Rajasthan Part 4: Udaipur

Udaipur, city on the lake, was one of our favorites in Rajasthan.  I would go back to Udaipur.  We both loved it.

If Udaipur looks familiar, that means you are a James Bond fanatic like me, and remember it from the early 1980’s film “Octopussy”.

Our hotel or haveli, was right alongside the lake in the heart of downtown.

All around the lake the city is densely populated.  Most places are to narrow for vehicles, making it foot and motor-scooter traffic only.

There are two floating palaces built on the lake.  They aren’t actually floating, but built from solid granite taken from the mountains in North Western Rajasthan.

We lucked out and arrived on a festival day.  I have no idea what the festival was celebrating.  Festivals occur frequently and often in every city in India.  The country has national festival days, but each city, and even each temple within a city has specific festivals.

This festival consisted of a parade between several of the larger temples.  There were camels and horses. Floats and bands.  Costumes and entertainers.  It was extremely colorful and action packed.

One of my favorite acts was this drum corps.  I was able to snap a few shots, but unfortunately my video camera battery died before they arrived.

Here is a video of the parade.

Udaipur was a very pleasant city to explore and spend time in.  The people were very friendly.  The city was much cleaner then others.  At night, the palaces are lit decorating the dark.  People were always out at the ghats- swimming, bathing, playing, and even cleaning clothes.

We spent July 4th in Udaipur.  There were no fireworks for American Independence, but we had a delicious meal at one of the fancier restaurants on the water.  After several courses of food and a couple rounds of drinks the whole thing cost less than $20.

During the day, the humidity crept in laying a haze all around the city.  We spent three full days and two nights in Udaipur.  I could have spent more time, and in future visits hope to.

The palace was intricately decorated.

We took a boat ride around Lake Pichola.

The city palace was turned into a resort hotel,  associated with the floating palaces for a premium Raj experience.  The price was several thousand per night.  Way over my budget.

I believe they beat the clothes with paddles in order to exorcise the evil spirits.

In the distance, monsoon palaces were built upon the hill tops.  During the hottest seasons the Maharaja would travel there and run his kingdom in comfort.

While walking through the palace complex to the boat docks we came upon these large trees.  Within the trees were thousands of bats hanging upside down.  It was day time and they were just hanging there. I first noticed them by the squealing sound they were making.  I looked up and squinted to identify what I was seeing.  I’ve seen bats before, but these were 2-3 times bigger.  Not until later that evening did I realize how big the population here was.  We watched for at least 15 minutes as swarms of them flew over head after dusk, as seen in the video.

The elegant palace our last night, seen from Lake Pichola.

Rajasthan Part 3: Pushkar

Next stop, Pushkar.  This is considered one of the holiest Hindu cities.  Not on the same scale as Varanasi, but still sacred.  The lake was created by Lord Brahma, the creator, when he dropped a lotus flower down to Earth.  The petals broke apart, where they landed water magically filled the craters within the desert.  Now the lake is surrounded by 52 ghats, or steps into the water, each named for a Maharaja.  Bathing in the holy waters of this lake are supposed to wash impurities away and cleanse the soul.  

Our hotel was about a 10 minute walk from the lake.  Our driver dropped us downtown, then gave us directions back to our hotel.  We spent the afternoon wandering the alleyways and reflecting upon the lake.

After leaving the main streets we were immediately bombarded by young men wanting to provide us with guide services.  They made every attempt to sell themselves as trustworthy folk.  They claimed we needed their help in order to maximize our experiences in this holy city.  Taking KP’s advice, we deflected the help of several guides and changed our course multiple times in order to shake off these pestering followers.  Sometimes I would pretend I didn’t speak English, giving them a confused look.  Other times I ignored them all together as if they didn’t exist.

Our two months in India would become a series of new experiences.  Pushkar was no less a powerful new experience.  All around us devoted Hindu’s were participating in religious rituals worshipping Lord Brahma.  Wary travelers easily got roped into such rituals, called pujas, soon discovering the real reason for the ceremony.

