Udaipur

This town is famous for its lakeside location. There are several hills in the area with forts or palaces at their crest, and over the centuries the rulers have made several lakes. The best lake is the one at the foot of the palace. It has a few tiny islands in it, and two are (just) large enough for ultra-luxury resorts. Both rise straight up out of the water and rest on marble seawalls. One has a garden that tourists can visit, and it provides a great lakes-eye view of the rich part of the city, the part that has views of the lake. The second in-lake resort, the Lake Palace, is painted all white, like so much of the city itself, whose penchant for using lime for paint earned it the nickname 'The White City'. Visitors are not allowed into the Lake Palace without either a room reservation or a dinner reservation. We sailed around it, however, on our boat tour.

We toured the palace as well, caught a glimpse of the crown prince and his posse (the royal family still lives in one wing of the palace), and then began our Free Time. The point of our coming to Udaipur was to have a break from traveling, lecturing, and scheduling for a few days. Free Time means sleeping in, setting your own schedule, finding places to eat on your own, optional tours with Sanjay outside the city gates, doing laundry, and not having to pack or unpack for three full days.

I spent part of my Free Time figuring out my way around old town. The streets are not marked, and they are winding and confusing, but each day I would venture a little further from the hotel, and finally found my way to the main commercial districts bordering the old town. This is where the real action in Udaipur is. The streets were wide but still crowded with two, three, and four-wheeled vehicles. Pedestrians abounded. There were non-stop shops the whole 90 minute walk. The shops seemed to appear in industrial clusters - here a few auto repair shops, there some tailors.

Back at the heart of old town, just behind the temple, I found the German cafe (great apple crumble) and one of the rooftop restaurants that show the movie Octopussy every night at 7 PM. Half of the movie was filmed in this town, and it was great to be able to recognize both the locations and the people and objects portrayed in the film. They use the three-wheeled scooters then and now, and the people really do dress as colorfully as shown in the film.

The best place in Udaipur was the Tibeten (Aapano) bazaar at the foot of the lakeside road to the City Palace. The bazaar included an Indian saree and silk store with a well-displayed selection, including prices, that made it easy for me to pick from among the different items. I found great cloth and clothes, and recommended the place to the rest of the group. Several of us visited his shop over the three days we were there. The shopkeeper Rakesh was patient, easy to work with, and not pushy. He appreciated our creativity and worked with us and his tailors to get us our items quickly and well fitted.