India 7 - Udaipur

The most romantic city in India? I think so! I spent 3 nights here, it is a lovely place, the hotel I stayed at had the best shower in India, roof top restaurant and my room overlooked Pichola Lake.

There town is full of lovely windy streets, parks are all around the city, the best being Sahelion Ki Bari.

Unfortunately I couldn’t get onto a boat trip - tried a few times but was always booked up. There are two palaces on the lake, one is now a hotel and the other, Jag Mandir is unused.
The City Palace was fabulous, full of glass mosaics, glass rooms, peaceful courtyards and balconies. I spied a bees nest.

Overlooking the lake is the Monsoon Palace , never used due to water supply problems but everyone goes there for the sunset.

I went horse riding for a few hours, galloping round the hills was a hot experience as the temp is now hitting 32C ..And I had my palm read while I was here… very accurate on past experiences and dates but I’ll keep the future my secret!

Another interesting trip I did was to the Mausoleum - this place has something like 400 different monuments, the guide showed me the platforms where cremations take place and explained that the tablets in some of the monuments have been put there when the wife or wives do ‘sati’ (which means faithful wife) or throw themselves on the fire… one bonfire must have been huge as the tablet shows all 12 wives joined their husband…

I met a really nice mother and daughter from Ireland who are doing a world trip, strangely enough I didn’t get to hear about what they had actually seen in China or India to date as everything seemed to centre around what they had been eating and in particular their endless search for the perfect slice of toast, egg and marmalade.

India 6 - Jaipur

I spent 2 days in Jaipur. The Pink City has been a bit of a disappointment to tell the truth. First of all, it is the most polluted city I have been in yet, the air is choking with fumes and dust

and secondly, the “Pink City” - which is actually different shades of smoked salmon - is a bit of a façade as far as experiencing the sights go…

I visited various places; the Hawa Mahal Palace was basically gutted, the City Palace with courtyards and gardens had good museum but is still used by the Royal Family so not much of it is available

and the polluted lake has a small palace which is currently being renovated.

So I took a few snaps and then went to see an Ayurvedic Doctor about taking a training course. This is a possibility for two weeks in March so I’ll think about that. While I was there I had a body massage, steam bath and head massage which was just great, however the herbs are not exactly your regular aromatherapy experience and I left smelling like a camel.

The other experience of Jaipur is the markets. This is where buyers come from round the world to purchase Indian goods, so after spending hours in only one market, I left with a couple of boxes of bangles, yet another silk scarf and a new outfit.

What I didn’t see was the Amber Fort - I didn’t leave enough time but will go there if I return.
So now I’ve done The Blue City (Jodhpur), The Golden City (Jaisalmer) and The Pink City (Jaipur).