Day 46-47: Far, Far Away
*** Quick note, my original version of these two days was
saved over by accident. Yes, despite having internet when I write these, I
still do my first copies in Word, so these things happen. Anyway, instead of
writing about Udaipur in totality over again, I’ll just do some quick hit looks
at Udaipur***
Udaipur seems like a city. I know that sounds obvious, but
when it is compared to its Rajasthani brother, Jaipur, this is a big
difference. Jaipur seems like a tourist destination. There is not too much
wrong with that, since it is a fine tourist destination with great sites and
better shopping, but it doesn’t really seem like you are visiting a city, that
all the industry in Jaipur centered around its tourism. Siem Reap in Cambodia
was much like this. Udaipur seemed different. Now, many owners of Haveli
Rooftop Restaurants claimed the opposite, that it was low season in terms of
tourism, that it is better to come to Jaipur during October/November (and it
probably is), but it still seemed like that city had a lot more to offer if you
were to live there. In this way, it was more like DaLat, a mountainous (or in
this case, hilly) outpost deep inside the country.
Udaipur’s main attraction is the City Palace, a series of
museums and exhibits in the giant City Palace grounds. Our quite humorous guide
told us that this was the 2nd biggest palace in India, after the one
in Mysore, and while I’m not sure what qualifiers come with that, it definitely
seemed large. Only ¼th of the palace ground is open to the public, with the
rest being a luxury hotel/guesthouse and the active grounds of the Raj of
Udaipur. Even then, the part that we could see needed a long tour. The palace
itself isn’t as open and airy as those in Amer or even Jaipur, but far more
decorated and intricate, and it was set up more as a true house museum, with
rooms decorated as they were in the old days, coupled with exhibits showing
life in the Palace in the old days, full with Elephant Fights, Camel Fights and
Ladies’ Nights. The other part of the tour is the Crystal Gallery, a large
two-level ballroom full of Crystal pieces picked up by the Grandfather of the
current Raj in the early 1900’s, and while they look a little old and tired, it
was easy to tell the size and scope of his collection. One of the most enjoyable
parts, though, of the tour was having our complimentary beverage after the Crystal
Gallery tour on one side of the building that overlooked Lake Piccola, the
large, famous lake in the middle of the city.
Udaipur is famous for being the setting of many parts of the
movie Octopussy, and this fact is
reinforced quite well. We were told maybe a half dozen times about what parts
of the movie were shot where during the Palace tour. Many of the Haveli
Restaurants near the palace have bi-weekly screenings of Octopussy. Some even had nightly, which seemed like a little much.
I mean, how many times can one watch Octopussy. These Havelis, though, when not
showing James Bond films couple as the best eating spots in the city, as most
have rooftop terraces that overlook Lake Piccola, with its fabulous Lake Palace
(now a hotel owned by the Taj Group) and Jangarh Palace (said to be part of the
inspiration for the Taj Mahal – I didn’t see any resemblance, but who am I to
argue). The food isn’t always the best here, but the setting and ambience,
especially when it cools down after 6 PM, more than makes up for it.
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| This peacock is worth more in precious stones than most houses in India |
Outside of the City Palace grounds, Udaipur has few sites
within city limits. Two seemed interesting to us. The first was a trip of the ‘Rope
Way’ (their name for cable car), up the side of the nearby hill, to see Udaipur
at sunset. We were able to make it up about five minutes before sunset, first
having to experience a rickety cable-car ride. I don’t often get nervous in
cable cars, but seeing the entrance building, it definitely didn’t seem like a
world-class feat of engineering. Thankfully, we survived and saw a beautiful
sunset over Udaipuir. From the top, you really see why coming during this time
of the year is wrong, as we are about two months before the monsoon season, and
Udaipur is completely arid and the other, less famous lake, is drying up before
our eyes. Still, the site is quite good, and you see just how large Udaipur
really is.
