Super Shopping, Treacherous, Urgent India

---

Unfortunately I couldn't eat breakfast this morning. I had a rather urgent case of the trots. But no Delhi Belly! I think all this Indian food has finally caught up with me. I was a little worried, but once we got on the road I was fine. Our first stop was Via Bishnoi Craft Village. It was a big building full of gorgeous textiles. Oh dear. We are in trouble. We stayed for over an hour looking and shopping and buying. I bought some beautiful things from Babu and so did Annette. We made him a very happy man. And I will never forget him. He was a skinny little Indian man with a big tuft of hair growing out of each ear. Those tufts of hair were truly astounding and I will never, ever forget them or him.

We didn't stop for another three hours when we reached Ranakpur Temple. The road was pretty treacherous and I was getting motion sickness for the first time on this trip. I was so glad to get out of that car. Ranakpur Temple is a huge Jain Temple with 29 halls and 80 domes (50Rs for camera). It's made of marble and is so gorgeous, but really overwhelming in some ways. There is no way to absorb and remember everything, so we just look around and enjoy.

When we left the temple we drove a short distance on a road that was a bit less treacherous than before and we saw loads of black-faced monkeys! They were so cute and we got some great pictures. They hang out by the road because tourists feed them, of course, but we forgot about a squashed banana we had and didn't give them anything.

We drove for about another hour to Kumbhalgargh Fort (100Rs), which we honestly didn't care about, but I know Hardev wanted us to get our money's worth out of this tour. But it was well worth 2 dollars. Definitely worth seeing. It is surrounded by a 36km long wall, which the sign says is the 2nd longest wall in the world. I'll let you think about which one is THE longest. This wall looks remarkably similar to THE longest wall in the world, I must say. Enclosed within the walls were temples, palaces, havelis, everything, but some things are just ruins now. It's pretty well preserved overall though.

It was almost dark when we left and we still had a couple of hours on the road. Luckily, the road was two lanes most of the way and we were no longer driving down a mountain. And I don't get motion sickness in the dark. Or so I thought. We saw a grey fox, which was pretty cool, and after we left the Ranakpur Temple we saw a strange cat-like animal in the grass. Kind of like a bobcat. Hardev said we were very lucky because these cats stay well away from the road usually. And we saw a lot of parrots today!

We arrived in Udaipur around 8:30PM and I felt like I'd been beaten with a stick. That car ride was long and difficult today. But when we arrived at Hotel Anjani I immediately felt better. The lobby was beautiful and clean. The staff was nice and funny. They had two working computers with free internet. Our room was lovely and had clean sheets and blankets and hot water. Beautiful lamps in the room too. All this for only 31USD/per night for two people. What a bargain.

We were hungry so we dropped our laundry off to be washed and headed across the lake to Queen Cafe. It's in Lonely Planet and LP recommends the pumpkin curry with mint and coconut and the fruit palao. I couldn't agree more. I ordered both. I could not stop eating. I also had a beer but shouldn't have because it made me too full because I couldn't NOT finish that pumpkin curry. One downside though. This cafe only has two tables and one of them was occupied with the family watching TV. The other is really large and we sat there as opposed to in the loft space where we would have to sit on the floor. It also looked pretty dirty. The kitchen was next door I think. But the food was amazing. Meenu is the supposed owner and creator of these very unique dishes, but I think her mom might have some input. Meenu does offer cooking classes though.

Afterwards we were really tired and went straight back to the hotel to bed. I was so full. Sleep was not a problem tonight!

So I have to tell this story. While we were driving on a straight stretch of road today, we passed several Indian men in white turbans squatting by the roadside. When we were still a bit far from them, Annette really perked up and leaned over to look out my window and she got excited, and then quickly moved back over to her side after we passed these men. She had her camera ready and everything, but didn't take a picture. I didn't say anything, but this was kind of strange. I didn't know what she got so excited about. And then she said, 'I thought they were monkeys.'

I am still laughing.

---

Photos

Entrance to Ranakpur Temple
This is the small temple that is in front of the big one.

Ranakpur Temple
Impressive.

Beautiful Sari
We talked with this woman for a while. We were all watching her little boy who had just learned he could run. Too cute.

Black Faced Monkeys
Not Indian men in white turbans...