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.

Bundi monsoon walk

We had another early start today so I settled on breakfast biscuits and sleep rather than paying for breakfast.  We spent 4 hours in our private transport to Bundi stopping on the way at a chai tea stall.

I like chai it's spicy and milky although boiling hot drinks in boiling hot weather I can't quite wrap my head around!

We arrived at our "hotel" which is the old residence of a maharajah!  It's lovely and interesting rooms and decor and surprisingly again has wifi!  

After settling into the rooms we had a lovely lunch before being picked up in auto rickshaws and taken to see the step well.  The well was interesting, but smelt overwhelmingly of bat poo - common smell within Indian monuments - hard to describe, but lots of ammonia!!

We then headed up to the Bundi City Palace and the owner of the hotel took us on a tour pointing out the lovely paintings and it was beautiful although sadly due to an ownership dispute no one is preserving the building so it might not be around forever.

We were looking in a closed to the public area of the paintings when the rain started...

It's not yet stopped... We were more or less trapped in a fort until it eased enough to make our way down the slippery steps to the exit. Joe killed the hour we had to wait by choreographing a Bollywood dance which has been recorded for future enjoyment!

We were offered the option of a taxi or walking back to the hotel, the group was on the fence so we ended up walking/paddling!  Not many pictures as it was a bit too wet... At one point we crossed the road which was a river with a current and had to hold hands!  We arrived back at the hotel and the reception was flooded, although seems to have been cleared now!  It was certainly an experience and the people of Bundi and indeed our guide Raj were taking it all in their stride!

After a well earned shower we grabbed dinner and I succumbed to my western food homesick stomach and had some French fries, although also palak paneer (spinach with paneer cheese), Bhindi (okra) and chappatis followed by Gulab Jalan for dessert - I was hungry!

The rain still hasn't stopped, but has calmed down - we're on a train tomorrow so I'm hoping for a good journey!