Day 10: Jodhpur to Udaipur

Trip Start Sep 21, 2006
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Trip End Jun 01, 2007


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Flag of India  , Rajasthan,
Sunday, October 1, 2006

A laborious bus journey to Udaipur begins one hour late, leaving us at the mercy of scratching, child beggars. There are bound to be many days given over to crossing distances. We grind through villages in heat that drives sane people to shelter in doorways and buffalo into pools. Yet, there are still women bent double in their saris, plucking crops beyond the cactus hedgerows.
After four hours, pyramidical hills emerge. We're in lusher, arable land. The road curves around lakes. Langurs linger on the tarmac. The bus struggles up the hills, then hisses with the sound of a puncture. It's a false alarm and we roll past many many marble warehouses into Udaipur after seven to eight hours.
We're staying not far from the lakeside (Lal Ghat) at Pratap Bhawan Guest House, the home of a retired colonel whose polo awards and prints fill the reception room.
01 View across the lake from Rainbow Restaurant
01 View across the lake from Rainbow Restaurant
 My room is on the roof, affording a fine view towards the Lake Palace Hotel on Pichola Lake. This is romantic India, white palaces floating and reflected in shimmering pools, silhouettes of verdant hills in the background. Naturally, the old city is very touristy, filled with leather journal, textile and miniature-painting shops. There is an elephant to pose with beside the ghat.
When MGM were seeking an evocative Indian location for James Bond's Octopussy, they chose Udaipur. Many restaurants include the film with a meal. There seems much competition for this and the highest rooftop view.
After dinner we watch the many continuing celebrations for Navratha. On Battyanni Chotta, the main street, there is a sweet fancy-dress competition for the local children (featuring a cute, and winning Krishna and a baby Ghandi in shades). We enter a Brahmin hall for the more traditional all-female dance, then join in with the stick dance, circling and patting sticks in succession. Everyone has a different style with the sticks - demure, elaborate, camp or menacing.
The party continues tomorrow and the day after.
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