We woke up this morning to our view over Lake Pichola. It is certainly a fine way to start the day. We both agreed however what wasn’t a fine way to start a day, was being ‘not quite right in the caboose’. Clearly we had both eaten or drank something along the way that didn’t agree. The wise course was to keep the food simple until it ran its course, so breakfast was rather simple.
After breakfast we met up with Raju (our driver). From the hotel we caught a boat to a much more accessible car park. After the dramas of yesterday, he seemed very happy to see us. We met up with our guide for the day and drove to the City Palace which is comprised of 3 parts – The Royal Residence, A 5 Star Hotel and the publicly accessible areas. The Royal Family of Udaipur now source all their income from the hotel business The oldest son, recently finished his Masters in Hotel Management in Melbourne and with no fewer than 20 hotels in the stable, He’ll be busy when the old man dies!
The Palace itself, has the requisite numbers of decorated ceremonial rooms, using materials from Europe and Asia. Of note, was once again the use of Belgian glass, Dutch and Chinese tiles. There are a number of great viewpoints of the city and the lakes from the upper levels of the palace.
And one of the courtyards…
One of the views
From there we went to the Jagdish Temple, the biggest Hindu temple in Udaipur. Today is a big religious day in India with the Muslims celebrating Ede (mass sacrifice of goats to Allah) and a coinciding Hindu festival. Interestingly, the Hindus are quite critical of the Muslim festival although they insist that all religions coexist peacefully. The Jagdish temple is another example of beautiful marble carvings and to hear it alive with singing and chanting for the festival was quite unique.
We then drove around one of the other lakes which was quite full before we went to the Queens Gardens. These garden were built by one of the Maharajas to allow his queen to have a space that reminded her of the rainy season. The result was gravity-fed fountains as the gardens sit below the level of the lake. When to stand in the courtyard there is the sound of rain hitting the ground and the water.
That concludes the Rajasthan leg of the trip and my view was that we saw some amazing palaces, museums and interesting scenery. We stayed in some great hotels and absolutely enjoyed the Maharaja treatment. Less enjoyable is the whole shopping thing. By the end of it we realised that the script was the same wherever we went – ‘All the goods here are produced by a local co-operative and a unique to this area’ … and then you see the same stuff at the next town. I expect that all the shops are owned by a small number of people. It should also be noted that fixed price only applies until you say no, so be prepared to walk away. In saying that, the local people have been really friendly – a smile goes a long way.
Another interesting fact we found out is that child literacy rates in Rajasthan are around 65% compared to 99% in South India (where technology sector is booming). In Rajasthan, there is still a tendency to large families, so the older children need to be working to help the family. One can only hope that the tourism sector will keep booming for Rajasthan to keep providing these jobs.
I also need to pay tribute to our driver, Raju. He was a long way from home and drove every for 14 days and will have another 2 days drive home to Varanasi. He was a perfect gentleman the whole time and drove some really long days in difficult driving conditions. He spoke little english and yet we all found a way to make it work. It was a sad moment for all three of us to part company at the airport today before we flew to Mumbai tonight. (republished photo)
Until tomorrow!
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