Udaipur - end of the road

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Hello all,
we have now reached Udaipur which is the last stop on our chauffer driven tour, and we have waved off our driver back to Delhi. HOwever, before we arrived here we made another stop in a place called Ranakpur which is home to the most beautiful Jain temple. (Jainism is a form of Hinduism that split off rejecting the rigid caste system of india) The temple was incredibe - the most beautiful thing I have seen in India to date. It was full of carved pillars- over one thousand, no two alike (well, so I am told - I have to admit I didnt bother to check them all!) THe light and space were incredible but confusingly although Jainism is meant to have no priests, there were several guys in saffron robes claiming to be priests, daubing people in dye and asking for money. - but for once I managed to outwit them - hah ha! And got involved in a rather complex game of hide and seek in and out of the pillars until the priest got bored and moved onto his next victim! Here in Udaipur there is yet another City Palace here, but this one, to be honest, is a bit rubbish compared to the rest so we didnt stay long.

The city is set on a picturesque lake, and was (as the locals will never let you forget) the setting for the James Bond Film Octopussy. Strangely all of the shop keepers here have met Roger Moore, and one man (whilst trying to sell us a bag) informed us that not only had he met RogerMoore, but that Roger Moore bought lots of bags from him! - I can just see him with sparkly handbags...

Otherwise we are having quite a relaxing time now, apart from the man who rang our hotel room at 5.30 this morning (twice, I ignored it the first time) to ask if he could have some coffe sent up to his room? Stupid American, I resisted the temptation to tell him where he could shove his coffe and instead grunted "What? What? no ,go away, stop ringing" - He probably thinks the service in the hotel is terrible now!
We are waiting to catchour train to Mumbai, which will take us to Agehemebad (or somewhere) at 4.30am and thenm we have to changefor another 9 hour journey to Mumbai - nice!

Anyway
Lots of love

Sassy xx

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Photos

Ranakpur
an arty one for you

Udaipur
View onto the lake