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Published: October 29th 2017
The train gently rocks us all the way to Udaipur sending the pair of us to sleep, the only disturbance in the night was the very occasional scream of the little boy sleeping opposite us. He would wake with a start and let out a loud high pitched wail, being disorientated and not knowing where he was. Shenton says every time the boy did this, he awoke with a frightening start, thinking the world was coming to an end. Also we both had strange dreams during the night, the journey was a journey of exact opposites, bliss and disturbance, this we realise seems to be a recurring theme for the two of us here in India.We arrive safe and sound at Udaipur, on time at just after 7am.
We picked the hotel in Udaipur for its location and it’s eclectic style, the colonial and the much older influences from the Mewar kingdom, It also happens to be the cheapest room we have stayed in at only £30 per night. The hotel has a host of mismatched and fine looking furniture on each landing, an interior courtyard where a wide stone staircase starts to wind its way up the 4 floors
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Sunrise from the train windowto the roof top restaurant. We find our room at the bottom of the staircase just before the final flight of stairs that reach the roof terrace.The room is as we imagined. I decide to take a shower, I now believe that the quirkiness of the hotel was only flattering to deceive, as I find a bucket, a jug, a tap and a shower that doesn’t work, looking the part and probably being 80 plus years old I decide that this is it, a shower that will not work and a plastic bucket and jug to use in its place but at lest there is hot water despite it being 9am and the sign on the door saying there is only hot water between 7-8am and 6-7pm. I informed Shenton of the bucket situation, shouting from the bathroom while I poured water over myself, “Oh well” he said, “But are you sure!” Well of course I am sure, am I ever wrong? I manage to get clean and even wash my hair. Now Shenton’s turn and he immediately manages to turn the shower on without a problem! So quirky and also functional then is it? That’s the hotel not me!
The only good thing about breakfast at the roof top restaurant is the view. The service is very slow and we wait and wait for our omelettes only for them to arrive cold. I just eat mine but Shenton complains and to be fair he does bring him another one out immediately and at only 50p per omelette I am not that bothered.
We head out to the street to explore the city and we both get a really nice feeling from this ‘quaint little town’, (sounding like an American tourist now) on the river, it is called the Venice of India and we can sort of see why. Udaipur feels lot calmer and more relaxed that Jaipur. I shop for a few bits of jewellery and have another Henna Tattoo from a very sweet smiley man who asks for a coin, for luck, he says, from England, I give him 20p and he then gives me a free little bag to carry my henna around in.
The city palace is an impressive show of a long ago wealth and power, it is huge, a maze of a place, full of secret corridors and staircases that snake
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Elephants everywhere around its inner courtyards and areas. Like a grand and majestic game of snakes and ladders, visitors are pointed and prodded towards different sections and rooms of the palace, each having a story of their own to tell. Shenton gets an audio guide but I can’t be bothered and prefer to just wander around the grounds. There are lots of tourists here today the vast majority are Indian, as per usual they seem to recognise Shenton. They point and stare at him, some telling him he is a hero, a film star? Many try to get pictures with us. At one point we get split up and he is ahead of me, i see him coming back up a small staircase looking shell shocked and ask what happened. He said he was led down there to a dead end by a group of Indian people who then all got their cameras out and started taking pictures of him. Very random and I of course I find it very amusing, I decide that I am now going to take a picture of anyone taking a picture of Shenton just to see them react, cause a bit of confusion.
The City
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These look like the Aspara dancers we saw in Cambodia Palace was built concurrently with the establishment of the
Udaipur city by Maharana Udai Singh II and his successor Maharanas over a period of the next 400 years.The Maharanas lived and administered their kingdom from this palace, thereby making the palace complex an important historic landmark.
The Mewar kingdom had flourished initially in
Nagda (30 kilometres to the north of Udaipur), established in 568 AD by Guhil, the first Maharana of Mewar. In the 8th century, the capital was moved to
Chittor, a hill top fort from where the
Sisodias ruled for 800 years. Maharana Uday Singh II inherited the Mewar kingdom at Chittor in 1537 but by that time there were signs of losing control of the fort in wars with the
Mughals. Udai Singh II, therefore, chose the site near Lake Pichola for his new kingdom as the location was well protected on all sides by forests, lakes and the Aravalli hills. He had chosen this site for his new capital, much before the sacking of Chittor by
Emperor Akbar, on the advice of a hermit he had met during one of his hunting expeditions.
The earliest royal structure he built here was the Royal courtyard or
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Very intricate carvings 'Rai Angan, which was the beginning of the building of the City Palace complex. The court was built at the location where the hermit had advised Maharana to build his new capital.
After Udai Singh’s death in 1572, his son
Maharana Pratap took the reins of power at Udaipur. However, he was defeated by the Mughal emperor Akbar in 1576 and Udaipur fell under the Mughal rule. After the death of Akbar, Mewar was given back to Maharana Pratap's son and successor
Amar Singh I by
Jahangir. However, the Mughal army sent many expeditions against the Mewar empire, culminating in a peace treaty between both rulers.
But with the increasing
Marathas attacks by 1761, Udaipur and the Mewar state were in dire straits and in ruins. By 1818,
Maharana Singh signed a treaty with the British accepting their protection against the other empires. After the Indian independence in 1947, the Mewar Kingdom, along with other princely states of Rajasthan, merged with democratic India, in 1949. The Mewar Kings subsequently also lost their special royal privileges and titles. The successive Maharanas, however, retained their ownership of the palaces in Udaipur and converted parts of the palace complex into heritage hotels.
Just outside
of the Palace we happen across a Dosa stall and eat the best Dosa’s we have had so far, he asks us how spicy we want them and we say Indian spicy which he finds funny. Mine is not too bad, Shenton’s is hotter than mine and he says its delicious.
After lunch we take a boat trip over to the small Island, you are not allowed to go to the lake palace unless you are a guest so we just sit on the other Island looking at the palace hotel eating some ice-cream I think that this ice-cream may have been one of the no no’s for things not to eat, but what the hell, it tastes delicious.
We head back to the hotel, I cool down by having a dip in the roof top pool before we head out for dinner. Shenton had spotted a place earlier which served Lamb souvlaki , we quickly decided this will suit us fine. The restaurant is called charcoal and we enter in to be told its another roof top restaurant. We climb the spiral staircase about 5 flights and hope that the food is worth the effort. By the
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Tell me all about it time we get to the top I don’t really care what the food is like I am staying here. The view is again spectacular with the lake palace hotel and the city palace all lit up now. The food is good, we eat chicken tandoori and the lamb souvlaki and drink some kingfisher beers all while overlooking the wonderful skyline of Udaipur. The couple of beers we have are enough to finish me off after the long day and we head back towards the hotel.
We pass a shop advertising palm reading, where a man is sitting outside, by the entrance. Shenton says to the man, “Your future is in the palm of your hand ?” The man replies “Yes yes, it is, come inside.” and Shenton then says “ I can see your future is, it’s your iPhone, be careful.” The man finds this very funny, laughing and looking at the iPhone he is holding, he shouts “Yes, you are right!” I think he will immediately sign up for a front row seat at Shenton’s Indian comedy tour coming soon to a city near you. 20 rupees a ticket, a bit steep for most with any
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Lovely ornate tiled entrance common sense.
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Amit
non-member comment
Shentons look alike.
I really can't think of any Indian film actor who looks like Shenton. The only person I can think of is Aussie cricketer David Warner. He has a huge fan following in India as I discovered on my last trip. It would be interesting to know which film actor people confused him with . Did you get a name? With his glasses on I think Shenton looks like David Warner and even I would have asked for an autograph.