Udaipur, Rajasthan
November 18th – 20th 2010
I woke up freezing in the train from Ahmedabad. Now I know what it means to be in the Indian winter. As I move north, it’s going to be chilly compared to the hot and humidity of Mumbai.
(The lake at sunset.)
(Fireworks almost every night.)
Udaipur has been called one of the most romantic places in all of India (according to guidebooks). At first, I didn’t see what the big deal was. I was blinded by the amount of tourists and tourism-related shops everywhere. But when I saw the lake during the sunsets, I understood what the hype was about. It was absolutely beautiful.
(Laundry day.)
(Same laundry place, but now used as a site for a wedding ceremony.)
(Matriarch and Patriarch giving their blessings. The white lady behind them is their bodyguard.)
(View of City Palace from the lake.)
(Intricate carvings on Jagdish Temple.)
There are plenty of hotels and guesthouses in Udaipur, each one offering roof-top restaurants with a view and daily 7 pm showings of ‘Octopussy’, a Bond film, which had a good portion of it filmed in Udaipur. I recognized the familiar sights in the movie, including the Monsoon Palace and the Jag Mandir Palace, an island palace on the lake.
(Traditional Indian dance.)
(Puppet show. He was very skilled.)
(Nice hat.)
I took a boat ride around the lake which provided a wonderful perspective of the lake and buildings around it. The City Palace museum itself wasn’t that interesting to me, keyword being museum. I’m just anti-museum these days, probably still burnt out from Europe. Jagdish Temple was interesting but still not as impressive as other temples I’ve seen before. I also went to watch some traditional Indian dancing and enjoyed it a lot.
Randomness:
(Why do women travelers in India like wearing these Sinbad pants?)
(This Korean couple were so in love with India that they got married here.)
(Lots of shoe stores like these.)
(Indian Bumblebee.)
Wow, wonderful pictures!
Also I’m assuming the Sinbad pants are like a fancier version of the Thai fisherman pants? Plus the Sir Mix-a-Lot style has come back into fashion, sort of. (I’d much rather wear those pants in the photo than my boring black yoga ones!)
I had to google ‘Thai fisherman pants’ and I believe I’ve also seen ppl wear those while traveling.
I love Sinbad pants! They’re comfortable and practical for the Indian heat and it’s the only place we get away with wearing them!
Nice blog. 🙂
Hiding those unshaved legs.
sinbad pants are all the rage! jk. i don’t know. but they look somewhat better than those harem pants (= looks like someone pooped in their pants and left it hanging).
Just googled ‘Harem pants’. OH GOD.