Rajasthan's romantic City

city palace
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I arrived into Udiapur at 8am on the sleeper train from Jaipur. The journey wasn't too bad and I wasn't too tired. I found the loos in the station and brushed my teeth and washed my face. I took an auto rickshaw to the hotel which I had already booked a room, checked in, had brekkie and chilled out for a bit. Had to change some of my flights on my ticket so spent an hour or so sorting that out. I did some laundry, had a shower and then went for a walk to have a look round. The streets in Udaipur are quite narrow and seem like alleyways.

an elephant painting
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The hotel wasn't far from the city palace so I took a walk up there and went in to have a look. The palce was constructed by the founder of Udaipur - Maharaja Udai Singh II. There are various rooms, with various decor and a museum showing all the kings (Maharajas of Mewar) of Udaipur since the beginning. On one side of the palace it overlooks the lake, in which there is the Lake Palace - now a famous hotel. The view is fantastic. Random fact, the James Bond film Octopussy was filmed in Udaipur.

The City Palace
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After the palace I went to the Jagdish Temple, which is a lovely temple with a black image of the god Vishnu (lord of the universe) inside. I gave a donation and offering of some flowers, said a prayer and took some pics. I came back to the hotel and had a cuppa.

At breakfast I had met a dutch couple who wanted to go to the cinema to watch a hindi film. I offered to accompany them. So after dinner we met in reception and took a rickshaw to the cinema. I had no idea what was showing, we just turned up, bought tickets and in we went. The film was a modern slapstick comedy and not a typical bollywood style film. I wouldn't have chosen to see such a film myself, but it's not really a good idea for women to go the the cinema alone. The couple enjoyed it and despite the language, they seemed to understand what was going on.

a statue of a goddess
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The next morning a women I had met in Jaipur - Donna, arrived at 8am. We had agreed to share a room for the one night and do a city tour of Udaipur together. She was from China, come to India to work, but was doing a little bit of sightseeing 1st. She was lovely and it worked out well. We went to have breakfast and planned our day. We hired a rickshaw with a driver and told him what we wanted to see and do.

He drove us around Lake Pichola and we got closer the the Lake Palace hotel. We took some pics and then went onto Ahar, which has over 250 cenotaphs of the maharajas of Mewar and their family members. All the ladies cenotaphs were on one side and were smaller then the mens. We spoke to a guide who told us about the process of what happens when a maharaja dies. He gets cremated, prayers are said and a plot is chosen with a design  remembrance. The ashes get scattered in the Ganges and the cenotaph is the memory. There were various types, sizes and designs.

The hotel on the lake
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Next we went to a nice park on a hill, overlloking part of the city. There was so much greenery around, it was very scenic. We then went onto the Sajjan Garh (Monsoon Palace) which is high up on a mountainside. This palace is actually neglected in comparison to the city palace, which is a shame. The views from up here are amazing though. You can see all round, the city and the lake. We stayed up there for ages just sitting in the sun and enjoying the peace and quiet. On the drive down we saw a mongoose in the trees.

me at the Monsoon Palace
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Next stop was some shops. Donna wanted to buy some clothes so we went to a textiles place, where they showed us printingon fabrics. She tried some tops on and tried to haggle with the shopkeeper but he wouldn't agree to her price. The next shop was like a museum, so many paintings, statues, furniture etc. It was great to just see everything. I went backto the hotel after all this and Donna went on to see the City Palace. I chilled out for a bit and had tea with the hotel owner. Cos of being able to speak Hindi I get to chat loads to the locals and they're always curious about the UK and always ask why I am travelling alone.

Monsoon Palace
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When Donna returned we did some packing as we were both leaving the next day. We took a walk to the lake side as we weren't far from it. We freshened up and went out for some dinner to Natraj Lodge. The food was excellent. Donna loved the style and presentation and took photos as she had never had anything like it before. There was so much choice and the waiters kept trying to get us to eat more, but we couldn't. Back at the hotel we chatted for a while and got an early night in as I had to be on the 7.30am bus for Jodhpur.