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Update from Udaipur where I have spent the last six nights. And my plans for Udaipur have been fulfilled. The first days I was doing nothing else but eating, sleeping and reading my book, as I wrote in my last blog. Day three was painting day in my hotel taught by the artist and very nice man Madan. I spent several hours painting and small talking and had such a nice day with a surprisingly good painting result. Day four was also an easy day but I was a bit more active; at dusk I went with a French woman, Sophie, to the Monsoon Palace on top of a hill to have a nice sunset view, and we joined each other for dinner afterwards. Day five was sightseeing-day; time to see the City Palace - and I certainly did. I spent a lot of hours there, first by walking around seeing the palace on the inside and outside and afterwards by chatting with some Indians who work in the palace. It was a really nice chat and more and more staff from the palace museum joined us in the yard within the palace. They taught me some Hindi and I was listening carefully and writing most of the words down in my notebook. Indians love more than any other nation when foreigners learn their language and take in some of their culture. As a matter of the latter it is really clear how much they appreciate that I e.g. wear Indian clothes. On my walk through the city towards the city palace, around the shops and back to my hotel I think that approximately 100 different persons commented positively on my chuditha - or salwar kameez as they call it up here. I really like wearing this clothes when being in India. First of all for gaining respect of the women, secondly to avoid - as much as possible - starring men and comments (it is not quite possible, though), thirdly because it is so comfy to wear, and fourthly because I love the beautiful fabrics in lovely colours.
Anyway, they taught me Hindi which I now try to use a little bit, and for practise I was speaking (very) little Hindi with the guide and the people from the villages that I met on my trek in the hills on the fifth day. I had a pickup at 9am and went then to the mountains with a local guide and a French couple doing a 6 hour-trek. It was really nice to see rural Udaipur instead of only touristy Udaipur city to get a perspective of what Udaipur is, as well as it felt good to be a bit more active again. At night I had dinner with Laura and Hannah, from France and England, just like the night before.
Today has been my last day in Udaipur since I have a train towards Pushkar tomorrow morning at 7am. I have been spending it similarly to my first days here; relaxing! After breakfast I went to a nice hotel where non-guests can use the swimming pool for 100 rupees and here I enjoyed my last day reading my book, which be the way is very recommendable. It is called Shantaram and takes place in India (Mumbai). It is partly authentic written by an Australian guy called Gregory David Roberts. It is hard to say what it is about because it is more or less about everything, and through the book you really get to know India and the way Indians are thinking and behaving. It is funny, serious, learning, philosophic, and good! But long, though… 900 pages (and I am reading it in English…). Anyway :) After the pool and tried to do some shopping but didn't bother the hassle that comes along so I just went here and my plans for the evening are quite simple: dinner, reading, sleeping.
I am looking very forward to tomorrow and Pushkar especially because I am going to meet up with Matilde, whom I had the best time with in The Andamans. Time to catch up on everything since then!
I plan to spend 2 nights at my second last destination and then head off the Delhi on the 29th, where I am going to stay with a private family (a good friend of JP from Tiruvannamalai). That I am really looking forward to as well. In Delhi I am also meeting up with the guy from Chile, whom I met in Jaisalmer, so I'll definitely have good company the last days in India.
My arrival in Copenhagen is by the way settled now, and - assuming everything goes as planned - I arrive in Copenhagen on April 2nd at 9.10am (local time). Which means that in precisely a week from now I will be at home - so weird to think about. But lovely! :)
See you soon.
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