The other site in town was really a show, the nightly
Rajasthani Dance show in the Bagor Kee Haveli, a little hamlet tucked inside a
gully near the City Palace (almost all the Havelis are similarly tucked in
similar gullies). The stage for the show was outdoors, and we were all seated
on low thatch mats on the ground. It was an intimate setting, with about 40 of
us looking at a the courtyard. On one side were three properly dressed
musicians, and then one MC came out, and in his best English and Hindi
introduced each song. There were five dances. Two were performed by a group of
younger girls, which were all very energetic, and usually ended with them
spinning each other in a circle at a speed that seemed a little dangerous and
certainly nauseating. The other two in the first five were performed by a group
of elderly women, and were more intricate if less mobile. One featured all of
them sitting on the ground with little cymbals tied to their hands, legs, and
bodies in general, banging them together in unison as they moved their arms and
legs. It was quite impressive. The final one, though, was the best, as it
featured a woman dancing balancing a series of pots. We saw a similar dance at
the Spice Court outdoor courtyard restaurant two nights before in Jaipur, but
that woman ended to dance balancing five large ceramic pots. This woman started
with one, then did two, and then did five. I thought it would end there, but
then she went back over to the side and had three more placed on her head. Then
she went back and had three more placed
over her head, for a total of eleven. At this point, they had to be placed
there by a man standing on a mini-ladder, and the smallest was the size of the
thimble in Monopoly, but it was damn impressive nonetheless.
Udaipur may not have as many sites within its city limits,
but there are a ton of places within a 2-4 hour drive of Udaipur. Primarily is
the Chittorgarh Fort, Udaipur’s version of
the Amer fort, but it is about 190 km away from Udaipur, and given how
Indian roads work, this is a long, long way. The one we decided to go to was
the Ranakpur Jain Temple, 95 km away, close enough to be included as a site on
Tripadvisor for Udaipur (it is the #1 site, currently). It took a good hour and
forty five to reach there, as most of the trek is on a one-lane road and the
last 10 km or so is on a winding path. We got there around 11:15, which was
good time, but as far as this temple goes, not the best. The temple opens at
11:00, but opens then for just Indian residents. At 12:00, it opens for foreigners.
This is done, as we later found out, because they want the temple to be a
religious, holy place of worship from 11:00-12:00. Of course, then they should
restrict entry to only Jains until 12. Instead, we smuggled ourselves in as
Indians, and went inside the temple. To our dismay, they did win as they don’t
allow cameras inside the temple (even for locals) until 12:00, so we had to
wait anyway. To pass the time, we decided to see the temple inside, and it
really was worth the drive. The temple is large, but the beauty is in the
small, the incredibly intricate carvings that cover the marble and granite
temple. Each column is carved gorgieously. Each wall and roof the same. All the
four sides of the temple are adorned by marble elephants. It truly is an impressive
e place.
Around 11:50, we exited the temple and outside I saw a crowd
of about 40-50 white tourists roped up outside the temple, waiting for the Big
and Little hands to strike 12. We collected our camera and joined them in line
to enter. When we entered, the temple was mostly the same, but I noticed a man
dressed to worship quickly jetting around the temple closing the windows and
doors that allowed people to access the statues and figures of the Gods. I
guess this fits in with the ‘No Foreigners Until 12:00’ thinking. This didn’t
hurt the temple, because the Gods weren’t carved anywhere near as brilliantly
as the temple itself. We took our pictures and left before it became any more
crowded and headed back to Udaipur.
Overall, Udaipur is very much like Jaipur, with better sites
inside the city, but where its outside-the-city sites are much further away
(Amer Fort was only half-an-hour away). Jaipur also has far more shopping
options for Rajasthani handicrafts. That said, I preferred the local vibe from
Udaipur, a city without Hawkers, without streets and streets lined with busy
tourists, a city that gave the impression that it could go on without any
tourists. Udaipur is truly a desert hill outpost, with some beautiful views and
good food. Plus, it’s train station didn’t smell like a McDonald’s bathroom.
