Day Two in Udaipur

We are staying in a tent in the Jal-Dera tent accommodations. They are beautiful large colorful tents with toilet and shower in a separate compartment within the tent. They are really nice and right on the waterfront. It's quiet and peaceful. Today we went sightseeing with Abdul the rickshaw driver (he calls it a tuk-tuk.) He took us to a textile manufacturing company that made so many beautiful fabrics all made by local artists. I had a couple coats made and a duvet cover and a pillow cover. They also had some ready made tableclothes and napkins so I bought a set for home. Oh, and I had a salwar made for me. I sent all these home excect for the salwar and one coat I am keeping with me to stay warm during the cold nights. So, Dave you should be expecting a package sent from India. The manufacturer showed us their process for making the vegatable dies and also how they made the blockprints and stamped the fabrics. They are all done by hand. They set the dies by leaving them out in the sun for three days. It was very interesting to see how they did everything.

01 Jal-Dera Tent Accomodations

Next we went to the Princess Gardens where all the fountains run on a gavity system. It was impressive to see all the fountains and spraying water all done by gravity, no pump.

02 Inside the Tent

We also went to a folk performance museum and saw a puppet show. Kenny Lee liked that. The we had lunch and up to a wildlife sanctuary to see a castle. The castle was a little run down, but the view at sunset was spectacular. There is a tunnel that leads from the castle way up on a mountain top all the way down and across the lake to the City palace. We also saw some monkeys and a peacock.

Then we went to an art school for miniture painting. They showed us how they make their paints from minerals such as sulphur for yellow and cobalt for blue. This was fasinating as I didn't realize the paints were made by rubbing the mineral stones against a rinding stone and then adding a gum-oxide(?) mixture. The interent is a really slow connection where I am right now and it costs a lot more. So, I'm not uploading any images. Besides, the guy doesn't seem to know much about his computers so I'm not sure he has an easy way for me to upload them. Maybe the next city will have better access. Rajasthan turns it's electricity off in the mornings to most of the towns. So, it's hard to time it right to get to the computer before the power goes out. I'm not always able to get to a computer at night.

03 Dreams Come True

04 View of Udaipur from on High

05 Monsoon Palace

06 Sunset at the Monsoon Palace