We started our day with a guided tour of the City Palace. We had a magnificent guide who also turned out to be a great picture taker so he definitely scored bonus points with that. It took 22 generations to build City Palace, starting with Maharana Uday Pratap Singh in the 16th century, who founded Udaipur as the new capital of the Mewar region (because the previous capital Chittorgarh was constantly under attack and Udaipur, given its location (surrounded by hills), was much more difficult to conquer). The royal family fled there after the previous capital had been captured by the Mughals. Udaipur is unique in India’s history because the Sisodia Clan, to which the Maharana belonged, is the oldest living dynasty on earth. It is also unique for its continuous fight for independence. Neither the Mughal nor the British were able to subdue the people of Udaipur to their power and conquer the state. Hence it is the only state in India that was always independent. When the royal family came under attack… the wife Maharani Padmini of one of the Maharana’s asked permission to re-instigate the fires of Udaipur to save the females honor. Under threat of being taken by the enemy, the women could hence choose to jump in a fire (mostly with their children) to save their honor in stake of their lives. In one era, one of the Hindu Maharani’s made a Muslim – Akbar her brother by tying a sacred thread which reflects the bond of a brother and a sister. While waiting for him, she finally ended up jumping in the fire… even though he did come but sadly not in time to save her. Nevertheless he saved the city from being conquered. The women in the palace were not allowed to come outside the palace or to be seen by the public. There were several locations however, where they could watch what was going on outside the palace and inside the palace when there were guests without being seen themselves. The women also had a gossip room in the palace which Rabsi and I immediately tested.
After the 2 hour tour in the City Palace, we went on a boat ride from which we could enjoy the entire lake scenery of the city. On our way to the boat ride, we saw these pashmina shawls which we liked however our guide promised us he would be waiting for us on our way back and would take us back to the shop and negotiate for a good price. *I agree, he was super nice and was just not cheating on us by trying to sell us the stuff in the shop* We made a stop at Jag Mandir, one of the palaces on one of the islands in Udaipur where the affluent can still get married. They were actually having a marriage the night of our visit. *We checked out for the prices, it would be a dream to get married there, under the sky, by the lakes, amidst friends and family surrounded by beautiful nature, flowers, candles and yes, yes… I should shut up now!!!*
We had lunch at a place called Garden – which was a part of the Vintage Car Gallery Museum which we visited next. We saw the vintage cars (Mercedes as old as the 1940’s still used occasionally by the current Maharana’s during royal festivals) and later we went to a local festival in Shilpgram. We were soon to figure out that we were the only non-locals there; hence we again received a lot of attention i.e. constant stares especially by women which we until today cannot figure out why. *This was definitely a new experience for me, I’ve never see a village festival like this before and it seemed like everyone from the surrounding villages was here for the lack of having anything better to do.* The whole of Udaipur was at the festival! We decided we would see the festival safely and high up from the top of a camel and to not stay at the place too long. The camel ride was a great experience, especially when the camel moved from sitting down to standing and vice versa. Rabsi had ensured my safety by asking the camel guy which was the safest place. *The camel guy was stupid enough to think I was asking that for myself and kept telling to sit in the front!!* Hence, I sat in front and Rabsi took the place with most fall off’s. *I was literally clutching on to her for my life!!!* After we felt like the locals had stared and cheered enough at us, we walked back to where the driver had parked the car. As we passed four bulls, one seemed to be interested in us as well, but we were able to avoid a confrontation. Luckily! *Thank God we were not wearing red otherwise I don’t think you would be reading this anymore!!*
We decided to go sit at the pool for an hour and order a drink before going back to City Palace for the light & sound show & dinner at a purely Rajasthani authentic place called Apni Dhani. For some reason, the driver tried to talk us out of taking a break at the hotel. I think he thought we should be on the roads forever, since he was super enthusiastic about showing us around too! But we persisted. Hotel it would be. No more locals, no more camel rides, and no more shopping.
The light and sound show at City Palace was truly awesome – they gave us the entire history of the palace with light effects; although my jet lag kicked in a little. *I have to mention that we ended up getting tickets here in the morning, normally they only sell the tickets in the evening and it’s hard to get them because there isn’t much seating available and it’s always sold out, but we got super lucky for they made an exception and gave us the tickets when we were touring the palace – advantages of being two girls especially when one is a pretty Belgian foreign girl* The show covered the entire history of Udaipur.
When we first entered the dinner place in Apni Dhani, we were not entirely sure whether it was a good idea. As we walked in, it did look rather rural. They had some kind of a zoo as well and I wondered what was in there (we were to find out later). But we decided we would try it; and if we didn’t like it we could still walk out and order room service back at the hotel. Hence, a little later we were seated on the ground with a group of people in a rectangular shape. In front of us was a very low wooden “table”. The extremely enthusiastic local people then came around and gave us a spoon out of every pot they had prepared, which we looked at apprehensively. Rabsi reminded me not to eat any raw vegetables or touch the water. All the cooked food should be fine. And so we ate; and it was pretty good and a great experience. After the dinner, we watched a little boy doing tricks on a rope… It was quite amazing because there was no protection indeed and I wasn’t sure what the consequences of a fall would be. However, having seen in Udaipur the largest hospital of the state Rajasthan, as proudly announced by our driver, I don’t think I would enjoy ending up there. It looked neglected. Neither do I believe there are funds in this boys’ family for hospitalization. Anyways, it was spectacular. We then spent some time with the magician who did some pretty neat tricks. As we were walking back to the car, Rabsi decided she wanted to go into the local zoo! Oh my... It hosted white ducks and rabbits!
As Rabsi was packing (we’re leaving back for Delhi to tomorrow), I had already left to dreamland on our last sleep over at the Trident hotel in Udaipur.
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