Amet Haveli Udaipur

This morning we took a boat ride after breakfast. It took us around a part of the lake and over to an island which is used solely for weddings these days. Hindu weddings are a major production. They can, and do, last days and families spend more money on them than American Jews spend on Bar Mitzvahs!

Then more shopping. B and I bought a saddhu (holy man) puppet that was made of hemp.

Next was a cooking lesson for the Raznicks ...

... Best was when Issy was walking from the hotel, she absent mindedly stepped on a tail. “Issy” I screamed, “You have just stood on and killed a rat!” as she looked down aghast. The little fella was there lying on it’s back doing a sort of dying fly impression. She struggled to calm down even with my reassurances that it was in fact already dead and she had hardly touched its tail! I was known as mean Dad for a couple of days!

... and gazing at the artwork, when I drive one of my feet directly into an imovable object, like a low stone ledge in the middle of the room. They have these pointless little ledges in the main floor here from time to time. I think I have stubbed my toes on most of them. I am glad many of the devotees don't speak English here, as they are then unable to decipher the explitives I shout as I hop and hobble along after stuffing my foot into more of their stone monuments.

... man jumped up on the wall next to me and started dancing up and down, but i couldnt watch.
after the fort, i went to visit a tomb on the edge of the hill, to one of jodhpur's most highly respected maharajas. it was made totally of marble, no doubt modelled to some degree on the taj mahal. inside stood a large throne decorated with framed pictures and hundreds of flowers.
i finished the afternoon with an institution in jodhpur; the omlette man.
no one can fully appreciate ...

... ate dinner in our room while we watched TV and now we have spent 2 hours on the phone to Nationwide trying to get access to our own money because they have blocked our cards for no reason. That is like trying to get blood out of a stone, so God help them when we get home. We are now officially stranded in India with no money and Nationwide are apparently unable to help unless we go into our branch. Do they not understand where India is?!

... dancing. I never can find my way to fully believing that anything happening at night, lit by a floodlight in an historic building, involving full mics, and an audience entirely dressed in khaki shorts can possibly be traditional. But it cost the equivalent of $1.20, and was one of the best shows I've seen in a long time. There was a lot that was beautiful, and a puppeteer who was truly masterful, but I am a tourist after all, and there was a woman ...

... NIGHT! Udaipur is referred to as the "Venice of the East", the "Most Romantic City of India" and the "Kashmir of Rajasthan" (a reference to Dal Lake) and not without reason. Tourists flock to this enchanting old & modern town in the heart of the Aravalli Mountains. It has a rich history. Visitors swear by the romantic sunsets in the backdrop of its lakes. There are three interconnected lakes within the town - the Fateh Sagar Lake, the Pichhola Lake ...

... which is the largest palace in Rajasthan (I think, but that maybe be wrong). They were setting up for a wedding which was happening later that night. Apparently just to rent out one part of the City Palace it's Rs 15,000 (about US$320) per person not including food, etc. Photos are attached. We went to an arts center on Friday night which has a one hour show every night with traditional Rajasthani music and dancing. Naturally it was very touristy, but we ...

So here I am on my third day in India's most romantic city. labeled so because it has a bunch of white palaces sitting on a nearly dried up, polluted lake surrounded by garbage and human feces. But of course this is India, and I wouldn't expect anything less. The first thing that struck me about Udaiper when I was coming in were the tourists. Admittedly, I haven't ...

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