Udaipur

Before we begin this LONG OVERDUE post, we would like to apologize for being so many months behind but we have to say, it really isn’t our fault. We don’t want to make any excuses, but … our excuse is that ever since we finally got to hot weather in mid-January, the sun fried our brain and slowed us down! So you see, we couldn’t help it!! That being said, we have taken lots of vitamins and built our strength back and hopefully we are in good enough form to get back on track. J



Lake Pichola and Water Palace in the distance

 As you know from our post on January 1^st, we spent new years in romantic Udaipur sitting on Lake Pichola (a wonderful couple we know got engaged here and the romance is still flowing between them as they now have a beautiful daughter!). We have to admit that we didn’t love the city at first and didn’t feel the romance. While we saw the beauty in the design of the city with its intricately designed Lake Palace on an island in the middle of the lake and the ornate havelis and hotels lining the lake shore, we found the city to be overcrowded with tourists and the streets around the hotels lined with too many stores selling the usual: jewellery, clothes and all the other stuff found all over Rajasthan. However, we decided to give the city a chance and stayed a few extra days and finally understood its allure. We had to remind ourselves that it is only natural for a place always swarmed by tourists to become touristy and that you have to take it for what it is to really appreciate it.



bathers with one of the many boat rides going by

 Udaipur was founded by Maharaja Udai Singh II in 1568 and has the famous Lake Palace that covers the whole of Jagniwas Island (approximately 1.5 hecters*). Built 1754 it was originally the royal summer palace but is now a luxury hotel (visitors are not allowed unless you have lunch or dinner reservations). The royal families divided the rest of their time in Udaipur between the enormous City Palace complex which takes up a large part of the east bank of the river and during the monsoon season at the Monsoon Palace sitting on a distant mountain range overlooking the city. There is another island palace on Jagmandir Island which is flanked by a row of enormous stone elephants. A popular tourist excursion is a boat ride out in lake Pichola around the two islands. We have to say, this is really a worthwhile trip!

Besides the boat trip and just strolling through the many areas of the city, you can also walk along the shore and check out the bathing and dhobi (laundry) ghats. We also stumbled upon the old Muslim quarter and found that all the Muslim women here did not wear the usual hijab or burqa but had a very beautifully embroidered skirt and top with a hood - it reminded us of what little red riding hood wore. We ended up seeing this again in another city in India later on in our travels. Another cool thing about the city is that most of the hotels in the old town on or near the lake are tall with rooftop restaurants or sitting areas with beautiful vistas of the city, lake and surrounding mountains.

Note: For you movie buffs Udaipur was the backdrop for the James Bond flick “Octopussy”. It’s hard to visit this city and not be reminded of this fact as most of the restaurants play this movie nightly.

To see more pictures of our time in Udaipur click HERE (password: palaces).


one of the dhobi (laundry) ghats



another laundry ghat with the Lake Palace in the background



our room at the Lal Ghat Guesthouse



ain't we cute?!? :)



people hanging out and swimming at one of the ghats



women doing the laundry



hardest workers in India: women and donkeys.  Imprssive, carrying a baby and loading bricks!



another woman hard at work ... seeing a trend yet??



a merchant carrying his goods through the streets of Udaipur



donkeys hard at work



ladies and their babies