Oh you poor old booger, with the look of a care home bath mat and some jalebis (orange coloured whorls of batter in sugar syrup) left in front of you.
A nice early start and a more peaceful wander before the traffic started roaring through the tiny lanes inside the city wall. There were some rather hefty obstacles to negotiate...
A very sleepy ox keeps its eyes tightly closed while chewing. A great expression!
This cow was so enormous, and had to keep turning its head to the side so that the traffic could pass by. It's girth and padded self reminded us of Jamie-Jay's jumbo sized bean bag!
Some of the rickshaw drivers had the most hilarious sounding hand- honking horns (squeezy rubber ball and metal trumpet). Some of which seem to have lost their initial ferocity and the noise had aged into a comedy quacking duck sound. We had been on the look out for a horn to attach to Wiji's bike for some London cycling amusement. While looking we had also seen some silver coloured metal clad carriages with loud hailers, probably used for some kind of religious propaganda. They had the home-made air of Bridgy carnival about them.
Here we noticed a nice roof top display of tuba parts. The question 'what on earth is going on here?, never seems to be far from our minds'... There was no shop below to offer any explanation either.
Quite a bit of skinny building high-rise madness in work-a-day Udaipur. In this lane there was a whole collection of tiny shops selling motors, blades and plastic jugs for some very old school blenders. Jenny Pinn could have brought a friend for her 70's orange juicer here!
The Nimbu Mirchi mix of strung together green chillies and a lime that we had seen everywhere, hung in doorways and swinging off the front grills of rickshaws. When I stepped up onto the stone slab covering the sewer outside this premises and took a pic, a random man on the street asked me what I was looking at. I showed him the picture on the camera and he asked me 'what is special for you?'. When I explained it was the chillies and lime, rather than the lock, he seemed quite satisfied. Later we found out that they are used to protect people and their business from the evil eye. They are renewed every Saturday, to keep nasty thoughts and bad luck at bay.
We were totally loving the barber shops with their proper old style heavy weight adjustable chairs. Quite often when we pass one a barber would call to Wiji in Hindi asking him to come in, (we presume), which was amusing for all concerned. Its really interesting to watch the male world of the ritual shave, with the serious cut-throat razor and the rather rough looking facial massage with some kind of herbal balm. I always want to go in and watch the whole process, maybe I should ask...
Our wander took us passed the cloth and silver merchants sat on the textile clad floors of their tiny stores. The area around the central clock tower was busy with old women selling displays of veg laid out on the pavement or in large, low, open woven baskets, while they themselves sheltered from the sun under umbrellas chatting away.
Below on the right a man sits on the cotton covering of the floor of his jewellery shop. While Wiji looked at the map and I took some pics a man came over to stand next to us and stare at us. He didn't seem satisfied with this, so he also followed us for a bit...
We lost our stalker when we went for a drink in a hotel which advertised its own elevator (sketchy). A proud advertisement for a quicker trip to the roof top (5 storeys up). We had a fresh lime and soda break in the shade and caught some birds eye views of the Jagdish Temple.
A roof top scene, a lady washes her stainless steel utensils and leaves them in the rack on the roof.
Flower sellers sheltering under umbrellas selling strings of marigolds and jasmine flowers to the worshippers.
'Where is my fresh lime soda?'
Just left of the Jagdish Temple, a herd of donkeys loaded up with hessian sacks of gravel are shooed up the hill for the umpteenth time by the woman in the blue sari.
The women in the pink sari slaps one of the donkeys in the face en route back down the hill with their empty sacks.
A variety of deities could be spotted along the streets. This one looked like a poor quality easter egg, with all of its detail on the silver foil covering the lump.
Loving the pottery water vessels, always put on a stand, covered with a stainless steel tray and one cup or ladle is used by the customer to drink from. In the background, bamboo stools have bicycle tyres on the top and bottom for longevity.
A nice place to set up your fruit stall under the shade of the leccy terminal.
Udaipur was gearing up for the festival of colour with these large steel framed arches being erected in the streets, causing some traffic lane confusion, as if there wasn't enough already, lol.
There were many beautiful heritage buildings to admire...
