I Heart Udaipur

This is the 10th post, so far, about our travels through India and frankly, I feel like I have run out of ways to describe forts, temples and cenotaphs.

It is a short-coming on my part,to be sure, because for all their similarities, each one has something new and unique to offer, but my vocabulary for stone carvings, towering forts and vast views only goes so far. In search of inspiration, I went back and re-read my journal entries for our next destination, Udaipur. On day one, I wrote no fewer than four variations of "I think I am going to like this place".


It is no surprise why I was so quickly smitten. The town has a laid-back, hippie vibe that is unlike any other large cities we visited. Their main "product" is Rajastani miniature painting meaning that instead of annoying textile touts there are annoying art store touts (which are somehow less irritating, to me at least).

Our hotel, the gorgeous Anjani Hotel, was similarly low-key with a rooftop restaurant overlooking Lake Picola and the City Palace (and approximately 99 other rooftops, all of them hosting nightly screenings of James Bonds' Octopussy). The city itself seems custom-made for anyone in possession of a camera. What's not to love about that?

For our first full day, the hotel set us up with Kalu the driver for a tour of the city. He began by taking us to a park known for its prime sunset location and seeing as the views of the lake were pretty spectacular at noontime, I can only imagine what a multi-colored sky would add to the scene. Where I had a problem was in believing the park's signage leading to a "musical fountain".

The stagnant water and runaway mold-problem belied any musicality (much less fountain-cality) but Kalu helpfully suggested that I could return at sunset with a CD player if I would like. I suppose I could also bring a straw and blow bubbles in the water to complete the effect. But I am nitpicking, as I never want to meet the person that goes to this remarkable vantage point solely for a display of musically choreographed water spurts.

Lake Pichola


View from the Sunset Point

Sunset Point Monkey

Next stop was a refreshingly hassle-free stroll through a local fruit and vegetable market. For a town as touristy as Udaipur, I got the feeling that not too many visitors made it out to this area. We received warm welcomes all around without a single person trying to thrust any produce upon us.

The one request I did receive was from a woman with several small children. She wanted me to take their photo, but in lieu of money, she wanted a printed copy of the photo (six to be precise and then she rattled off the list of relatives who would receive them). She took my notebook and wrote down an address that was certain to confound the most diligent of postmasters, so instead of hoping for a miracle, after the tour, I went to an internet cafe that offered photo printing and after ascertaining that I would never in a bazillion millenia find my way back to the shop, had them drop off the printed pictures at my hotel.

With pictures in hand and a game tuk-tuk driver, I returned to the market, and in true tv detective mode, went around flashing my photos, asking if anyone knew where I could find this woman. I eventually did and was warmed by the sight of a very excited extended family (although I counted more than six people cooing at the photos, someone in that group had some disappointment coming to them).

I was also a bit concerned when grandma started getting camera-ready and so I high-tailed it out of there before I got stuck in a perpetual photo taking/ photo delivering loop.

The family and their photos.

But back to the tour, Kalu continued on to the Royal Cenotaphs, which as the others we visited, paid homage to departed personages of the region. There was a sign that unequivocally stated that photography was not permitted, but Kalu confidently assured us that "This is India, anything is possible" and gave us the going rate for bribing a guard (10 rupee or about 20 cents). This particular group of cenotaphs featured more monuments than most of the other we'd visited and had the added bonus of a band and wedding party that was seeking the blessing of one the party's deceased ancestors at a nearby memorial.

The Ahar Royal Cenotaphs

Next on our agenda was Saheliyon Ki Bari, a playground built by the Maharaj for his Maharani and her court. It was small and incredibly charming with five fountains still in operation thanks to some inventive engineering that draws water from the Fateh Lake, which lies somewhere uphill of the park.

I hired an elderly guide who cheerfully explained each plant, bird and flying insect, turning the visit into an unexpected nature experience. He also doubled as a palm reader and photographer, so I left with more photos of myself at the garden than anywhere else in India and also with the knowledge that I have a long life ahead of me.

Saheliyon Ki Bari

Our final stop on the tour was a hilltop monument to Maharana Pratap and his beloved horse, Chetak. Pratap was the 16th century ruler of Mewar (present day Udaipur)during a time that all the neighboring states were accepting Mughal rule.

Pratap staunchly refused and although this meant that his people lived in constant fear of attack, the region was never taken and Pratap today remains a symbol of patriotism and courage, thus landing him some very prime real estate for his memorial with views overlooking the entire city.

After such an entertaining and varied first day, my journal predictions of "I think I am going to like this place" had morphed into "This place f'ing rocks." I didn't even mind climbing up and down the stairs to at least five hotel rooftops trying to find the perfect location to watch 007.

The 1983 movie was shot primarily in Udaipur and now every other store, restaurant or tire repair shop has adopted its name. When I first started seeing signs touting "Octopussy show at 7pm", I assumed I had wandered into the town's red light district, but it was soon apparent that they were all referring to the ubiquitous tv/ dvd combo's that were at the ready should anyone care to see the film.

