Udaipur

UDAIPUR On February 24th we travelled from Jodhpur to Udaipur some  255 kms. which took about 7 hours as we travelled through winding mountain roads. The terrain has certainly changed considering we were in the desert a couple of days ago.   The mountain range is the Aravalli mountains. Poor Suzanne, still under the weather, so a seven hour car ride not the best. She started feeling better yesterday, Saturday Feb 25th.  Robin  also came down with a cold, but is recovering. So neither of them really enjoyed this particular drive.  On route we stopped at Ranakapour Temple, the 2nd largest Jain Temple which is located in the mountains, a very beautiful setting. The carvings on these temples are simply works of art, telling a story of the history. Arrived at our hotel, Udai Bagh which is located about 10 kms.  from Udaipur.  The hotel is surrounded by a mountain range ;  very different from where we have been to date. Power goes on and off about 3 to 4 times a day for short periods, another sign that the Government simply can't keep up with the demand of power. This has happened in every city we have visited. The City of Udaipur is known as the "City of Lakes and Palaces" due to its many lakes which were hand constructed (dammed) centuries ago and the various Palaces that the Maharana's built....main palace, summer palace in the mountains and winter palace.  All of these are magnificent, but only able to visit part of the main Palace.  The City Palace towers over Lake Pichola. The rooms we were able to visit were decorated with miniature paintings, a local art work which is very detailed, beautiful glass, mosaic and mirror work on the walls. This palace  had a theme of peacocks which mean happiness.  An upper part of the palace is said to have been the inspiration for the Taj Mahal. A part of the palace is occupied by the Royal family and a large part is an upscale hotel. It seems that this is the norm to convert a part of the palaces to generate some income to maintain these structures.  On a man built island on the lake stands the Lake Palace Hotel ( a picture is posted) which was used in the James Bond movie, Octopussy.  Unfortunately one is not able to visit this hotel unless you are staying there....not in our budget!  We did visit the other island on the lake, which is also a hotel and beautiful gardens, which we did visit by boat. These premises and gardens were apparently used by the Maharana for pleasure. He kept his concubines on this island.  We also visited Udai Sagar Lake where we are told young couples go on dates. One thing that we noticed right away, is how clean this city is (relatively speaking) compared to anywhere else we have visited. When we asked our guide about this, he told us that Udaipur is a city of locals and they are proud of their City and ensure their lakes are kept clean. Finally found out the difference between a Maharajah and a Maharana. The  Maharajah  is a good leader and the Maharana is a good warrior.  In the afternoon, we visited various art shops. Beautiful miniature paintings, textiles and jewellery in this area. We, as well as Colin and Suzanne bought miniature paintings. It is not the painting itself that is miniature, it is the style of painting. Ours is painted on camel bone.  Udaipur is the furthest south that we will be during our trip in India. Weather today was 34, but comfortable due to breeze from mountains and lake. We have had local guides in the last 4 cities that we have visited and they all have the same trait.  They are like elementary school teachers chastising us if we are not paying attention or if we don't follow them. Quite amusing.  Off to Ajmer and Pushkar on Sunday. Apologies to those reading the blog due to the lack of spacing and paragraphs. It seems that the blog does not recognize this when we use the IPad.