Rajasthan: Udaipur and Jodhpur
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Published: April 20th 2007
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Udaipur was supposed to be my and Lucia's last day together, but as soon as we arrive and get breakfast at a rooftop restaurant overlooking the lake and palace we realise we're having a lot of fun together so we change our plans to travel together the rest of the week.
We check into a hotel that is a former Haveli and the room is just beautiful. So we chill our for a while and recharge batteries for our phones, cameras and ourselves.
In the afternoon we walk around the fairytale town of Udaipur. From the lakeside view of the City Palace, to the Jagdesh temple, everything is enthralling. We have Hinduism and the important gods explained to us and I try to get my head round reincarnation and karma and coming back as a dog (bad karma) or a cow (good karma) and wonder if returning as a cow eating trash on the streets of Bangalore really is a step up in life.
Then we do some shopping, and Lucia is in her element. We often switch to speaking Czech to discuss prices and the sellers before we make our
final bargaining. Lucia is really good at getting bargains. "Oh come on boss, give me good price!" We buy bags, shoes, a kurta for me, a sari for Lucia, t-shirts, pictures, decorations, statuettes and cards.... Then we walk down to the lake and take photos in our new outfits :-)
Next morning we visit the village of Shilpgram, but it's not open so we first look at some unimpressive gardens and fountains and get coconuts on the street. Once the
">Shilpgram Village is open, it is really very interesting. There are groups of building in the various styles common to different parts of Northern India. We watch a puppet show and some guys play a traditional song for us.
Then we head up to the Monsoon Palace. It's very high and has great views of Udaipur and the surrounding hills. It features in James Bond's Octopussy, as no-one in Udaipur will let you forget! It's very peaceful up here and it's a moment I want to remember for a long time...
Back in the town we visit the City Palace and talk to some Government officials who are impressed with Lucia's Hindi. I've
still not learnt any. Every state has a different language, so I haven't got much further than Namaste! Across the lake we can see the huge hotel where Tony Blair stayed on his recent visit here.
We have lunch in another rooftop restaurant overlooking the town, and then do a little more shopping for presents. Evening comes, and it's time to move on again, now to Jodhpur. We take a sleeper bus but the road is windy and the driver blares his horn all night so we talk a lot and don't sleep much at all.
At 5.30am we are dropped off in Jodhpur (The Blue City) and we spot an American guy also dropped here and looking equally as lost as us. We drop our luggage at the station, and the 3 of us walk into Jodhpur and find a rooftop restaurant for breakfast. Except it's still only 6.30 and the chef is still asleep. Never mind, the view of the fort from here is breathtaking and the sunrise over the fort is stunning.
The American guy, Nic, turns out to be Bulgarian and only living/working in the states and
so we end up throughout the day speaking a mix of Bulgarian, Slovak, Czech (which are all very similar) and English.
We walk up to the fort and take an audio tour around it which is really interesting and the fort is the first place we've seen in India which isn't badly neglected. After a few hours at the fort, which includes information on how the locals celebrate birthdays, weddings etc with opium and a demonstration on how to wrap a 9m long
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katie
non-member comment
being a sad sack
Palino, sounds like your 'lovin' it !! Please mail me your address so i can chat as i need to know more!!