Our viewing was spiced up with some local flavor as we had to keep to pausing the very weathered dvd in order to let a wedding procession pass on the streets below us, so that it was Bond, wedding, more Bond, another wedding and so on..

The City Palace, which appears in the film, was on the agenda for day two. The House of Mewar, aka the world's longest serving dynasty, run many of the city's major attractions and they do a superb job of it.

They are incredibly well-organized, keep everything in pristine condition and, best of all, offer a day pass that covers not only the Palace, but also a boat trip to the island palace on Jag Mandir, a visit to the Crystal Gallery and another to a vintage car museum. I jumped on the pass, donned an audioguide and spent the first few hours of the days mesmerized by the largest of all the palaces we had visited.

The usual rooms (ie. the hall of public audiences, the hall of private audiences, the women's quarter, etc.) were all there, along with a room dedicated to Maharana Pratap and another to a British officer who wrote the definitive treatise on Raj dynasties (surprising given the very nationalistic tendencies of the region).

There is one courtyard, the Mor Chowk, featuring a collection of peacock mosaics that gave me the impression that I was standing inside of a very valuable jewel box. It is simply so sparkly and shiny and wow (and also devilishly difficult to photograph in the bright sunlight, trust me, I tried...a lot) This undeniable highlight is credited to the Maharana Sajjan Singh, the same man responsible for the massive crystal collection that warrants its own exhibition space, the Crystal Palace in the Durbar Hall.

Singh personally designed all the furnishings for his palaces made of the finest crystal. There is a crystal bed, crystal sofas, crystal hookahs, glasses, dishware..you name it. If there is any question as to how luxurious the life of Mewar's Maharana truly was, this exhibition handily puts it to rest.

Both the palace and the crystal gallery audio guides go to great lengths to describe Singh as a patron of the arts, a poet and an all-around aesthete, providing a marked contrast to his predecessor, the ever-battle ready Pratap (and using many euphemisms that had me wondering if Singh was more Queen than King).

The City Palace

From the bustle of the City Palace, we headed down to the dock to catch a boat ride out to Jag Mandir. The palace located on the island is made of white marble, has a dome and a passing connection to Shah Jahan (he hid out from his father there for some time), therefore earning it all the 'inspiration for the Taj Mahal' descriptors.

But to me, that boast is as unnecessary as all the 007 talk is for the city itself. They are both spectacular enough to stand on their own without having to be known as the Octopussy city or the mini-Taj or whatever name it has been given.

Our boat tour also circled around the ultra-exclusive Palace Hotel (sight of most of the Octopussy shooting) but since we did not leave room for the insane extravagance of a $500 a night room in our budget, we were not permitted entry to the island.

It used to be possible to visit for dinner, but the guests apparently complained of having to mingle with the riff raff in their island paradise, thus banishing us all to gaze at it from the shores (or the boat).

A temple in the middle of Lake Pichola


The view from Jag Mandir Palace

I spent the remainder of the day and most of the next on my new-found quest to find the perfect Rajastani painting. Unfortunately, if I hoped to stay within my price range, I had to content with paintings where either the buildings were poorly drawn or the people had what I called clone's disease, as in the artist only knew how to paint one face and thus if you looked closely, you noticed that an entire wedding procession was peopled by multiple versions of the same guy in slightly different outfits.

I eventually found one woman who was proficient in both architecture and human expression, only she made the odd choice of staging her wedding procession winding past the Oberoi hotel, an anachronistic impossibility since the hotel is of a decidedly recent vintage. Laura gamely suggested I lie and call it the City Palace, where the Oberoi drew its architectural inspiration, but it tormented me.  That is until the shop owner lowered his price to approximately $40 including framing. Suddenly, I remembered my fondness for magical realism in art and now I am the proud owner of a really cool, although historically inaccurate, miniature painting.

On our last evening, Laura and I joined a Russian girl and a Polish couple in a crowded van for a visit to the Monsoon Palace overlooking the city. The palace was originally built as a summer retreat/ hunting lodge for the Maharana but is now in a serious state of disrepair.

Its location as yet another prime sunset spot is what lures Indians and tourists alike. And monkeys. A disconcerting number of brazen langur monkeys walked freely amongst the crowd, picking at discarded food and rummaging through garbage cans. I am still baffled as to how the monkeys in India live in congested cities, are accustomed to accepting food from humans, meaning that they must surely equate humans with food by this point, yet they do not attack people on a regular basis.

Every place I have ever known where people were permitted to feed monkeys has ended up with an aggressive food-demanding monkey population. These monkeys (and others we saw throughout India)were super intimidating by virtue of their size and very sharp-looking teeth but they seemed content to do their thing without leaving a string of casualties in their wake.

We finished off the evening by crossing to the opposite side of the lake, to the Hanuman Ghat area, which serves as the backpacker meeting point. After three days in the city, we were now the wisened veterans and revelled in rattling off all the highlights to a newly arrived Dutch man. Upon hearing us sing the praises of Udiapur, he came to an inevitable conclusion. He stated that he thought he was going to like this city. Indeed!

Monsoon Palace