In the late afternoon we took a rickshaw with the driver who waited outside our hotel and who we had frequently argued with regarding his insane price suggestions, often resulting in us just walking away and him curb crawling after us, lol. This time he surprised us both and cracked by offering us a fair deal straight off for the entire journey to the Monsoon Palace and back.
Having travelled with him before on short journeys inside the city wall, we hadn't quite realised what a mentalist he was. He stopped once to buy some paan sachets that he chewed and continually spat out for the length of the ride. Then just as we were entering the gates to the mountain road that led to the Monsoon Palace, he waved his little finger at us and explained that he had a bladder problem. He stopped, left us and went for a long piss up against the wall, whilst chatting to some other rickshaw driver friends. We did have to eventually hurry him along as the sun was getting lower and he had started another conversation whilst swigging down a bottle of water. 'hurry up!' LOL.
During our death defying journey up the mountain with hair pin bends galore and a 1:10 gradient, we passed a tractor with the front wheel missing and a lot of metal that the wheel should have been attached to embedded in the tarmac (flash back to Guatemala where the wheel came off and overtook us). We also passed an explosion of American girls who's rickshaw had broken down half way up...Mmmm good luck with that, we waved in international sign language! We finally made it to the top of the mountain despite our driver being smacked off his tits on several sachets of industrial strength paan, and insisting on talking to us while looking over his shoulder. Joy.
Here we are all smiles, after I prised my nails out of the metal seat and Wiji's leg.
I considered the quick route down.
Just north of Lake Pichola is the lake known as Fateh Sagar. At its centre is Nehru Park, a garden island.
The view of Lake Pichola and the Taj Lake Palace Hotel.
Wiji elected to climb the Monsoon Palace for a higher view, I waited down below by the gate.
He captured some of the views across Udaipur through the palace windows...
The Monsoon Palace was undergoing some extensive restoration and was devoid of artefacts.
Loving the view and the cool breeze.
Looking down over the city sprawl.
Terrifying bamboo scaffolding on the front of the Monsoon Place.
We caught the sunset over the dessert landscape whilst having a drink at the Monsoon cafe.
When we made our way back to the car park we found our driver was in the centre of things playing cards with the other drivers, he was a bit reluctant to leave, and we were quite amused. Strangely he drove much more sedately on the way down, stopping again with the little finger signal directed at us both (for a piss). He did seem to have the same bladder problem as Odin. R.I.P.
When we were on the home straight back to the hotel, he took the opportunity, in the semi darkness, to tell us about all the fatal accidents on the Monsoon Mountain road, and did so while looking over his shoulder at us again. Priceless.
When we arrived back at the hotel the man from the internet cafe across the street came rushing out to tell me how funny he thought it was that our rickshaw driver returned home several times a day to give his money to his wife. He was gob smacked when I suggested that the driver might just be a good husband, lol. This was not the response the internet man was after.
Our driver, all smiles until the actual photo!
Breakfast on the roof terrace with the stunning views and the early morning light.
The white speck of the Monsoon Palace on the mountain in the distance.
Unusually the roof terrace wasn't just a bare concrete after thought with jutting steel bars poking out of the floor. It was a beautiful space to relax in...both inside and out. Wiji takes in the view.
The stillness of the lake in the morning.
Absolute concentration! Wiji had bargained with the owner for a reduced price that also included breakfast. Breakfast consisted of cornflakes, toast and jam, a fruit platter, two eggs to order and coffee, and Wiji ordered it all, bless. Finally a reason to get up early! Lol. I loved the fruit platter that was bejewelled with succulent pomegranate.
The rooftop kitchen with serving hatch were immaculate.
Our gorgeous room on the third floor had a corner aspect where we could look out on one side over the lake and on the other side over a series of rooftops and courtyards. This was also the place where a rope was lowered and a bag was hoisted up to the roof kitchen...
There goes the bag, again! Lol.
Our hotel, the Jaiwana Haveli.
We had such a lovely relaxing time here because the haveli was clean, peaceful, beautifully decorated and well run in a hands off manner that made it a real pleasure. It was a romantic mini break for us in picturesque Udaipur.
1 comment:
Yes, it looks and sounds just wonderful. Beautiful shots of the streets; we can almost smell it. Bendad loves the windows and the light they cast. xx
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