More in Rajasthan- Udaipur and Bundi

The varied colors and styles of Rajasthan's turban's are a famous part of the state's distinctive desert culture.
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So, after leaving the temple, we did the hour or so drive to Udaipur (in Rajasthan) arriving around 2pm. We did some sight-seeing around town with Madhavi's family which was really fun. Usually we have to plan everything. Look through the guidebook, decide where to go, find transportation, etc. This time we literally just go to go along for the ride.

We visited the "French Garden", a memorial to a famous Raj warrior, took a boat ride on the lake, and rode camels with Madhavi and her sister. The family had to head back at the end of the afternoon so they dropped Madhavi, Katha, and I near the hotel we were going to stay at.

It was a bit of a long ride with 11 people in one jeep-like vehicle. But we five girls in the luggage area did pretty good.
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We read about the "Lal Ghat Guest House" in the guide book so we went there first. The balcony overlooking the river was what made the whole place worth staying at, but there are gobs of hotels in the area with really great rooftop restaurants that probably would have been equally as nice. So, we took adavantage of our hotel balcony during the day to read and relax and visited the other hotels for means on their roofs.

The Lake is definaltey the center of the town though. The city is very clean and it's winding, hilly, narrow streets reminded me of Europe. The city is surrounded by hills with the Lake in the valley. In the center of the lake is the Lake palace. Just one, pure white, mansion in the middle of the lake.

Madhavi with our breakfast after going to the temple. It was a sweet tumeric yellow rice with crunchy noodles on top served, literally, on the day's news.
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Udaipur is a great city to just walk through and take in all the small lanes, shops, markets, and colorful old buildings, but do NOT miss the City Palace. One of the royal families of Rajasthan actually continued to live here until the late 1960's. There was even a member of the royal family coming through the palace while we were there with the full escort of security, and a horse back, turbin wearing, entourage.

The palace is huge, wonderfully preserved, and beautiful from the outside and in. We took about two hours to just wander through this massive work of art but could have spent all day there. There were several museums chronicling the history of the city as well as the past inhabitants of the palace.

Udaipur is famous for it's lake, so we rented one paddle boat and one motor boat to explore it a bit.
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We wanted to realax for awhile after or tour of the palace so we rented small boats with curtained sides to slowly paddle us through the lake for half and hour and enjoy the palace and the city from the water. Sitting in our couch in our floating room with our feet dangling into the cool lake I felt a bit like one of the royalty of that palace. It's at least fun to pretend.

It was lunch time when we finished our boat ride so we went to a near-by rooftop restaurant for lunch. As with most touristy areas, there is much "continental" food on offer, but the Indian food is usually of far better quality. So, we just quietly took in the sunny view of the lake from our rooftop while waiting for the eggplant and tomato curry and fresh roti to be made.

Katha and Madhavi on their camel. The family thought it was really funny hearing our screems as the camels shakily hoisted us to our high vantage point.
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Being that we were three girls with time to kill our next logical step was to go shoppping. Rajasthan and Udiapur in particular are famous for the intricate Mughal style of paintings on framable old parchment or cards. The colorful patchwork of Rajasthani wall-hangings and purses is also plentiful in town and the tiny mirrors reflecting in the sunshine make many of the small streets sparkle where these shops are located.

We spent the evening at the restaurant that advertised the "highest rooftop in town." The service and food were both fairly poor but the view was indeed spectacular. The mountains surrounding town at sunset, the lights of the city below, and even fireworks around the lake made the rooftop a wonderful venue for some cross-cultural learning between Madhavi, Katha, and I comparing dating, careers, and life in Europe, the U.S., and India.

Monica, myslef, and our camel (whom you can't see) trailing katha and madhavi around the lake.
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Madhavi surprised me greatly during this trip. In the past when we had talked to here in the hostel upon returning from one of our weekend trips she would always say things like "yar, I could never do that. You people are so brave." (I have since explained the "you people can actually sound offensive and I think she's quit saying it, but it always made me laugh.) With those statements in mind I didn't know how it would turn out for the three of us to travel together. But she was wonderful. She never seemed timid or worried an any point. She went with the flow and did more than her fair share of arguing with the auto-walas and storekeepers. Plus it's the first time in awhile I've traveled with someone who speaks fluent Hindi which can always make things more interesting.

