Today I hauled myself out of bed at 6am and gobbled down a bowl of porridge before packing my backpack and heading out of the hotel.
We were catching the 8am bus for the journey to Udaipur, in the East. Luckily the bus was far less crammed than before, and the journey passed in relative comfort. As we travelled I gazed out of the window, watching the scenery change from flat landscape to rocky, steep hills and green jungle. As we neared Udaipur we passed hundreds of marble stores, selling the wonderful marble that was used hundreds of years ago to build the Taj mahal.
At about 3 we arrived in the clean streets of Udaipur with their wonderful little shops and friendly people. We are staying at a hostel that I can't remember, but it is more like a b&b than a hotel, with the Colonel (30 years in the military, wonderful moustache) to provide a warm welcome and ensure we were settled down ok. Marble is everwhere in the hostel - I'm sharing with Lisa this time and our shower room is sheer luxury!
We met after dumping our bags, and Hannah showed us round the town. Udaipur is famous for its marble, and also the perfect minutures that take many weeks to complete. After our quick tour (sooo many nice shops - raah) I went with Hannah, Ajid and Anna to a little art shop, and we sipped chai and examined the beautiful paintings under a microscope - not a brushmark to be seen, the most perfect detail. One of the painters working away gave me a demonstration - he took my hand and in about a minute painted a perfect minuture portrait on one of my nails. We left with complimentry cards, and promised to come back tomorrow for henna hand painting.
Several of us also booked a cooking class the next day, and a ride up to the monsson palace in the hills. Very excited. Hannah also pointed the palace on the lake. It is now a hotel and one of the most luxurious places in the world, for 1800 rupees you can have a boat ride there, fireworks and a luxurious banquet. Bit out of my budget, but sounds wonderful. Incidently it is also where octopussy was filmed (we may be watching the film tomorrow night in on of the rooftop cafes by the lake).
Above Left: The Lake Palace Above right: A palace facade in Udaipur
In the evening we ate a meal beside the lake. The food was yummy, but we kept getting dive-bombed by hundreds of (non-biting thank god) mosquitos!
Its a hard life isn't it....too much to do to keep us addicts informed
ReplyDeletexxx
You do realise that your exploits have become compulsive reading for us saddo's back at the ranch? Excellent photo's, keep them coming.
ReplyDeleteMick
Heey guys!
ReplyDeleteWell, seems my life of travelling madness makes interesting reading (you must be bored!)
Hope all is good back in the UK - what is the weather like? I'm going to send a few postcards soon to everyone - but don't expect them to arrive for weeks! Oh, and my photos are processed now, I'll send my own pics back. Maybe pa will be kind and get them put onto CD and somehow onto t'internet (Not sure if this is really possible - grr, knew I should have brought my digital!!)
Anyhoo, love to everyone from Udaipur - it really is wonderful and I wish you were all here in paradise (jealous yet??)
We are sitting in an Internet cafe on a little Greek Island (Αλοννησος) but we are still jealous!!
ReplyDeleteAnd sure I can Scan and put you picies up either on the internet -- how about on your Photobucket site?
Mum was wondering whether your backpack is able to grow indefinitely in size to fit in all of your purchases!!!
MnDxxx