The City of Lakes

Our drive from Jodhpur to Udaipur was a little rocky due to our driver taking a short cut which left us on small winding roads some of which were not paved.  None of this bothered me however Nagina was not so fortunate and got really car sick.  We ended up making a couple stops and got some Sprite and my motion sickness pills in her which seemed to help for a little while.  We finally made it to Udaipur and checked into our last Palace Hotel called the Siv Niwas Palace.  We checked in and were escorted to our room which was just up the hill in the same courtyard area as the lobby.  This was another antique door that came with a padlock and old key.  The room was small but fairly comfortable and we settled in.  With on the itinerary for that afternoon we relaxed and I finished yet another book I borrowed from Nagina and then sat and journaled until we left for dinner.  By which time Nagina was feeling much better.

We had dinner at the restaurant that was connected to the other Palace hotel and was on a terrace overlooking the lake.  It was a beautiful setting and the food was really good too.  We had a nice dinner which was included in our package.  The drinks however were not and the total for our 2 drinks ended up being 468 rupees which is 12 $ for a salted lassi and a diet coke.  It was such a rip off!!!!  That's the one thing I hate about 5 star hotels.  The more stars the more they charge for basic stuff, it's absolutely ridiculous.  I stopped off at the lobby on the way back to the room after dinner and asked about internet.  They said they had access but they charged 360 rupees for an hour which is 8$.  Ouch!!!  I was really irritated by that because I needed to use the computer to check on things with my brother for my arrival in Japan and reconfirm my airline ticket from Bombay to Tokyo. But I sure as heck was going to be paying that much for the internet.

After our lobby stop we went back to the room and settled in.  I continued journaling and after a month finally got caught up.  It was a big accomplishment.  While I was journaling we watched the some Hindi music competitions for kids kinda like munchkin American Idol.  But it was fun and the kids were really amazing singers until bed.

We were early as usual and got dressed and headed to breakfast which was a buffet in a room that had big windows that overlooked the city.  It was a lovely view to wake up to with coffee and breakfast.  After breakfast we ran back to the room and organized our stuff and grabbed our bags and met Dinesh when he arrived to pick us up with our guide in tow.  We jumped in the car and headed out to our first stop which was the Shree Jagdish Temple.

The Shree Jagdish Temple is devoted to Vishnu in his incarnation as the Lord Jagamath.  Vishnu incarnated several times, 9 if memory serves me right.  We climbed up the stairs to the shrine and discarded our shoes which sucked because it was still morning and I was wearing sandal so I was walking around in bare feet on really cold stone.  It was a working temple so there were no pictures allowed inside the shrine but we did go in and see the worshipers at their morning prayers.  The temple was built in the 16th century and beautiful but not compared to some of the others we have seen already.  We walked around the outside and took pictures while listening to the description of the iconography from the guide.  Along with the main temple to Vishnu there were 4 small temples in the corners of the courtyard which were devoted to Ganesha, Siva and Parvati, Laksmi and Surya (the God of the Sun).  We also saw off to the side the temple kitchen which feed the poor and homeless of the city.

Once we finished up at the temple and collected our shoes we walked up the street which was up hill to the City Palace Museum just in time to have it open.  It was a beautiful palace but I'm still partial to Jaipur which is my favorite when it comes to palaces or forts.  That and I think I had finally hit my limit and I was starting to OD on palaces.  But we walked through the entire thing with the guide and did see some beautiful rooms which I got pictures of so hopefully I can appreciate them later.  And surprisingly I thought the palace would be white in color since Udaipur is called the White City.

I'm not sure why they call Udaipur the White city because it's not like it is obviously painted white like what we saw in Jodhpur or Jaipur where loads of the buildings were painted there color.  But I do see why they call the the City of Lakes.  After we finished up at the palace we got back in the car and drove around town and then around Fatehsagar Lake and stopped at a craft shop.  We bumbled around and I'm just about shopped out at this point but did treat myself to a beautiful pashmina (I hadn't gotten one for myself up to this point) and a present for Leon for his Birthday which is coming up.

After the craft shop we headed to a garden called the Sahelion Ki Bari Garden which was built by one of the Maharajahs as a playground for this wives.  All over the garden are fountains which the women would play in during the hot summer days.  We walked around and if course got some pictures.  Unfortunately we got there just in time for the power blackout.  Apparently in Udaipur most of the city looses power between 1:00pm and 4:00pm.  But at least it's a set time in the middle of the afternoon.  Although this is not the case for the big hotels.  Luckily.

We headed back to the hotel and went and had a late lunch which was very tasty.  On the way back to our room I stopped by the lobby and asked if it was possible to have the travel desk call and confirm my flight to Tokyo.  They agreed and I got the ticket information from my room.  During the morning with our guide I had gotten directions to an internet cafe down the hill from the hotel so after I dropped my ticket information off and stopped in at the room Nagina and I headed down the hill and found an empty internet cafe.  It wasn't long before the owner came back and reminded me there was no power until 4.  At that point it was 3:30 and I wasn't about to walk back to the hotel just to turn around and walk back down.  So instead we went window shopping which quickly turned into actual shopping when Nagina started looking at some prints and miniature paintings.  At 4pm I left her at the store and walked back 2 doors to the internet cafe which had just come back online.

