Udaipur

I just had a really amazing weekend, so prepare yourself for an extremely long post.

I decided to go to Udaipur, a town about 7 hours from Jodhpur, known as the romantic heart of India. And it was pretty amazing.

Though touristy, it was a lot more relaxed than Pushkar (perhaps because of the holiday) and was extremely walkable. Sure, there were annoying shopkeepers and rickshaw-wallahs, but the streets had less cows (and less cow poop) on them than most and it was hilly, which was a pleasure after the midwest-like Jodhpur. It was also a chilly 30 degrees (86 F), which yes, actually caused me to reach for a long sleeved shirt, but which was also really lovely.

Not many cows in Udaipur, but there was the occasional elephant

I took the night bus on Friday, which leaves at 10 p.m. and arrives at 5:00 a.m. It was surprisingly comfortable, except for the fact that I was the lucky person who got to sit in front of a man who snored incredibyl loudly the entire way. He also slept straight through the 7 hours, which meant I was not given the luxury of sleep.

Though a haven for budget travelers and backpacks offering rooms at less than $4 a night, my guesthouse was great. Being one of the oldest in Udaipur, it had an amazing view, despite the fact that lakeside properties are usually monopolized by luxury hotels, and there were a lot of interesting guests there.

Gorgeous, no? I sat out on the guesthouse's terrace for hours just to take in the view

On Saturday, I started my day by doing a four hour cooking class at a local place called Spice Box. It was really fantastic. We learned how to make palak paneer, chapatti, paratha, poori, vegetable cutlets, malai kofta, biryani, etc. and were taught all about Indian spices along the way. The teacher was also great because, without me saying anything about my veganism, he always made sure to tell us that you could substitute soymilk in certain dishes, use soft tofu instead of paneer (by soaking the tofu in lemon juice to get the right taste) and, if replaceable, he told us what spices we could subsitute for ones that may be more difficult to find at home. It was hands on and it culminated with lunch, entirely comprised of the dishes we made. We got to take the recipes home (and I bought a very cheap, small Indian copper pot from him), so hopefully I will replicate it all soon.

Trying my hand at making malai kofta

After the cooking class, I went to the City Palace Museum. Again, it was gorgeous with amazing views. As it was a holiday, it was jammed packed with Indian tourists, but I went through leisurely with a really great audiotour in hand. As usual, I was struck by two things: the fusion between European and Indian styles (for instance, rooms generally Indian in style, which also incorporated ceramic tiles brought over by the British) and the amazingly intricate lattices used to keep women in purdah.

They had these creepy figures of the Maharaja throughout the City Palace (so that you could picture him in the study or the bedroom). Strangely, the top was a poster and the bottom half was three-dimensional, with real shoes and wooden legs (?)

Of course, the view from the City Palace was also breathtaking

Hand-carved lattice for maintaining purdah

In the middle of the courtyard was a cage for tigers, filled with human children

One example (and a fairly poor one) of the melding of European and Indian styles--Ganesh surrounding my British tiles

Apparently they used to dress the horses up as elephants before going into battle, the idea curiously being that the elephants used by the enemy would not charge/stampede their own young

After that, there was little to do (given that everyone was going home for the holiday), so I went shopping! I got a ton of great stuff (at incredibly low prices) and was extremely thankful when the shops weren't open on Sunday (a rarity in India, but its dependent upon the city), because I would have been tempted to spend a lot more money. Mostly, there were places selling silver jewelry, handcrafted notebooks with silk covers, scarves, handmade Indian shoes and sandals, and standard backpacker clothing.

On Saturday evening, I was excited to see that there was a cultural show at a local haveli, and even though I didn't have high expectations, it was really great. It began with some traditional Indian music and then included various Rajasthani dances and a fantastic puppet show. Unfortunately, they charge for you to bring in a camera in many places in India, so I opted out for the show, but I wish I hadn't. The first dance was essentially an old woman with cymbals placed on various parts of her body swinging a spoon in a way that hit the cymbals in perfect time with the music. She was accompanied by a sitar, a singer, and tabla. The second was a woman dancing with a bowl of fire on her head. She ran around, spun, etc. while the audience held their breath in fascination/horror. The third was an old woman who danced with multiple pots balanced on her head. I remember being extremely impressed when women in Ghana walked around barefoot with giant pots of water on their heads while cradling multiple babies in their arms, but this almost topped that. She started with one pot that probably holds roughly six gallons of water, but soon she had a stack of ten pots on her head and the stack was a few feet taller than her. As if this wasn't impressive enough, she then stood on glass, while balancing all of the pots, and even ran around the room like this.

It was also great to hear Indian folk music. While I can't say I really like Indian folk music (the singer wails in a high-pitched way that isn't too pleasant), the percussion was really good and this made it fairly enjoyable.

On Sunday, things were closed so I spent a fair amount of time just taking in the view and reading. I found an amazing little bakery (where the cooks were European trained and therefore knew how to make real cake and iced coffee) and then went and got a 45-minute full-body Ayurvedic massage (costing only $12). The massage was interesting, involving a lot of oil and fairly light pressure. Supposedly, it helps your body release toxins, so you're supposed to leave the oil on your body until the next morning. It culminated with an amazing scalp massage though, which alone was worth the $12.

Some other fun facts about my weekend in Udaipur:

-It's sadly a top spot for disaster tourism, as the beautiful lake around which the town is built is expected to dry up within 25, and maybe even only 10, years. It was devastating to see how low the lake is even now, in monsoon season, especially because there are water marks showing what it used to be and I imagine it was gorgeous.

-I got my fair share of interesting come-ons here, including the completely unoriginal, but well-delivered "Excuse me, but did you injure yourself? (Pause) Because it must have been a long fall from heaven." The best though was probably this:
Guy: Excuse me ma'am, are you looking for a rickshaw?
Me: Nahi.
Guy: Are you looking for a cold drink?
Me: Nahi.
Guy: Are you looking for a guesthouse?
Me: (No response)
Guy: Are you looking for love?
Me: (Burst out laughing)

-I was swarmed by shopkeepers who, upon hearing I was American, wanted to discuss Phelps (or "phellups" as they called him) and were curious to know if I knew him. They worship him here.

-India has been invaded by the French these past few weeks, and it was simply impossible to go anywhere without seeing a giant group of French tourists. Sadly, the giant French high school group visiting my guesthouse seems to be completely offended by spicy food, so our food has been entirely toned down (read: made tasteless) for the week.

-I had some of the best food yet in Udaipur, including Rajasthani chickpea dumplings (which essentially ended up being Indian-spiced falafel balls in a masala curry sauce)

The gorgeous view from the amazing restaurant

-The James Bond film, Octopussy, was filmed in Udaipur (as were parts of Darjeeling Limited and some other famous films) so every low-end restaurant proudly shows the movie to its guests. They are extremely proud of Octopussy...almost embarrassingly so.

-Take note: When a bus gets full in India, they start putting people first in the aisles and then on the roof. I luckily had a reserved seat (though it was disquieting to hear the tapping of people moving around on the roof).

And finally: Just read the list in the photo (this is from a really nice restaurant, btw)