Beautiful Udaipur

Raj our guide is pretty awesome - he's had a word with the staff at the homestay and we had banana fritters for breakfast! I also played safe with some toast and also tried a masala omelette which was delicious!

We set off in private cars to drive us to Udaipur and Raj had told us we could stop for a toilet break during the c4 hour journey, but it would be in the bushes!  Fortunately we managed a very swift journey and didn't need to stop and I manage to finish reading "Dark Places" as we drove.

Our hotel Pratap Bhawani is a bit more olde world in decor, but lovely and we were welcomed with marigold garlands.

The man who brought my bags to my room advised that I should keep the curtains closed at night because of "naughty boys"! 

After a quick settling in, we met downstairs and were taken on our orientation walk and Udaipur is the first place we've visited where it's not totally manic and I feel comfortable walking around by myself.  We stopped for lunch in a cafe just as the heavens opened and treated us to another monsoon shower which stopped after 45 minutes whilst we were eating lunch.

And guess what was first in the visit list....a tour of the City Palace!

This palace was really beautiful - lots of brightly coloured glass windows and amazingly detailed paintings and painted rooms.

After our palace tour we had a quick visit to a Hindu temple where they were singing and all being served dinner.

Raj predicted that today would be less rainy than tomorrow so recommended we do as much outside as possible and so we took a boat ride around Lake Pichola and marvelled at the lake palace and how beautiful the city is from the water.

After our boat trip a few of us went along to Lord & Tailor and went clothes shopping with a difference in that we picked a design and a fabric for tailor made clothes!  I debated getting something "sensible", but then inspired by the wonderful colours of India I chose a shift dress pattern to be made in an orange patterned fabric and then a pleated dress in a green fabric with a marigold print.  They will be ready tomorrow which is unbelievable and both together cost the equivalent of £49!  Bob in our group choose a lined tailor made suit and two shirts for the equivalent of £270.

A quick dash back to the hotel and then we met for the cultural dance show.  The show was about an hour long and packed with tourists - a novelty for this trip in the low monsoon season.  It started with an odd dance that involved fire heated balls being moved from one bowl to another by mouth and a man dressed as a tiger being ridden by another man.  There were lots of brightly coloured saris spinning around and a puppet dance which involved some audience participation from a couple of children.  The most impressive was the final dance where a lady balanced a ever increasing amount of pots (until the stack was taller than she was!) on her head and danced on broken glass and a tray that she "walked" across the stage on.

We then headed out for dinner at Rainbow restaurant and I had a fairly gentle meal as once again I was starting to feel dodgy.  I had a barbecued stuffed potato, vegetable jalfrezi and a chapatti, and a dessert of mango ice cream.  It all tasted really fresh and delicious.  We made our way back to the hotel, but I opted for an early night as I think I'm tackling DB round two despite being as careful as I can.

Starbucks and Dancing Ubud Style

We had and idea yesterday that we might get a driver to take us to the beach, but we actually decided that we weren't really in the mood.  Rachel felt in one of those odd bad morning moods, so I decided to take her to Starbucks to cheer her up!  I know that they have been bad and not paid their taxes, but I did think that introducing Rachel to a Salted Caramel Mocha would right a fair few wrongs in her world (and I think I was more or less right!)  

Starbucks in Ubud is very tasteful and blends in with the surroundings pretty well and is a fascinating clash of the epitome of Western culture and chain brands, with a very distinctive Balinese flavour to it.  You can buy pretty much everything you would in a UK or USA Starbucks, but you get a real feel for Bali with the wooden carved furniture and the cushioned seating areas.  Kiran enjoyed crawling around the cushions as well as chewing on my purse.

we nipped into a book shop and I took the opportunity to buy Fragrant Rice by Janet De Neefe which is also about Bali and will be good for me to read on the way home. We  took a leisurely wander down Bisma which is still quite un-touristy with views of rice fields, although a lot of the dirt path that Rachel had remembered was now very much road paved by the hotels popping up all along the road.

We went back for a relax at the hotel and then went off to Juice Ja for a late lunch/early dinner.  I had a very tasty Chicken quesadilla, an Americano and 2 cardamon flavoured lassis.   We met a very precocious 4 1/2 year old girl who could speak Balinese, Indonesian, Thai, French and English and told me that I was fat because I ate too much and that she was fat too because she ate too much.  It didn't manage to put me off eating an incredibly tasty lemon and poppyseed cake with frosting served on the side.  

We came back to my room and I set about Baby proofing so that Kiran was contained whilst Rachel was talking to her Dad on Skype.  I also did some embroidery and applique to make Kiran a sleepsuit (It's what Rachel sings to him if he's getting a bit upset and it settles him down.)

Made picked Rachel and Kiran up at 7pm and so I went along to watch some Balinese Traditional Dancing and saw dancers from Sanggar Pondok Pekak performing the Legong dances, this is what my leaflet had to tell me:

The Sanggar (traditional music and dance) studio portion of Pondok Library and learning Center was founded in 1998, originally to provide dance classes for local children who didn't have other opportunities to learn.  Since then it has grown to include free children's gamelan classes, an international women's gamelan troupe and a professional men's troupe.  privately funded Sanggar Pondok Pekak is supported by our "Art of Bali" classes for travelers, private donations and proceeds from our evening performances   Many thanks to all those who help support our efforts.

The performance started with an instrumental piece with lots of men and boys playing the Gamelan which is similar I guess to a Xylophone and also there were lots of drummers.  There were 6 dances in total and I won't depict all of them here, but I'll cover some of the more interesting notes from the programme and give you a flavour with some of my pictures (which aren't great as it was dark and I was only using a phone to take close up pictures).

This is from the opening Sekar Jagat Welcome dance which represents the ritual presentation of an offering in the form of dance and is performed by a group of young girls.

Baris Warrior Dance - The Baris Dance, a dazzling dance glorifying the power and strength of a Balinese warrior, is most commonly performed as a solo exhibition dance, often by a young boy.  This expressive dance is broken into 3 parts each expressing the different moods and range of emotions of the young warrior.  The word Baris means line or file, as in a line of warriors going into battle.

Oleg Composed in the 1950s this duet represents the Courtship of two bumblees they flit from flower to flower in a beautiful garden.

Jauk This traditional mask dance portrays a demon, alone in the jungle, who is free to play, move and be happy.  Watch the ancient costume as the dancer turns around!

This drummer checked his phone in a gap between the performances.

All the dancers taking a bow.

I liked the dancing, it was different and had very strong facial expressions.  The music was also quite haunting and dramatic.  I can't imagine how long it takes to get ready and put all the make up on the dancers!  I remember how long it too Rachel to get into her wedding outfit and this must be similar, but for multiple people!  I hope that next time I come to Bali I get to see the Kecak and fire dance which is supposed to be good too.