Udaipur, 24-27 November, Part 2

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It was great to finally get out and about to explore Udaipur (apparently also called "The Venice of the East"), as it is quite a beautiful city, and has got a very obviously different vibe to the place from which we had just come. It seemed wealthier somehow, and lacked the piles of street-side rubbish that we'd gotten used to. Also far less dust, I think because most of the streets were sealed. Together with some gorgeous architecture, several palaces, and its location on a lake, this helps to make Udaipur really picturesque.

There are also two islands on the artificial Lake Pichola, one of which is entirely taken up by the marble "Lake Palace" - now predominantly a flash hotel for the rich & famous, and can also be spotted in the James Bond film, "Octopussy," a fact of which the town seems to be very proud, as film screenings are flaunted all over the place. We gave that a miss in favour of enjoying the rooftop terrace of our lakeside guesthouse, as well as simply wandering the streets and soaking in the atmosphere, engaging in banter and even some random meaning-of-life discussions with shopkeepers (!), and checking out the City Palace.

At the end of it all, Deb and I also took part in a cooking class, which was fantastic and so interesting. Unfortunately, Hero missed the class as she was feeling unwell again, but I am pretty excited about getting a brand new spice box when we get home and testing out what I learned, as well as being able to make Hero some authentic, proper, chai whenever she gets the craving (which I think may be quite often!).

None of us were particularly keen about the prospect of another overnight train in sleeper class, but we had to keep moving on our whirlwind tour and Jaipur, the so-called "Pink City," awaited.

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