We have now come to the end of our time in Udaipur, and we have had the most fantastic time. In fact, I'm tempted just to stay here for the next 6 weeks! It's a beautiful and enchanting city, full of lakes and palaces and temples. Our journey here was painfully long despite going the ultra posh AC chair class (lovely comfy seats at first but after 6 hours my bum was beyond painful!) The journey wasn't helped by the fact that we had to change lines when we were nearly there, and the train went backwards for a good 20 minutes!
We have been staying in the Udai Niwas hotel, which is very well located near the city palace and Picchola lake although the building work has made things rather noisy in the day. I forgive them the noise for the lovely hot showers we've had though, very much needed! On our first day we went for a day tour with a very friendly tuk-tuk driver (who later returned Nikki's camera after she'd left in on there - some people are incredibly honest here). He took us to a spice and vegetable market, which was huge and great fun. One lady selling the vegetables took a shine to us, and had our picture taken with her many times before putting bindi's on us, and some red powder just below our hairline going into our partings. We found out later that meant we were married - oops! We also went to the royal cemetary, which was full of huge memorial monuments for the Maharajah and other nobility. The guide showing us around had the job of burning the royals, which apparently takes 3 days. Until the 1940's if a Maharajah died, the wife or wives were expected to throw themselves into the fire. One king had 26 wives, and they all had to kill themselves! And if they didn't want to die, the family would apparently poison them and then push them in to keep their honour intact. Crazy and incredibly interesting. This has now been banned, and the last time a wife performed this ritual was in 1971.
The next day, we went first to Jagdish temples, which were quite small but with inredibly detailed carvings on the outside of the building, including some kama sutra of course! After that we made the short walk to the city palace and had a guided tour, which was quite infomative. The palace was very impressive, with many fine statues and everything carved from limestone. In the evening, we returned to the palace to watch the sound and light show, which was basically the story of how Udaipur and the palace came to be, and the various battles fought to retain thearea and keep it out of the hands of the Mughals. We went to a little restaurant for dinner called the Lotus cafe, which was playing Western music, which was actually really good to hear for a change. And they had jacket potatoes on the menu - double result!
On our final day in Udaipur, we got up early and took a 2 hour taxi trip to Ranakpur, a large Jain temple with I think over a thousand carved pillars, each one being unique. It was very beautiful and interesting to see the holy men around the temple. Unfornately they were only willing to talk or have their photos taken in exchange of money, which I found rather disappointing.
All in all, Udaipur is an incredibly beautiful city, my favourite place in India so far. I hope to return there someday, with an empty suitcase preferably to fill with all the wonderful rugs and wall hangings and art work available here!
We have been staying in the Udai Niwas hotel, which is very well located near the city palace and Picchola lake although the building work has made things rather noisy in the day. I forgive them the noise for the lovely hot showers we've had though, very much needed! On our first day we went for a day tour with a very friendly tuk-tuk driver (who later returned Nikki's camera after she'd left in on there - some people are incredibly honest here). He took us to a spice and vegetable market, which was huge and great fun. One lady selling the vegetables took a shine to us, and had our picture taken with her many times before putting bindi's on us, and some red powder just below our hairline going into our partings. We found out later that meant we were married - oops! We also went to the royal cemetary, which was full of huge memorial monuments for the Maharajah and other nobility. The guide showing us around had the job of burning the royals, which apparently takes 3 days. Until the 1940's if a Maharajah died, the wife or wives were expected to throw themselves into the fire. One king had 26 wives, and they all had to kill themselves! And if they didn't want to die, the family would apparently poison them and then push them in to keep their honour intact. Crazy and incredibly interesting. This has now been banned, and the last time a wife performed this ritual was in 1971.
The next day, we went first to Jagdish temples, which were quite small but with inredibly detailed carvings on the outside of the building, including some kama sutra of course! After that we made the short walk to the city palace and had a guided tour, which was quite infomative. The palace was very impressive, with many fine statues and everything carved from limestone. In the evening, we returned to the palace to watch the sound and light show, which was basically the story of how Udaipur and the palace came to be, and the various battles fought to retain thearea and keep it out of the hands of the Mughals. We went to a little restaurant for dinner called the Lotus cafe, which was playing Western music, which was actually really good to hear for a change. And they had jacket potatoes on the menu - double result!
The view of the lake palace from the city palace.
All in all, Udaipur is an incredibly beautiful city, my favourite place in India so far. I hope to return there someday, with an empty suitcase preferably to fill with all the wonderful rugs and wall hangings and art work available here!
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