Udaipur - City of Lakes

  Udaipur – a small city (only 300,000 people!) with an illustrious history. Its Venice comparison is somewhat of a misnomer since it's really a city of artificially - crafted lakes. Beautiful nonetheless, its white and pastel-colored buildings glint merrily in the water.

  After living in huts for almost a month, it's a change of scenery for us when we get a hotel room. It's clean, with freshly laundered sheets and towels, bright yellow walls, no insects, frogs or mosquitto netting, a roll of toilet paper or two (so not a standard), and a heavenly, heavenly! hot shower (we haven't had a hot one since Kolkata). The small things you learn to appreciate.

  The temperature here is more moderate than in the south, with 70's during the day and low enough at night to require a sweater. Ideal early fall weather in Chicago.

  The first evening, after we get settled, we sit on the steps of a ghat by the main canal with some medical students, overlooking the luxurious Taj Lake Palace hotel on Lake Pichola, where some of Octopussy's James Bond scenes were filmed. P's a big fan. Since a night there costs about 250,000 rupees and would wipe out much of our budget for the rest of the trip, we decide against visiting.

Taj Lake Palace

  The next morning, we make a monumental decision. In order to avoid that train fiasco from Margao, we make a schedule of most of the train tickets we'll need and purchase them at the station. Done and done, we're pretty much settled for the last month in India.

  Another reason we went against our usual approach of NOT-planning ahead was because I decided to attend a silent 10 day free course of Vipassana meditation in Jaipur, which starts on the 23^rd of January. Vipassana offers meditation techniques, where introspection leads to self-transformation and ultimately happiness. We'll see how enlightened I come out :) Having no need for a dialogue with his inner self, P has decided to skip the course and travel on his own for the duration. As much as we like traveling together, we both think it'll provide us with some much appreciated personal space.

  Back to Udaipur. We play at being real tourists instead of just beach bums and sight see some focal places of interest. The most intriguing so far is the royal palace complex, with its well-preserved architecture and various artifacts. Members of the old Mewar dynasty still serve as custodians of governance for the city and occupy the palace to this day. We even stumbled upon some ornate wedding festivities, although the identity of the newlyweds was a well-kept secret.

A groom

Who needs a ladder?

Palace complex

Bath time

Royal toilet from ?

  The last day we spend on the more mundane: laundry (by machine!), shopping for basic necessities and Pawel's new haircut. Deciding he's had enough of his shaggy head, he gets a royal treatment by a local barber.

  For the sunset, we head to a higher point for a pretty view over the lake. There we meet Brit Max, and socialize a bit over dinner. After a quick drink, we go back to the hotel to pack. Early next morning, we have booked seats on a bus to Jodhpur, the blue city.