don’t want those dreadful events to be all that the hotel is known for. It’s one story in a continuing narrative. But they are justifiably proud of the heroism of staff members who placed the welfare of their guests above their own safety during those dark days. As one of the first guests after the attacks noted in the visitors’ book: “Your staff is a symbol of graciousness and resilience. Barack Obama.” The writer was the guest of the Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai and Abercrombie & Kent. >> travel TYING THE KNOT? CELEBRATING A BIRTHDAY? Have your photos published in the Katherine Times - let us know on 8972 1111 so we can send one of our photographers or email your photos to [email protected] HAVING A BUSINESS FUNCTION? AW1240175