Exploring Udaipur

To Udaipur, India -- Day 1

All in all, we slept pretty well, though I think Dex was cold with only his Ethiopian Air blanket for most of the night. We finally got on the train at about 12:45 a.m, and he was understandably in a foul mood, having just woken and being forced to trudge the 100 yards along the platform to our sleeper car.

As anticipated, the later arrival due to the late departure was nice, giving us a chance to wake up and enjoy the views of farmland and distant hills. Sahlim, a tuk-tuk driver, was waiting outside the station and he efficiently shuttled us to the Poona Haveli Guesthouse.  Along the way, he handed us a leather-bound notebook filled with notes from the hundreds of tourists he had recently picked up, and he even passed back his phone so we could read the three Trip Advisor reviews of his tour guide services.

Since we had seen almost no sights in Jaipur, we felt inclined to do a little more exploring while in Udaipur and agreed to meet Sahlim outside the hotel after cleaning up and eating breakfast. Our first impression of Udaipur was one of a much cleaner and quieter city than the ones we had just come from -- Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur. There was noticeably less honking, fewer cars, and the refreshing presence of the nearby man-made lakes.

Lake Pichola and view from hotel

Sahlim was very good to us giving us multiple options for what to do farther from the main tourist sites of the City Palace and Lake Pichola. We settled on a swim and picnic at Tiger Lake and a visit to the biological park or zoo. The zoo was nothing to write home about, but the weather was nice and it was situated outside the city at the base of a hill making for some pleasant scenery. Tiger Lake, apparently, was the cleanest of the lakes around Udaipur, so we swam from the dam and jumped from what looked like a small temple avoiding the usual smattering of garbage floating in the water. On the plus side, there were lots of small fish in the water and they apparently loved the masala flavored potato chips which we all had decided we could do without.

A quick dip in Tiger lake

Feeding the fish

Although Sahlim offered to take us to some small villages where we could hand out candy to the local kids, we feigned exhaustion and asked to be taken back to the hotel. The rest of the day was spent near the hotel with Meg indulging in an Ayurvedic massage and Kylie continuing her hunt for a dress. I'm happy to say both Meg and Kylie finally achieved success with a colorful "number" for Meg and a cute, adjustable dress in brown, pink, and blue for Kylie.

New dresses!

For the evening meal, we found one of the dozens of rooftop restaurants, this one with a great view of the lake and the ultra expensive Palace Hotel sitting smack dab in the center. We even saw a few stars, which, with the smog and city lights was a rare sighting. To finish off the night, we enjoyed a short but energetic traditional Kathputli puppet show complete with high-pitched rhythmic kazoo in lieu of dialog. Here's to Udaipur.

The Palace Hotel