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Published: January 18th 2009
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Udaipur
The Lake Palace Hotel Howdy once again! As we mentioned briefly last time, we are in Udaipur; City Of Lakes, Venice of The East....or where 'Octopussy' was filmed...you choose! We have been here for 4 days now, and we are set to pack up our rucksacks once again and move on to Jodhpur, around 5 hours further north, tomorrow.
15th January 2009
We arrived - on time! - in Udaipur at 0730, after sharing a 4 birth carriage with an Astro(solar) Physicist! We had an AMAZING conversation - mostly us saying "oh right", "wow" and "interesting"....and not really understanding what he was talking about. This is one time we can't blame a language barrier!! Very interesting nonetheless. We grabbed a rickshaw to our hotel and despite the train being most comfortable, we still had a wee nap. On waking we strolled around the winding hilly streets of Udaipur, and spent some time reading on our terrace, which overlooks the local Jain Temple - literally 5 metres away. We found yet another great little restaurant - we're REALLY enjoying the food now - and finished the evening with a walk to the Clock Tower here. To answer a question we've been asked, the strangest thing
Udaipur
Kumbalgarh Fort we've eaten so far, we THINK, is goat. Well, its listed as Mutton, but we've yet to see any sheep and there are goats aplenty....
16th January 2009
We had breakfast on our rooftop terrace, which is 6 storeys high and overlooks The Lake Palace. The lake palace is an Island in the man-made Lake Pichola, completely covered by a Hotel - formerly the Royal summer palace - rooms cost up to $1500 a night.....we thought about it, but we're not staying there. After breakfast, we were picked up by Mr Singh in his taxi for a tour of the city. They weren't the most jaw dropping sights, but having a guide meant we still saw and learnt many interesting things about the city (the only city not taken under British Rule). We visited an amazing Art School where they paint using a single hair from the tail of a chipmunk/squirrel. It was very impressive and we succumbed to buying a piece. In Rajasthan, they have 3 symbols depicted by animals; Horse for Power, Camel for Love, and Elephant for Luck. We chose Luck! That evening, we took a rickshaw to the mountain top Monsoon Palace which was more
Udaipur
Kumbalgarh Fort - Nearing the top for the sunset than the building, which is becoming rather unkept. The views were amazing, and the ride up was an adventure in itself, through the windy mountain hugging roads of a nature reserve.
17th January 2009
We were up at 0700am, because today we took a day trip to a couple of amazing places, both around 90km North of Udaipur. Because of the distance, we were hoping to share the taxi, and luckily were able to with a cool French couple, Anna and Raphael. Our first stop was Kumbalgarh, which is a stone fort compound which was only ever taken once in its history. As soon as it came into sight it was easy to see why! The fort walls are an almost ridiculous 36km long, with 700 cannon bunkers, and it sits proudly at 1100m high. Immense! After climbing the fort for a couple of hours, we jumped back in our taxi and headed to Ranakpur. The road here again was worth the taxi fair - dodging monkeys all the way! Ranakpur is a stunningly intricate Jain Temple, with 1444 pillars. No two are alike, and all are completely straight, except one; this is to represent that
Udaipur
In Ranakpur Temple only God is perfect! Jainism is a Religion which sits (almost) between Hinduism and Buddhism, and as we walked around we felt strangely voyeuristic as we watched them chanting and praying. Again, there were very strict guidelines for ladies to enter, and yet we saw many, many bare chested men?!
It took around 2 hours to then get back to Udaipur, but this journey was improved greatly by seeing a motorcyclist carrying a man on his shoulders, while a man on another motorbike photographed it!
That night we met with Anna and Raphael for dinner, where they shared tips about their time in China, and we had our first taste of Indian Beer! Not bad.
18th January 2009
Today we have spent another day chilling. We woke and had breakfast on the rooftop, then took a tour of the City Palace and its Museums, before buying some bargains in the local stores. We sit here now having just had an Ayurvedic Massage which was most relaxing, theraputic, and not a little intrusive....
Tonight we plan to sit eating curry, drinking beer, and watching Octopussy - which is shown EVERY NIGHT, in EVERY HOTEL in Udaipur - almost like being
Udaipur
Riding a Marble Elephant at home!
Hope everyone is ok - we're not home sick yet but we miss everyone. Keep the news coming,
Love
H and D
xxx
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Kelly
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Biggest Fan!!
Glad to see im your biggest blog fan! im loving hearing all your stories!! just finished cleaning house and thought id read aloud to Chili all your stories! he is loving them! xx