Udaipur

Nov 17 – 19

http://picasaweb.google.com/MarkSNewell/Udaipur#

Ah, the most romantic city in India and home of the famous "Lake Palace" from the James Bond film Octopussy. We decided to bypass most of the state of Rajasthan because it is so mobbed by tourists – but this gem we had to see. Udaipur is truly a charming city, and as soon as we arrived I wished we could stay longer.

Our hotel was in a beautiful old 'haveli' – a traditional home that used to house palace staff. One of the many irritations of traveling in India is that more often than not you have to fight with your rickshaw driver to arrive at the hotel you want – they try to drive you to a hotel which will pay them commission for delivering you. Even though our driver was very friendly and spoke great English – he still managed to take us to a different hotel, although we told him not to three times. In any case, we finally made it to the hotel of our choice, and loved it, thoroughly enjoying the roof-top restaurant with amazing views of the lake and surrounding hills. We spent our days here exploring old royal palaces, haggling with the merchants for the goodies we were shopping for, and taking in the beautiful surroundings. A day into our stay here I started feeling a bit ill – no serious problems, just low energy and feeling a bit nauseous (no, I am NOT pregnant!). I spent a day in bed reading, and Mark went on his own adventures – hopping on a shared auto rickshaw and heading out to see some farther out sights. He got a wee bit lost, but managed to befriend two school girls who escorted him back to where he was headed, all for the mere price of two pens (this is a common tactic of many kids in India – they try their darnedest to beg a Rupee, a chocolate, or a pen out of every tourist they come across). These two earned their pens, however – Mark was grateful for their help.