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Published: September 15th 2008
On Saturday (13th) 3 bombs went off in Delhi, killing almost 20 people and injuring a bunch more. One of the bombs went off in Karol Bagh right near the hotel that we were staying at less than a week ago. Good thing we weren't still there! It was a scary reality check! It could have pretty easily been us!
On Sunday morning we left Jodhpur and the desert to go to Udaipur. As we drove we watched the landscape change from dry desert to a green foliage. It still isn't as green as Thailand, but it's definitely more tropical. It kind of looks like Nepal. Except no huge mountains and not as green. There are some hills though which is a nice change, some variation in the landscape. 7.5 hot hours after leaving Jodhpur we arrived in Udaipur, City of Lakes, India's most romantic city. The only problem is Udaipur hasn't gotten proper monsoon rains in a decade, especially the last couple years, so all the lakes are really low! We can't even go on a boat tour to the island palaces because there isn't enough water! But if you pay 3000 rupees ($75) for lunch at the 5-star
hotel Lake Palace you can get a boat there. So I don't know how that works with the water levels... So we don't get to go on the lake, but there's still other stuff to do.
We went on an orientation walk around our hotel area on the first evening. This city is a lot calmer and cleaner than Jodhpur! Probably because we're in the tourist area, but even the tourist area in Jodhpur was really frenetic and dirty. Udaipur is definitely more relaxing!
We're staying at Pratap Bhawan Guesthouse. It's kind of like a bed and breakfast because it is run by a couple out of their house. Except it's huge. And breakfast isn't included.So I guess it's more like an inn. The rooms are really nice! Still no air-conditioning though and they turn of the electricity during the day so we can't even have the fan on! It's a lot cooler here than in Jodhpur and Jaisalmer though which is nice. Still really hot when the sun comes out.
Today (15th) some of us went to the City Palace. It has been converted into a museum so we got to see a bunch of old armour, weapons, paintings, and of course various rooms within the palace. It was pretty neat! We wanted to go up to the Monsoon Palace this evening (it's up on a hill overlooking the city) because it has amazing views of the City Palace and the whole city, but it's cloudy so we wouldn't be able to see anything! So hopefully tomorrow it will clear up and we'll get to go!
The main attractions for Udaipur are the lakes and since we can't go to those there isn't that much else to do. It's nice to just relax and drink chai though!
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kirsten
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ily
eryn, for serious, i am so glad you're safe. that is really really scary. you're in our thoughts, and we all love you. p.s. drink a chai for me!! :]] -kirsten