Udaipurfect

Last Friday 8 of us hopped on a night train to Udaipur for the weekend. (For those who don't know, Udaipur is where they filmed the Bond movie Octopussy - we later found out that nearly every hotel has a nightly showing) 4 people had been able to get sleeper class seats, which have beds, but 4 of us were in the AC chair car, which is like a standard train car with upright seats. It wasn't so bad on the way there because the cabin was nowhere near full and everyone could stretch out over a couple seats. We got to Udaipur around 6:30 AM and had a nice and greasy breakfast at the train station on the super cheap. We then rickshaw'd to our guesthouse that was right next to the lake. Everyone remarked about how nice and clean the air felt and how there were virtually no horns honking. In retrospect that was definitely due to the fact that it was around 7 AM...Udaipurians love honking their horns just as much as Jaipurians do. After checking in to our hotel, we walked down to the lake and I thought to myself, "this is exactly where I want to be." It was so nice to be next to a body of water. We then visited the major temple (with incredibly intricate carvings on the exterior) and got some real (!) coffee in to our systems before going to the City Palace. Somehow we managed to swing the 30 rupee student group price to get in, which was GREAT. There was a 200 rupee camera fee though, and I couldn't hide mine well enough so it had to be checked. Some people snuck theirs in though so pictures exist. The City Palace was absolutely beautiful...the views were amazing and the colors in every room were so aesthetically pleasing. It was maze like - we kept on being led through various corridors to different parts of the palace we didn't even realize existed. From the outside it definitely doesn't look as big as it is. All in all I think we spent about 2 1/2 hours there, and could have spent longer had we not all gotten hungry. So we left and took a leisurely walk down the main bazaar road, across one of the bridges, and to a restaurant called the Food Club for lunch. Despite the very American-sounding name, they served delicious Indian food (but when isn't Indian food delicious?), had cushions instead of chairs, and was right on the lake. Yum.



We decided that we would take an evening hike to the Monsoon Palace to watch the sunset, so after lunch we went to a travel agent to ask for directions and how far it would be. Turns out the base of the mountain was pretty far away, and the hike was equally far up, so we decided to walk to the base and then rickshaw up. We set out and ended up going through the outskirts of Udaipur. I appreciated being able to see that side of India - it felt more real than central Udaipur did. Along the way we picked up a pineapple to enjoy at the top along with the wine we purchased earlier. The palace was more fort-like than anything else, and was part of a wildlife preserve (we didn't see any of the wildlife though). But the sunset was absolutely beautiful. We were so high up - we had a great view of Udaipur as well as the surrounding countryside. We noticed a group of about 6 guys while we were up there, and were trying to guess what country they were from. After the sun set and we were being yelled at to leave, someone finally asked and we learned that they were from all over, had gone to high school in India together, and were having their 10 year high school reunion. We said our hello-goodbyes and thought that was that. False. We were in the car on the way down when we passed them walking down. The driver decided to stop and let them in. So in came 3 - making our already packed car absolutely stuffed. It was one of those hilarious "oh, India" experiences. I ended up on the lap of an Argentine named Miguel who was living in Japan. After we got to the bottom of the mountain we attempted to find a rickshaw to take us back to central Udaipur so we could find dinner. That took a while - a group that had gotten down just before us had claimed the last 2 rickshaws waiting at the base. So off we went in to the dusk in the hopes of finding a ride to dinner. Eventually we succeeded, and got a bus-rickshaw hybrid to drive us to our restaurant. Again, right on the water with beautiful views. I guess there was a wedding going on somewhere in the vicinity (when isn't there?), and at one point fireworks went off over the lake. Our waiter jokingly told us they were for us, and it felt a little bit like they were. I had a paranta (fried bread) stuffed with cheese & tomatoes - delicious, tasted like an Indian calzone. Surprisingly everyone made it through the day without any naps and with high energy. I was impressed. The real coffee might've had something to do with it...
The next morning I walked to some gardens with my friends Deirdre & Hannah. We spent a couple hours just wandering around and met a Canadian tourist named Jamie. This is how our interaction began:
Jamie: Hey.
Us: Hi.
Jamie: If you walk down this path and go to your left, there are a whole bunch of monkeys everywhere.
Us: How long have you been in India for?
Ok so it was a lot funnier when it happened than when I wrote it just now, but the novelty of monkeys definitely wore off a while ago - probably around when we learned that they would steal from us. Anyway we ended up talking to him for a bit - it's nice to have a conversation with another traveler & talk about all the quirks of India you've experienced separately. (He had been in India for 4 days just in case anyone was curious)

That afternoon 4 of us took a cooking class at the Spice Box - the oldest cooking school in Udaipur. Our teacher spoke with an Italian cadence to his voice, which I found hilarious. We learned how to make a paneer dish, a potato dish, chapatti, and chai. He gave us the recipes in a packet that had a few other dishes in it as well, and afterwards we asked him how to make a couple more things and he told us. Oh and we got to eat the food we made. The class was at a semi-awkward time (1:30-4:30), so I spent the rest of the afternoon playing rummy in our hotel's rooftop cafe with my friends.

After journeying out for (a light) dinner we came back and went to the train station to catch our night train back to Jaipur. If everything was on time, we would get home around 6 AM, leaving me enough time to go home, change, eat breakfast, and get to school at 8 like usual. Our train left late on the way to Udaipur so I was hoping it would be on time to Jaipur, and it was. But the ride definitely didn't go smoothly. (Bum bum bummmm)