Octopussy
Trip Start
Sep 17, 2007
1
70
272
Trip End
Oct 08, 2008
Udaipur,
India
Thursday, December 13, 2007
The first five minutes manage to show almost every stereotype about India that exists. The plane flies right behind the Taj Mahal. A confusing jumble of Indian monuments later Bond gets off a boat, passes a snake charmer, and jumps into a tuk tuk. This, of course, turns into a high speed tuk tuk chase, interrupted by an Indian wedding.
It was pretty cool to watch Octopussy in a restaurant overlooking the Lake Palace as it shimmered on the water. James Bond stays there, while Octopussy has her lair on the neighboring island. At one point in the movie Bond is captured and brought to the Monsoon Palace which could be seen high up on the hill across the lake
floating palace
. We were watching Octopussy, but at the same time we were part of the action. All in all, a nice ploy to get people to come to your rootop restaurant. Our hotel was right on the lake, and we could take our meals on the roof with a wonderful view of the lake and the floating palace.
After breakfast, we walked down the river to the current palace, which faced the river and was enormous. Part of it is converted into two or three luxury hotels and out of bounds. The rest of it is converted into a museum. The whole system is very confusing. For example, we never quite figured out what the palace entry fee is actually for. We wanted a museum entry ticket, but the guy wouldn't let us go through the gate without a palace ticket. So we sat outside the ticket office (which was closed) for about 15 minutes and watched a constant stream of people pass through. Finally he mentioned another ticket booth inside the gates to someone else. Thanks a lot. So over here we bought tickets to the museum and for a boat ride later in the day. Then all the way back to the museum entrance.
The museum would have been quite interesting if we had a lot of time
from our hotel roof
. But we leisurely strolled through the first hour and then tried to make our way towards the exit to catch our boat. We had to pass through an almost endless series of rooms and exhibits when we just wanted to get out. It was the never-ending museum. A very cool room upstairs with a series of detailed paintings covering the walls and some beautiful peacock mosaics though. Finally we escaped and made our way down to the docks to grab our boat. The boat did a circuit around the lake and floating palace and then made a stop at Jagmandir Island (where Octopussy had a bunch of beautiful women splash around in the swimming pool). There wasn't really much to see here, but it was a nice spot. It was the Maharana's birthday today, and a crowd was gathered in the palace. Out here, too, there were a bunch of chairs and decorations put up for later festivities. We caught the boat back to the mainland.
We caught a beautiful sunset from our rooftop and then went next door for a slightly overpriced dinner and movie. Emily asked if the movie was going to be crowded and when it was going to start. Apparently it started whenever we got there, and we were the only ones. So we got a nice private viewing. Slightly corny perhaps, but lots of fun. The James Bond innuendo was pretty direct back then. I found it quite entertaining.
~Travis