As we got closer to the waters edge music began to echo from various temples.  Priests had awnings set up around several of the ghats providing shade to visitors.  We respectfully removed our shoes, but rather then place them in a rack and pay money, I snuck them into our daypack.  Hoping I could avoid the crowd and just watch several iterations, we were quickly bombarded with a priest and temple boys inviting us to join them.  Reluctantly I gave in and followed with Gretchen stoically behind me.  We sat upon the stone steps where he began the puja.  I was handed a silver plate containing several colorful flower petals and powders.  The priest began chanting several incantations in repetition.  It seemed to be going well until he grabbed a nearby coconut, then asked me how much money I was planning to give.  Ugh.  I was prepared to be asked for a donation, but I was not prepared for the way he would scoff at my gift.  The Rough Guide specified 52 rupees was enough to give per person.  When I told him I would give 104 rupees he became very unhappy with me.  He told me that was not enough, then rattled off various members of an extended family, mentioning my donation would bring them all good fortunes and health.  I suddenly had a glimpse what Martin Luther must have felt like.

After almost a minute of debate about how much my donation would be, I bid no more than 200 rupees and placed them upon the coconut shell.  The priest only half heartedly completed the puja and handed me the plate.  Mixing water with the dry powders to create a paste which he used to place a third eye upon my forehead.  Then, tied a token around both our wrists.  The token or "pushkar passport" is a piece of red and yellow twine torn from a temple cloth and worn around the wrist.  This identifies you have participated in a puja, and priests will generally leave you alone for the remainder of your visit. We then got up, scattered the petals in the lake, washed our feet, said a prayer to God in our own language, and continued exploring the area.

This part of Rajasthan continues to see drought year after year, leaving the lake much lower then normal.

We found a nice cafe in the shade to beat the head and enjoy some food.  Another great meal for under $4.  

The cafe was briefly mentioned in the guidebook as being off the beaten path, and highly recommended.  The temperatures were still in the 90’s, but not quite as humid as Delhi.

Luckily our hotel had a pool!  We only spent one day and one night in Pushkar.  There were several temples we chose not to go into.  At this point in trip we were both a bit overwhelmed from visiting so many Hindu temples.  Later, we would again learn to appreciate the beauty in a few of them.  It just felt like that’s all our guide wanted to show us was temples.  Nearly every city had hundreds of them.  So when we had to opportunity to wander we chose just to take pictures from the outside.  I also got a little tired of constantly having to leave my shoes at the entrance, then pay some guy to watch them...

Rajasthan Part 2: Monkey Palace

Our trusty Rough Guide to India led us to Galta, or also called the “Monkey Palace” on the outskirts of Jaipur.  I’m not sure our driver would have taken us had it not been recommend by a couple other travelers.  Built into the sides of a rocky ravine around a fresh water spring is an old temple.  At some point the monkeys overtook the buildings and made it their home.    

In order to get to Galta, we first had to walk up and over Surya Mandir- a temple perched upon a high ridge overlooking Jaipur.

The spring wasn’t meant to be a ghat, but several people took the opportunity to cool off from the Rajasthan heat.  Shortly after the pool party got started several tourist police showed up and aggressively throw the swimmers out.

Monkeys were visible everywhere.  Some escaped the afternoon heat for shade within the spring house.  Others dipped in and out of the murky green water.  Looking closer several families of monkeys were hiding within the cliffs above.

The monkeys were not at all shy.  Some seemed to be posing for the camera.  While others just went about their business like we weren’t even there.  When I think about it India had lots of animals living closely near humans, both going about their business.  I guess in a country with over a billion people everyone creature has to find a way to get along.

We would later see lots of monkeys in various places on our trip, but the Monkey Palace was by far one of the most unique.  It was certainly fun seeing them take refuge in such a neat location.