The "French Garden" in Udaipur.
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Oh, one other thing Udaipur is famous for is the James Bond film "Octupussy" that was largely filmed here. Most hotels and restaurants in town showed it on TV's a few times a week, but we never took the time to watch it.

After two wonderful days exploring Udaipur we decided to break up the long bus ride back to Delhi by going to Bundi for one day on the way home. Bundi is just a small town with a delapidated fort and a small blurb in the travel book, but it is often these small towns that give you the most authentic of your experiances in antoher country.

Our hotel in Udaipur used to be a Haveli, or plantation kind of setup. The old balconies are available to chill out on and watch the lake....nice perk.
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So, we took the overnight "sleeper" bus to Bundi at 9:30pm. My previous experiance with these buses were in Himachal Pradesh, where the narrow and curvy mountain roads make the "sleeper" part of the title a complete joke. The roads here, however, were largely quite good and these buses even had the option for a sleeper berth were you get a bunk bed type of cabin above the normal seats. Katha and I shared the double berth and it was actually very nice. The windows run the lenght of the bed so you can lie down and watch the desert pass by the window and look down at the people on the street with more discretion than is normal possible. We took a similar bus for the 12hr ride from Bundi to Delhi and our double birth there was lovingly dubber the "penthouse" as it easily accomodated Katha, Madhavi, myself, and our luggage spaciously.

anyone who has traveled with me knows i can't leave the four legged member's of the community alone. This goat was so cute on his balcony overlooking one of the streets we walked through a lot.
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So, after our semi-restful night in the sleeper bus we arrived at Bundi early in the morning and found our way to a local home that rented it's bedrooms as a guest rooms whenever someone was interested. It was a charming place where the husband had painted Rajasthani murals on the walls and the mother of the family makes your breakfast to order as you sit in the kitchen and watch.

Unfortunately we didn't have much time in Bundi so started the day by arranging our bus tickets to Delhi for that night, and wandering through some of the small markets buying dried coconut, nuts, raisins, and fresh fruit for the day. While at the travel agency we asked for a recommendation of what to do for the afternoon and they said we should see the waterfall in the desert outside of town. Intrigued would be a vast understatement as the temperatures outside were probably kissing the 95F mark and a swim sounded good to all involved. So, we rented a car, bought some bottles of water, and headed into the desert. We figured this woudl either be wonderful or we were completely stupid and were being lured into the desert to be killed and robber, the travel agents figuring anyone stupid enough to believe they could go swimming in the desert would probably we carrying a massive amount of cash on person and would not be missed by the world at large.

The balcony from our hotel where we could sit and watch the lake palace at sunset.
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About an hour later our car bumped down a small, dusty road in the desert and stopped under a small tree that offered shade for the driver. There was nothing in sight but rocks and dirt. Our guides hopped out and started walking so we followed suspiciously. After 200ft or so the guides stopped and we walked up behind them having come to the edge of a 100ft or so ravine, and at the bottom...sure enough....a green pool of water and a small waterfall. We gleefully skipped down the stone steps to the bottom of the ravine and Katha and I happily jumped into the cool water shaded by the small forest surrounding the lake. Madhavi and the guides didn't swim, but they happily watched us as we spent the entire time we had before catching the bus in the water.

Katha and Madhavi on the balcony.
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This was definatley one of those moments in traveling where you have to stop and tell yourself "I'm swimming in a desert in Norhern India." You repeat it over and over enjoying the irony and comedy of the statement while trying to make it seem real to yourself. I don't know if I ever convinced myself that it was really happening, but I enjoyed every minute. It was the perfect way to spend our last afternoon, topping off a wonderful trip with two great companions.