Welcome to Udaipoo...er.. Udaipur

  Udaipur, Rajasthan, India
Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Sunset from the roof top..... lovely!

Ahhh hello from southern  Rajasthan.  For history, this state's rulers have maintained the same boloodline for 1500 hundred years and claim to be descendents from the son of a god.  Today they are known for money changing, and  a strange curiousity to know where everyone is from.  The town is situated on a man made lake surrounded by hills, and it is actually nice and cool here at night which brings out boarding costs down to a more reasonable 5 dollar a night level.  
  We decided to take an over night train here from about halfway across the country.  Honestly it was not nearly as bad as we thought, both trains were less than half hour late and I ate some very good samosas,  while Maia on  a self imposed eating ban (weird indian food + 12 hour train ride with a 'basic' sanitation system) drooling next to me.  The train was nice, bunks too short and the 2 am stop  was accompanied by a collection of people yelling and screaming about something (maybe nothing, they just didn't have any horns with them to honk.)  So here in Udaipur, we met a cool rickshaw driver who besides the obligatory trying to bring us to a  'better' hotel and  give us a 'personal unique' guided rickshaw tour (for more than the price of our room) was actually wicked cool and  was a great first impression.  This time Maia was groggy, spending most of the night huddled awake with her bag worrying, while I  slept ok with people doing their best to avoid my always pleasant feet that stuck out into the aisle.  Our hotel was another marble and cinderblock monstrosity with the owners  of surrounding hotels trying to compete for who had the highest rooftop restaraunt.   Apparently this is the town that they filmed part of the James Bond film Octapussy, and most hotels show it every night, so you can imagine the nighlife here.

learning something new every day!

This was our first experience with the pit toilet and after a couple of smelly hours we figured out that yes, they do indeed flush and all you had to do was turn that little knob way over there in the corner and stand out of the way as half the water comes out of the knob and half goes into the pit toilet, we feel much more worldly now.  
     We spent most of the day walking around the  City Palace which contained a remarkable collection of the kingdom's history and the current prince is really up on conservation, of both his own culture and the environment.  There was all sorts of interesting things from an armoury with all types of sharp objects and plenty of mirrored, ,colorfully tiled rooms.   The layout of the whole building was very  narrow corridors leading to lots of courtyards and alcoves that looked over the city and lake.   There is a hotel built on an island, it is the whole island, where the James Bond movie was filmed and it is about 100 yards away from the palace and shore, this is where the rulers spent their summers..... I didn't get it either.  
   After that we went around looking for food, it is so hard to choose when every twenty feet you are treated to shouts demanding you come eat the best food in India.   Where to begin.  After lunch, the obligatory walk back to the room to wait and see the speed in which our lunch makes it from one orifice to the other (how many feet does it have to travel?)  and then off to see some ghats on the lakeside, which I think are appropriate, a kind of nasty sounding name to describe the steps down to the water.  At waters edge, from my observations, you have three options, you can wash your clothes, go swimming, or go to the bathroom.  There does not seemed to be any designated area for any of these things and it makes for an unusual lakeside smell.  Apparently there are crocodiles also in the lake if you try to swim elsewhere, sadly we have not ventured in. 
  This point we go to buy plane tix from Delhi to Kathmandu for the next phase of the trip, and we realize that Maia does not have her ATM card... Do I honestly need to go into the feelings, emotions, hassle, stress, aggravation, anger that is involved with losing a bank card in a foreign country full of aspiring capitalists who think you are a dirtier, scragglier version of Warren Buffet.  It will only put a feeling of ickyness in the pit of your stomach.  Many thanks to our favorite mothers at this point who helped us tackle this debacle.  Don't worry we are going to  make it to Kathmandu.....
  Then we pass a cafe, neat clean, no hawkers selling money changing, jewelry, clothes,  apples and in the display case, (and soon in my tummy) are the most delicious looking  chocolate balls, they look like large donut holes but have bits of almonds, and are very buttery and tasty with Chai tea.  Here we met a father and son from Autralia who we proceeded to play cards with for a couple of hours.  They were in India for their third time or so and having bonding time and having a blast.  They taught us and a local a new game and we ended up hanging out with them most of the night, meeting a couple from Belgium and then talking till closing on rooftop restaraunt  unaware to what is brewing in our bowels...
  WHAM, BAM where's the pepto?!  Cypro?! Toilet Bowl?!   It started with ominous pains in the gut and that feeling of chili consistancy substance cascading down your intestines like the water down those big  twisty slides at the waterpark.  Calmly, quickly you tear off all your clothes, put on your flipflops, DUCK! (stupid doorjam was imported from craftsmen at Hobbitdepot!) and squat over the hole in the floor.... We are not talented/confident enough to wear loose fitting clothing, and it gets sprayed by the faucet anyways, reminds me of those flowers that spew water that people used to attach to their shirts. (Just to clarify, Maia was fine and you only have to picture me in this state) 
         Ahh ok that is enough of that.  This morning we slept late,  Maia, the darling went and got train tix for us to head back towards Delhi later this week.  Then we stumble out and wander around the towns windy roads, we are too tired of shopping, we tell each other what we need to find for so-and-so but just get fed up with everyone yelling at us. We got postcards, filled them out (a process involving tracking down pens 'borrowed' by waiters)    and then sent them out.... Everything is an adventure in India and the post service was not excluded.  Apparently one can redeem stamps for their said amount, so if you want to mail something not only do you have to sit there and lick 18 stamps of  who-knows-what kind of horseglue backing,  but also sit in the sun and smear paste on each postcard stamp you wish to send, rendering it impossible to remove the stamp without ruining it.  As you can imagine you end up with  an 18 pack of postcards that stick to everything from the window sill, each other and the desk which deposit this mess onto.  So people, PLEASE, let us know you received them and how much you enjoy them ok?!       
  We ate a lovely lunch today, I had a local specialty called Rajasthan pizza, which conisted of a calzone filled with something incredible spicy but still currently intact in my stomach. 
    Ahhh well I am tired of writing right now so I will finish later and I am gonna go get another chocolate treat.

Maia's new friend!

Maia is gearing up for another marathon travel session and is sticking to half a plate of paneer pakora tonight (fried cheese, I ate the other half!) and dreaming about the new love of her life, I call him Pokey.  We were told he was from the local zoo, I guess they just take him for walks around the towns one lane streets, so that gives you an idea of the traffic situation around here!
  Tonight we watched a beautiful sunset from our rooftop, and enjoyed a local folk dance complete with the most ridiculous puppet show I have ever seen, Maia still has yet to see a ridiculous puppet show because she slept through this one! 
Till next time,

RAAAAAAANNNNNDDDDOOOOOMMMMMMMM