We found our correct bus to Udaipur and it looked clean enough that we decided we could ride in it for 16 hours. It was a sleeper bus with bunk beds above the seats. I was a long bus ride and really cold by the tinme night came around. I wasn't expecting the cold, so I wasn't prepared for it. The bus stopped periodically so we could go pee and get a bite to eat, though we never ate at any of the stops. I hope I'm loosing wait on this trip because I'm not eating nearly as much as I usually eat.:-)
The lands across Gujarat that I could see from the bus were mostly grasslandss, though I could see mountains in the distance. I saw Accacia(sp?) trees figs and palms of different varieties along the way. We crossed a number of rivers along the way. The air started getting a little cleaner as we got further away from the city.
People stand along the freeway with their trvel bags and these buses stop to see if they want a ride. It's a different way for buses to work than what we are used to seeing.
We arrived in Udaipur at around 5:30 in the morning. It was freezing cold for us (54-56 degrees) and the rickshaw ride to the hotel had us so cold we couldn't stop chattering our teeth. The rickshaw driver thought it was very funny. "Yooouu saaiid thiiirrty ruuupeees!"
The hotel Udai Rothi had a room available, though not until 10:00 so they let us wait upstairs in the rooftop restaurant inside a beautifully mirrored dome parapet. Our hotel was once a small palace or haveli (I'm not sure which). It was unbelievably beautiful. They gave us blankets to keep warm since it was outside and we got to watch the sun rise from this beautiful spot. It was so spiritually uplifting and I'm not a spiritual person. Just before sunrise someone sings a muslim prayer from a temple somewhere and it carries across the entire city. It is all quiet except for the song. Then the sum slowly rises and exposes the numerous temples and palaces across the skyline. After the constant noise, hussle and bussle of Mumbai, this was the more peaceful, spiritually uplifting experience I have ever had. And the lake is FULL!
Three month ago ther was no lake. They have had a drought here for seven years. However, the last monsoon was very good and we were pleasantly surprised to see a lake. Udaaipur is one of the most beautiful towns I've ever scene. The hotel is everything I imagined a palce might look like. It has a rooftop swimming pool and Kenny Lee was really excited to go swimming.
We met a tour guide who is the brother of the internet cafe owner and we have decided to go on a tour of the town with him. The roads in Udaipur are really confusing. It's like being in a labrinth so we don't want to wander around too much by ourselves. It's too easy to get lost.
We wanted to check out a private guest house to stay int he next day because the hotel didn't have any more opening for the next day. We asked Abdul, the tour guide with a rickshaw, to take us down to the palace, but when we saw it we decided it wasn't for us. We mentioned to him why we were looking at the place and he told us about these tents by the lake that you can stay in. So, we checked these out and they are very cool. Wwe've decided to stay in these the rest of our stay in Udaipur.
On our way back, Toni and I were laughing about these two guys struggling to put a goat in a rickshaw and then later we saw someone else trying to put a goat on a motorcycle. It was so comical to watch. Abdul explained to us that right now is the muslim goat festival and that they were buying goats to butcher and give food to the poor. So, he took us to see the goat market. It was a lot fo fun to see all the goats, probably 40 or more and all the peeople struggling to get their goats to go where they wanted them to go. The folks from the country come down with their goats to see at the market.
Abdul invited us in to his house for tea and to meet his family. His wife and children were very beautiful with big brown eyes. He lives in a complex with a number of brothers and their families.
We were so tired since we hadn't slept much in the past couple of days that we went to bed early and slept until 5:00 for the first time since our trip began.
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