Anita and John grab another overnight train (this time with heating), from Jaipur to the lake city of Udaipur. Here they soak up the ambiance of the James Bond flick, Octopussy. A large portion of the 80's classic was filmed here at the beautiful Lake and City Palaces... This combined with a lack of rickshaw horns... plus the soft rhythmic beating of the dohbi wallah's sounds (laundresses banging the clothes on rocks) like it is break for our travelers.
HE SAID:
Our arrival in Udaipur was heralded by a great sigh of relief. We had finally found a place that we could relax a little more, and enjoy some of the beautiful surroundings. Sure the rickshaw drivers were still there... but there was something really laid back about the town.
Upon arriving early early in the morning... we headed to a local swiss cafe, and I had one of the first real coffees I have had in ages. From there it was just around the corner to our guest house, which had a beautiful view over a little temple and the lake just after that. There was also a lovely tree where a troop of monkeys had positioned themselves when we arrived. I was a little nervous about them getting in to our room... but they promptly left, and did not return during our stay.
Udaipur is roughly set out with an "old town" which is more touristy and quiet... and a "new" one where the locals live and conduct business. The old town had quaint narrow streets, lined with really tall (at least 3 or 4 story) buildings. I guess everyone wanted to be near the water, so in that small an area, you build up. This was cute, but also a pain as you have to climb many flights of narrow steep stairs to get to a restaurant, or your room. I am glad we didn't do much in the way of drinking... as climbing the stairs in the guest house while inebriated would be suicide. The town hugs the eastern side of Lake Pichola and Lake of Fatehsagar. In the middle of Lake Pichola lies the beautiful Lake Palace. For all James Bond fans, this is the "Octopussy" palace from the movie with the same name. Sadly this is an uber exclusive hotel, and there was no way we could afford to even have a meal there... so there was no way we could visit. Overlooking the Lake Palace is an almost equally impressive City Palace, of which part has been turned into a museum. There is also a large temple in the "middle" of the tourist district, called Jagdish temple.
Around the corner from our guest house was an elegant Havli of an old merchant, that had been restored to be a museum. While the displays depicting daily life were quite dull, the house was very nicely reconditioned, and gave you a good idea of what it would have been like in its heyday. Not much else to say.
The city palace however was really exciting. It was in excellent condition, and afforded spectacular views over the lake and surrounding countryside. As well, the displays inside were very well prepared, and were actually quite interesting, even after being museum-ed out at our other stops. Actually, I think I only liked the picture of the dude cutting the enemy soldier and his horse in half when protecting the Raj (I think that was the story). Cool...
All in all it was a wonderful diversion to hit Udaipur. From the rhythmic thumping of the dohbi wallah's washing clothes in the morning... to the less aggressive rickshaw drivers... this relaxed town was just what we needed after running around for a week and a bit. The only problem occurred when we couldn't get a train direct to Pushkar... and we couldn't easily decide on an alternative method of transportation... so we decided to cut it out, and spend some extra time in Udaipur in stead (there are worse places to be marooned). However, for our ride back to Delhi, we could only find passage on a Sleeper Car... but that is another story.
SHE SAID:
Ahhhh...Udaipur. The most relaxing and comfortable city we've visited in India. We had planned to go elsewhere and/or cut the trip short here, but we've decided to stay here for the rest of our time until we return to Delhi to catch our flight.
SIGHTS/SOUNDS:
We found a guest house called the Old Jeel House overlooking the lake. After the narrow and crazy stairs leading up to it, we found a yellow painted door and entered this room full of windows (despite the scary looking washroom) overlooking the lake and next to a tree full of monkeys and chipmunks! We had to close the windows slightly to make sure the monkeys won't jump into the room when we were out, unlikely but I have heard some crazy monkey stories. Sounds....monkeys, chipmunks, minimal honking and car noises from below, kids playing, and women banging clothes with and on rocks as they washed throughout the day along the waters edge. How refreshing...some restaurants we went to were on the rooftop, which were very nice despite having to climb all the stairs (though good exercise). I'll let John mention the sites we saw...overall the "museum" wasn't too impressive, but the Palace was very pretty.
SHOPS/ACTIVITIES:
There seemed to be a lot of shops selling miniature art, something we saw a lot of at a few of the museums even before getting to Udaipur. Some of the paintings they were selling were wonderful, others were obviously mass produced. I took an "art lesson" on the last day here with a junior artist, where I started doing my own little miniature art. Unfortunately he gave me paper instead of the silk that he later remembered I could have used, and assumed I'd want to copy the samples of either the camel, elephant or peacock he had, which I did (of the peacock) but I don't consider copying art except he did show me some technique I suppose, so it was nice, but more because it has inspired me to get back into painting when I return.
There are yoga classes here, but I unfortunately never inquired until it was too late to join in, boohoo.
PEOPLE:
Ah, there were the most women here that I've seen thus far, walking in packs. At one point I got the camera out a little late but managed to get a glob of colourful sari's blowing past us.
Aside from that, I did have one very interesting encounter. I was on my own looking at one store that had a bunch of miniature paintings. When I went inside, the owner, very chatty man (well, I guess they all are "buy buy buy") he closed the door...I was a little worried and wondered why, because it wasn't getting chilly at all. He started telling me how he's more than a shopkeeper, people come to him to read their chakra (sp?), and sometimes he can read people so well. I went along with it and looked at the paintings. He started saying things about me though and saying he can't always read people well but he could with me....he said things that were true that he couldn't easily guess and were not so general to apply to everyone, and more and more right on. I tried to hide how he hit a nerve...anyway, then he got me really inspired again about this spirituality business...he asked me to close my eyes which I did firmly gripping my waist pouch, and then he touched my head and face and ears. Though I semi-believe it all, it got more weird so I said thanks and left (yes, I had chosen a piece to buy too or else I would have left sooner). Again, I do believe there was something real there. It's too bad I was tainted by the lack of trust we feel in this country, and of course the general safety-for-females rules :)
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