Udaipur- Where's the Water?

[Dec 4]



Udaipur is famous for the lovely Lake Pichola, which surrounds the Lake Palace Hotel, a former home of royalty and now a very expensive hotel. However, due to no monsoon this year, the lake is nearly dried up and its possible to walk to the hotel (pictured below) and across the dry bed from one end of town to the other. But somehow the town still retains a nice character and the dry bed makes for a nice walk in an open space.







In Udaipur we met up with our 3 friends from Holland who we met on our China tour. Astrid, Myrthe, and Francine are all teachers on a 5-month journey through Southeast Asia, Nepal, and India. They also have a photo web site. Luckily our itineraries crossed again and we had fun catching up and trading stories. Dean is pictured with them below.







Udaipur's other claim to fame is the James Bond movie Octopussy. Part of the movie was filmed here at the Monsoon Palace and near the lake. Many restaurants lure in customers with a free evening show on DVD so we enjoyed watching it one evening and making fun of it the rest of the time. "Oh, James!" Below, Dean and Francine reenact the autorickshaw chase scene.







Dean was busy working on his graduate school applications and we spent a good deal of time in the Internet cafes. But we had time to see the city and its surroundings. One day we went to a crafts village that recreated traditional Rajisthani style homes, like mud huts, straw huts, and fisherman huts. Many people were also waiting to give a dance and music performance and were eager to have us dance with them. Astrid was the only one brave enough to try the dance and gathered quite a crowd and even a photographer for the local newspaper. The next day her photo was featured on the back page!



We also enjoyed the many "German" bakeries that had great cinnamon rolls and sandwiches. It was great to just sit back during the hot part of the afternoon and enjoy a snack. We also had the chance to see a wedding party squeeze through the narrow streets. The groom rode a fancy horse and trailed by a stream of brightly dressed ladies. He looked quite bored and perhaps embarrased from all of us tourists taking a snap!







Getting to Udaipur was the only drawback as we had to take an eight hour bus ride. I asked our bus driver about a toilet at one of our stops and he helpfully offered to walk me to it. He led me through the crowds and then pointed to a field. "There is no toilet! Use field." Sure enough, there were women there using the "toilet" but they had the modesty of a sari to hid in while I was wearing pants. After debating the situation, I figured out a way to shield myself as well with my jacket. It made for a good lesson to always use the toilet before you are too desperate.



But the views from the bus ride were nice. We drove through a national park, by a set of old Jain temples, and through farming towns where we saw farmers use yoked cows to drive water out of deep wells.



After Udaipur, we were off on two long train rides to Mumbai (previously Bombay), coming up in the next post!