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Published: September 16th 2006
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When he founded Udaipur in the late 16th century, the Maharaja Udai Singh cannot have imagined in his wildest dreams that some 4 centuries later the great palaces which adorn this city would have played host to a figure peerless in terms of historical importance. I'm talking about a character who has taken on the enemies (and women) of the world single handedly for over 40 years and still continues to do so today. That's right. Bond. James Bond. In 1983 arguably the greatest Bond film 'Octopussy' was filmed here starring unarguably the greatest Bond of them all, Roger Moore (cue complaints from the majority Connery party).
So it was to my great delight that the guest house I had chosen to stay in overlooked the scene of Bond's escapades, the City Palace and the 'floating' Lake Palace. Aside from the views, the guest house was itself a magnificent building, a centuries-old haveli (mansion) given originally as a gift to some bloke by the Maharaja of the time. The owner Babu proved to be a fantastic host who cooks up a mean mutton curry. Being the only guest I had the run of the place and a double room at
a bargain price. The only downside was the presence of a dog. A particularly evil black dog who I decided to call Cerberus after the beast of Hades (those not familiar with the Classics might liken it to the canines that guard the graveyard in 'The Omen'). Now those that know me will know I have little or no affinity with dogs and this mutt kept on jumping up at me, following me into my room and generally annoying the sh*t out of me. The final straw came when he chased me down the stairs, trod on the back of my flip-flop and snapped it. Not a big issue you might think. Plenty of shoe shops in Udaipur. A new pair of flip-flops shouldn't be a problem to find and will probably cost the best part of 50p. Except it soon became apparant that India is a nation not particularly well endowed in the foot department. It took me nearly 2 hours to track down a shop that sold a pair of size tens.
Udaipur is without doubt the most scenic of the Rajasthani cities I have visited. Hemmed in by mountains, it's centrepiece is Lake Pichiola on the
banks of which the great City Palace stands and on which is the Lake Palace. As the latter is now a 5-star hotel (one of dozens in the city) the only one you can really visit, unless you want to pay $500 for a room, is the City Palace. That I duly did earlier this afternoon. To my huge disappointment there was no audio tour. It just didn't feel right not having a well spoken Indian effortlessly guide me round the palace via the power of a headset. Nonetheless it was a particularly beautiful and ornate place and kept me occupied for several hours.
Later in the afternoon I decided to hire a bicycle and cycle up to the derelict Monsoon Palace about 8kms east of Udaipur. It quickly became apparant that my bike was only really good for the flat given that it had just the one gear and weighed the same as a small elephant. As the Monsoon Palace stands on top of a hill/mountain it meant I had to push the bike uphill for the best part of and hour and a half. It was a lot steeper than I had bargained for and in addition
to that there were precisely zero refreshment stalls at the top. The Palace itself was a bit of a dive all things told (although the lawns were neatly trimmed) and all that was contained within it was a particularly lame nature 'exhibition'. The main reason for the visit was for the stunning views over Udaipur and Lake Pichiola, which certainly didn't disappoint. And the ride back downhill was a lot of fun too.
Udaipur has probably been my favourite of the cities in Rajasthan. It's visually spectacular and a relatively easy-going place. I still got quite a bit of hassle in the town but generally it was friendly stuff, just a little tiresome. I took to listening to my mp3 player around town and this seemed to ward off the hawkers (or maybe I just didn't hear them!). Udaipur is famous for it's art and every second person you meet seems to be an art student who proudly wants to show you his work. I made the mistake yesterday of agreeing to go to someone's gallery to see his paintings. Despite making it totally clear at the beginning I was not interested in buying anything, at the end of his talk he still insisted on trying to sell me some paintings. And he had the gall to look annoyed when I refused! But encounters like this were just a minor irritation in what has been a fantastic couple of days. My only major disappointment has been not being able to see 'Octopussy'. Now there must be at least a hundred restaurants that show this film every night. I managed to pick the restaurant with the dodgy DVD player.
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