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So!Another couple of days have passed in Udaipur and I have a little bit more to tell you...
The last couple of days have been pretty chilled out, it's been great to have a full three days in Udaipur to really get a feel for the place and admire to gorgeous scenery. Yesterday we woke up early and planned to be up and about by tenish but a leisurely breakfast (Jade's 'chocolate croissant' was a sight to see- it had the consistency of a breadstick and the shape of something rather less pleasant-photo to follow soon!)meant we weren't really out before 12, oh dear- we must get better at this early morning sight seeing!We popped into the bagor-ki-haveli, a short walk down the road from our hotel and actually a really lovely museum. We had a guide, Mohammad Yusuf, a nice man who agreed to take us to Shilpgram (the nearby government craft village) and the monsoon palace later in the day for sunset. It was actually great to have a guide to show us around the rather the haveli museum, which was originally a 138 room residence for some wealthy person or other, possible a Maharana(I think in the 19th Century), then feel into disrepair in the 50's and has since been partly restored to give an idea of what it would be like back in the day.
We saw various different rooms including what Mohammad described as a 'love and romance room' where the man and woman of the house would meet for their romantic times. There was a head shaped hole carved in the wall of the room where apparently the lady could look out to if her husband was coming to the room, and various bits of the Kama sutra painted on the wall. Explicit!!We also saw a massive display of turbans showing the different colours and styles of all the castes and regions on india, as well as various different traditional saris. the best part was seeing the world's biggest turban (allegedly!!) which was absolutely huge (the look on Mohammad's face when Jade asked if anyone had worn it was priceless- 'oh no madam, it is for display purposes only!!' haha) as well as really intricate carvings of famous world landmarks and other bits and bobs such as the leaning tower of Pisa, Taj Mahal, Statue of liberty all done loving using polystyrene!more beautiful than it sounds actually...
We then went to Edelweiss again for a lunchtime cake (I went for the chocolate almond cake) and a cool drink and relaxed in our hotel til 4pm when we set off for Shilpgram which is about 5km out of the city, We piled into Mohammad's rather retro mini van and he gave us a commentary as we were driving, pointing out various sights on the way until we got there. Once at the craft village we saw typical examples of houses from Jaisalmer, Gujarat and Goa (Mohammad took great pride in explaining how the various houses are designed to keep the people 'cool and comfortable' with no air-conditioning) as well as various different artists and cloth workers with examples of their work. It was REALLY hard to resist buying anything even though neither of us were in the market for any of the crafts as all the people were really good at answering our excuses- for example, we said we didn't have room to carry table clothes and bedsheets in our backpacks as we were travelling. The textile guy's reply?'Ah but madam you can put these things in your pocket!' he then proceeded to fold the massive table cloth up (it wouldn't fit in your pocket by the way) to show us, but they were all pretty good natured about us looking at how they made things then not buy anything!the most interesting artisan was a man who made saris on a hand loom, apparently one of the few people who stills does it that way (he had pictures of him getting an award from the lady president at his stall), it was amazing to see how he marks the sari pattern out on all the separate silk threads then works it on the loom. the piece he was working on was a sari for his wife as a gift for their 15th anniversary- it was going to take him 6months!!!
Back in the car again and off to the Monsoon Palace for sunset (incidentally this place features quite heavily in Octop**** as the place where 007 gets held captive by Kamal for all you bond fans- I only know this because we watched about half the film the other night!). It was cool to see a bit of the countryside, and although it is obviously quite arid land, we saw some crops of egglant and wheat being harvested. Mohammad explained that they are hoping for a good monsoon in July this year as this is the time when nature renews itself and a lot of trade and industry depends on it- as well as tourism in Udaipur as the lake dries out without the monsoon to refil it. We entered the Palace through an animal sanctuary and we were lucky enough to see a male and female blue bull (a bit like a sort of cow-antelope type animal) on the steep drive up the hill, as well as monkeys (including adorable little baby ones) when we got to the top. The view was just breathtaking, and we watched right until the golden pink sun had disappeared behind one of the mountains. I feel so lucky to be able to see such beautiful things in my young little life so far!
We had dinner last night in the Lotus cafe-I had yummy butter chicken and Jade had chicken korma which tasted the same essentially but with some raisins and nuts thrown in for good measure, and we shared an incredibly garlicky naan with massive whole cloves of garlic in- good job Gary and Chris aren't with us, bad breath is no joke!!An early-ish night last night as we decided to get up early today, and we did- out for breakfast by just after 10!After a breakfast of mint tea and toast, we tackled the steps up the the Jagdish temple (the picture you can see) to have a quick look. Apparently it was built in 1662 and is really impressive, with lots of intricate carvings of elephants on it. The one thing I'm finding quite annoying about visiting temples though is that there are quite a few people trying to get money from you, for example here we had to pay a guy for looking after our shoes when we went inside the temple. To me it doesn't seem right for that to happen in a religious place, but trying to maintain my non-judgmental approach as an observer, and also respect the fact that people have to make a living.
Anyway, on a lighter note, we went for a boat ride on Pichola Lake!!After walking round the side of City Palace and paying our 300R(entry fee for the palace 25R and 300 for the boat ride)we had a nice relax before catching our little boat at 12. It went in a circuit round past where we are staying and past the island where the gorgeous and very luxurious looking Lake Palace is (you can only visit it if you stay there or eat there- meals starting from about 50 quid for lunch!) to Jagmandir island which also has a luxury hotel but we were able to get off and have a quick look around. A lovely place, with marble elephants all round the facade and lots of little squirrels running about. Great views too, looking out over the water at the mountains I totally see the romantic (and a bit magical in a cheesy way!) side to this place. After yet another cake in Edelweiss cafe (and maybe a spot of shawl shopping!!)we are just going to spend the afternoon relaxing with our books before a quick dinner and our train this evening. I've really enjoyed being in Udaipur and it'll be a shame to leave but I'm hoping maybe one day when I've made my millions I'll be able to come back and stay in the Lake Palace!!!
Anyway, we're probably going to be off radio satellite communications til about Friday I reckon as we've pretty much got the next 2 days to spend on a train (we're both pretty excited about sleeping on the train though!)so I'll not post anything for a few days but onwards and upwards (well, downwards really) to Goa, here we come!
Love from Udaipur xxxxxxx
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