Udaipur, India (Rajasthan)

After a great time in the south, we headed up north to the province of Rajasthan. It was a long 2 days of travelling, taking back to back overnight bus and train, so we were pretty spent when we got there. We ended up checking out a guest house our rickshaw driver's dad ran, which turned out to be new, clean, and really cheap (200 Rs for the double room, about $5). The view from the rooftop restaurant was great, though the food left something to be desired.

Though the city was actually pretty big, it had a small feel because most of the sights were all on the lake. All the streets were very narrow, many of them only accessible by foot.

Like a lot of cities in India, everyone does laundry and baths in the lake, which is absolutely filthy. Apparently it's less evident after the monsoons because the water level rises significantly.

T put it best..."I would rather drink the water from Lake Ontario than bath in this water."

There is a palace up an a hill above the ghats which over looks the lake. On the lake there are also 2 palaces, one of which has been turned into a swanky hotel. A chunk of the James Bond movie Octopussy was filmed in Udaipur, and it's become standard at every guest house to play that movie every single night. No other movies are available.


Dinner on a rooftop restaurant, lovely.

The second day there we booked our rickshaw driver to take us around the city. His English was excellent and he was a pretty good guy, a little pricey, but we figured worth it. Of course, he gave the job to a friend of his who barely spoke English. The tour turned out to be fine in the end, however we've found these kind of sneaky deals standard issue in India.

Above is a local vegetable market, below T is testing out some

We finished off the tour with a trip up to a palace on top of a hill which overlooked Udaipur. The palace was nothing special, but had a great view and a great sunset.