7/12/2014 [Udaipur]
A few of my fellow travelers have been struggling with a lack of caffeine, so this morning started with a search for good strong coffee, after consulting our trusty Lonely Planet guides. After having coffee at a little cafe that was literally on the lake (one step too many, and you'd be in the lake itself), a few of us ventured across the bridge to check out the city on the other side of the lake, where we proceeded to get deliciously lost. We ended up wandering around for hours, which was a great way to immerse ourselves in the day-to-day life of Udaipur. At one point, we heard a very loud explosion and saw a shower of sparks from overhead - unfortunately a poor little squirrel had electrocuted itself on the power lines and transformer box.
We eventually found our way back to our hotel, just in time to make it to our cooking class. We learned how to make chai from scratch, as well as khadai paneer (cottage cheese and capsicum in a tomato-based sauce), malai kofta (balls of mashed potato stuffed with raisins and nuts in a creamy sauce), biryani rice, and chappatis (flat bread) from scratch. We then got to eat all of our delicious efforts, ,which ended up being quite a feast!
This evening we headed to a local restaurant to eat dinner and watch the James Bond film 'Octopussy' - most restaurants and bars in Udaipur show this movie for free at 7pm every single night, as several scenes were filmed here and it is another claim to fame for Udaipur. As we were walking to dinner, I came face to squishy face with a darling little pug, who I had actually spotted from the rooftop yesterday. I was so super excited to meet him, and he was so cute and friendly and cuddly! I can't believe I found a pug in India - I've seen plenty of mangy, flea-ridden stray dogs around, but definitely did not expect to see a beautiful, well looked after pug! At dinner, I had my first taste of the Indian dessert called Gulab Jamun (dumplings in rosewater syrup), which was so tasty! They actually brought out my dessert before my main meal, which was a little odd... but I certainly wasn't complaining!
Unfortunately after dinner I experienced the downside to sharing a room - my roommate and I had come up with a system where we placed our only room key under a chair in front of our room, in case we weren't together - that way, both of us could access our room at any time. My roommate and another girl headed out for a drink after dinner, and I decided to head back to the room because I was exhausted after 3 hours of James Bond. When I got back to our room, I was very dismayed to find that the key wasn't under our chair... my roommate had accidentally put it in her bag, and I had no idea where she was or how long she would be out, so I was locked out. After about an hour, our group leader noticed that I was locked out, and tried to find a staff member to ask for a spare key but had no luck. He then decided to go and hunt down my roommate, which was very sweet of him but not really necessary - I was happy enough sitting outside my room using the wifi. However, he dashed off on a mission, and ended up finding them pretty quickly, and my poor roommate was mortified, despite my reassurances that it really was no big deal. It was a relief to get into the room to use the bathroom though!
8/12/2014 [Udaipur]
We headed back to the cafe on the lake for breakfast and coffee this morning, before dispersing our separate ways. I ventured off on my own today, which was quite liberating! I went to visit a tailor, a jeweler, an artist and a leather worker, before wandering around just taking in the sights and sounds and smells of the city. I started to feel a bit headachey and was worried that it would turn into a migraine, so I headed back to my room to attempt to sleep it off. Most of the group headed out for a hike up a mountain this afternoon to watch the sunset, but I was still feeling yucky and headachey so I took my migraine medication, had a lukewarm shower and had a nap. I woke up feeling much better, which was a relief.
We headed back across the bridge for dinner, where we ate at a little family-run Israeli food stall - as much as I love curry, it was nice to have a meal that was a bit lighter. I ate most of the salad before realising it probably wasn't a great idea, as you don't know whether they wash they actually wash the veggies, and if they do, the cleanliness of the water is generally pretty questionable here. Hopefully it's all good and I don't end up with a case of Delhi Belly... I've managed to avoid it so far, touch wood!
9/12/2014 [Udaipur - Pushkar]
Our day started very early this morning - we were loaded into tuk-tuks for the freezing cold drive to the train station by 5am. We then had a 6 hour train trip to Ajmer, which was long and uncomfortable and more like what I had imagined train trips in India would be like. Once we reached Ajmer, we loaded our gear into a couple of vehicles and started the 40 minute drive over the mountains to Pushkar. The car trip passed pretty quickly (especially compared to the train ride), and it was pretty awesome cruising along with the windows down, listening to Mumford & Sons,
Pushkar didn't appear to be very interesting as we drove through, but later we discovered that we were actually staying on the outskirts of town so hadn't seen the center of town.When we reached our hotel, I was quite impressed - it is definitely the cleanest and snazziest-looking hotel so far! After grabbing a quick lunch at the restaurant onsite, my roommate and I headed back to our room for a nap - we were completely worn out after such an early morning and a long day of traveling.
On a side note - I love that totally bizarre comments like 'there's a monkey in the veggie garden' are just so commonplace and make sense here... it's not something I would expect to hear over lunch back home!
Our group leader then took us for our orientation walk, and explained about the three principle gods and goddesses of the Hindu religion as we walked around the Holy Lake at the center of Pushkar. We sat at a little cafe and drank chai as we watched the sunset over the lake - this whole 'drinking chai and watching sunsets' thing seems to be becoming quite a habit for us! After the sun went down, we decided to explore the city. We discovered a street full of traditional Indian sweets shops, which we promptly christened 'Sweet Street' and proceeded down to taste some of its delicacies. As we ate, we saw more monkeys, jumping on the shade cloth overhead like it was a trampoline.
As we walked back out of town towards our hotel, I had a really great and honest conversation with one of my fellow travelers about the disenchantment and the hopefulness that we've experienced in India so far, and what might be ahead.
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