I checked my email and wrote a shame email to my brother and cc'd my parents and his wife so I would get a response from him as I needed pesky details for my arrival in Tokyo like what city he lived in (I only knew the base), his address and cell phone number just in case I needed to call him, etc. Then I attempted 3 times to download my pictures but there was too much other crap on the cafe computer so I finally gave up and figured I'd deal with it in Bombay/Mumbai.  It was in there for about an hour and when I finished I paid the which ended up being 30 rupee which is a far cry better then 360 rupee.  Of course then Nagina and I had to hoof it up the hill which was good exercise if nothing else.

Once back at the hotel the travel desk guy tracked me down and said that he had tried multiple times but was unable to get an answer from the Air India office to confirm my flight and asked that I call them when I arrive in Mumbai tomorrow evening.  I agreed and thanked him for his help.  We stopped in the room for a half hour and relaxed then headed  out cameras in tow to the terrace restaurant to watch and take pictures of the sunset over the lake.  It was really beautiful way to spend our last evening in Rajasthan.  After the sun had set we grabbed a table and ordered a few pina coladas to celebrate the end of the tour.  We sat and relaxed and talked and drank and watched the sky turn from pale blue to indigo.  Eventually we ordered dinner and ate under the stars.

When it was all finished we paid and headed back to the hotel room.  There I jumped in the shower and washed my hair and then got dressed and blow dried it.  By the time I got all that done it was 10pm and I was exhausted.  I gave up on my journaling for the night and watched the singing competition with Nagina until I fell asleep.  At 11pm I woke up and turned off my light and really went to bed.  It's amazing how that one drink totally put me to sleep.

The next morning the schedule was loose so I was able to sleep in until 8:30.  Wahoo!  I got up and dressed and we headed over to the breakfast room and found out that on Sundays they did a brunch so we were able to order dosa and idle.  I was soooo excited.  Oh, how I had missed my dosa.  After we finished our breakfast we headed back to the room and finished the last of the packing so that we could check out and head to the airport this afternoon.  We relaxed until Dinesh called us to say he had arrived to pick us up at 11:30 then we got the luggage taken care of and checked out.  Dinesh loaded the suitcases up and we headed out.

Our first stop was the lake where we were going to take a boat ride around and out to Jagmandir Palace.  Dinesh dropped us off with the tickets and we walked onto the waiting boat and got seats.  It wasn't long before we took off on a ride around the lake.  Along the way we saw parts of the city that butted up against the lake and even saw a bunch of guys in there underwear submerging an idol of some kind for a festival or a good luck charm of some kind.  We continued on to Jagmandir Palace which is in the middle of the lake and was famous as the Maharajahs pleasure palace.  It was used to escape from the normal palace and relax and also used for various ceremonies.  It is said that Shar Jakahn stayed in Udaipur after his beloved wife's death while his sons fought for the throne.  And it was the building on Jagmandir that is shaped like the Taj Mahal that gave him the inspiration to build the amazing tomb for his Mumtaz.  We walked around the palace and took some pictures.  This palace is not very big so it didn't take long.  Then we settled into some chairs and had a drink.  Iced coffee for Nagina and tea for me.  I love Indian chai tea and I'm going to miss it when I leave.  We talked and relaxed until we saw another boat arrive and wanted to make sure we didn't miss it so we chugged down the remainders of our drinks and hit the toilet before jumping on the boat.  The ride back was as soothing as the ride out and we were treated to views of lots of water birds flying around.

Back on shore we called Dinesh who came and picked us up.  He wanted to get a head start on the drive back to Delhi as it looked like there was going to be a strike or something starting another day or 2 in Rajasthan which would close the roads so he wanted to get out as soon as possible.  That being said after our boat ride he drove us straight out to the airport where he dropped us off.  We were only 5 hours early!  But he was very nice and it was the least we could do.  When he dropped us off I got a picture of him and our car which I had gotten so used to being in.  We checked in for our flight and gave them our luggage then grabbed a aisle of seats and sat down to wait.

We had yet another packed lunch the hotel had made for us and snacked on what we wanted and either threw away or gave away the rest to people at the airport.  Luckily we both had books to read so that passed the time fairly quickly.  At 6pm they announced our 7:25 flight was delayed until 8:30 so we continued to sit and read at 7:00pm they let us through security and we moved to sit in the secured area where we continued to wait.  We finally boarded the plane just before 9pm and got underway.  The flight was uneventful other then the fact that they served dinner which was pretty good and I finished my book before we even landed.

Finally we landed in Mumbai aka Bombay at 10:45pm and disembarked from the plane.  I was pleased as punch to feel the nice warm air outside when I got off the plane.  A nice change after the chill of the north.  But to hear about the rest of Bombay you'll have to wait until the next installment....