Udaipur,
Rajasthan
We flew into Udaipur and were met at the airport by Bobby,
our driver for the next 20 days. Bobby was tiny. He eats like a bird after
losing most of his teeth in a bike accident when he was younger. Bobby spoke
fluent Japanese which sadly wasn’t getting him far as most Japanese tourists
were petrified every time he approached them.
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| Udaipur | |
When we arrived at the hotel in Udaipur, we were shown to a
pit of a room. Sensing a theme yet? We are, believe it or not, getting more and
more immune to the dirt and we definitely notice it less and let it bother us
less than we did before, but this room took the biscuit. The toilet seat was
covered in sticky dried piss and there was dirt and blood on the bedsheets. We
went straight back down to reception with our bags in tow, adamant we weren’t
staying.
They insisted on showing us a better room and not wanting to seem
petty, we checked it out and it was actually quite nice. I swear they try their
luck with tourists – either some don’t care, don’t notice or are too polite to
say anything. Yeah, not us. Not anymore anyway. We are so over that British politeness
already.
Udaipur was lovely. Cobbled winding streets full of
knick-knack shops. Baby D took to it immediately whereas I thought it seemed a
bit touristy at first – and it is – but it’s a nice vibe and the usual trinket shops
were cute and not in your face. We were based a stone’s throw away from the
City Palace which was a spectacular building. (I am running out of adjectives
for lovely, nice, amazing, stunning etc!) We were also only a 5 minute walk
from the lake, in the middle of which was a lovely hotel. Bobby was staying in
our hotel, but in the drivers’ room. This is quite common in India; the drivers
tend to choose the hotels and they will normally pick those with a drivers’
room so the drivers are nearby and they all bunk up together in dorms for
cheap.
Bobby invited us to join him and the other drivers in their
room for a drink that evening but I ducked out as I had some work to do. Baby D
went in there and sat with him. It soon transpired that Bobby liked a drink. He
(along with seemingly every other Indian male we met) would drink half a bottle
of whiskey per night, but because the Bobster is so small, he can’t handle it
and gets steaming after a mouthful.
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| City Palace |
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| Inside City Palace |
The next day we went to the City
Palace and Monsoon
Palace. Monsoon Palace is in a state of disrepair, but has fantastic views
over the city and the lake. Its informal name is because it was built to look
at the monsoon clouds over the city, but its real name is Sajjan Garh and
interesting fact, it was a location used in Octopussy (James Bond film).
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| Monsoon Palace |
Back at the hotel. Bobby insisted we have a drink with him
and two other drivers who seemed quite nice, until one of them started making
rude comments and gestures to me. I got up and left straight away, only
thinking of some clever comeback an hour or so after (always the way, am I
right?!) Baby D hadn’t seen any of this
and came up to the room about 20 minutes later. We had a chat about it
and Baby D rushed out to have words with the driver….who for some reason, was
now outside our room. Odd, bearing in mind the drivers’ room was 2 floors
below. Baby D told him off and I’d say he got the hint as he scuttled off and
we didn’t see him around Udaipur again.
The next morning we did a boat ride round the lake in our
own speedboat with our own driver. There were group trips available but the
price wasn’t much more for a private speed boat and the group trips seemed to
book up quite soon in advance. The driver was great, pointing out what the
different buildings were and telling us a bit about the city.
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| View of Udaipur from lake |
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After that, as I
was desperate to do a cooking class in India, Bobby organised it for us. A bit
pricier than we would have liked and we did less cooking than we wanted to but
it was great fun all the same. Neena showed us how to make samosas, chapatis (3
ways), pakora, aloo ghobi, paneer masala, chicken masala, veg pulao, chocolate
paratha and masala chai. Then we ate it all while watching the sun set over the
lake. One of our top moments.
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| Sunset after cookery class | s |
Rajasthan has lots of rooftop restaurants and Udaipur was no
exception. The city was magnificent at night. There are very few bars in the
state and alcohol is really only available in the government approved shops, or
English wine shops which shut at 8pm in most places in Rajasthan, but 2pm in
Udaipur. There were some bars but it didn’t seem to be the done thing to drink
there. Personally I reckon they’re missing a trick and they’d make a killing
opening a bar, especially when tourists end up sat in their drivers’ room
getting harassed!
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| Kumbhalgarh Fort |
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(Jainism
is an ancient religion, which centres on principles of non-violence and
self-discipline).
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| Inside Jain Temple |
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Ranakpur is a very small village and its main attraction is
the Jain Temple. Bobby was nervous of going out after dark, and the poor guy
told us of having been dragged from his car and beaten in a place like
Ranakpur, so we didn’t wander far from the hotel and had an early one before
our epic drive from south to north Rajasthan, to Bikaner.
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