In the morning after a reasonably sleepless night I have breakfast on the roof, selecting a table which was not in direct sunlight, even at 9o'clock the sun had a desert like ferocity about it. As I peered over the rooftops I was surprised to see a figure waving at me from the adjacent hotel, after a moment or two of confusion I realised it was the German troll from the bus. We communicated we would meet downstairs in that universal language of distance that is pointing and silently mouthing the words, an even more futile action due to the distance.
As she was a regular visitor to Udaipur i let her lead the way as we headed straight into old town and the heart of the market bazaar. Surrounded by bangle shops and saree makers it would be easy to get disoriented but my guide traversed the streets with...well German proficiency. Soon we were into the food markets, offering anything from chilli's by the kilo to blocks of ghee bigger than your head. The fruit and veg section stretched out for miles and with each vendor selling the same produce and in vast quantities I enquired as to why so many sellers, my guide informed me that obviously the Indian people like to shop around for not only the best quality but price too and also that different vendors would belong to certain castes and as such would receive business from those of the same 'level'.
With all rooftops competing for the highest and unobstructed views over Udaipur it was difficult to choose, deciding on the trolls roof we watched the city disappear into twilight to the sound of Octopussy playing in the background.
My room remained to be hotter than it ft in the midday sun, finally succoming to soaking a sheet in cold water and wrapping it round me in bed which, at least for an hour, seemed to do the trick although the process did require repeating with increasing frequency.
The other main draw in Udaipur is the city palace, a home to the Maharajah of Udaipur and now, like most of these royal relics, has been turned into a museum and top end hotel. As expected the palace was filled with all the opulence you would expect from a royal abode however there was one other familiar sight that wasn't so pleasing, the dreaded Indian tour group. These particularly bold species tend to huddle in large numbers surrounding a central alpha male, or guide as they are locally known. The group moves together in a singular body, absorbing all in its path and swarm from point of interest to point of interest, the only straying from the body when said point of interest requires photographing, however, on hearing the voice of their alpha male will, without hesitation or consideration for those in their path, bid to rejoin the body as quickly as possible in case they miss any of the guides gospel. As you can probably guess I got absorbed, bashed into and stuck behind numerous tour groups, slightly hindering what would otherwise have been a pleasant stroll.
With the heat of the day hindering all but the most essential of activities I was in luck that Udaipur had to shortage of cafes and coffee shops to ply you with refreshment and a plethora of pastries from the seemingly obligatory german bakery. With a number of these cafes being situated on the banks of ths lakes it was all to easy to be absorbed into a wicker chair and read the afternoon away.
The state is famous for the Rajasthani Puppet and accordingly a section of yet another, smaller, palace cum museum was dedicated to the art. The whole room was filled with hundreds of puppets depicting anything from royal courtyard scenes to various Hindu gods in states of wrath. As I was exiting I noticed that there was a line of puppets lying on the floor, these looked a rather sad set compared to the fine examples around the rest of the room. Enter the depressed looking ticket collector from the entrance. He announced with great pride that this was his shop informing me that these were all handmade by his family, something that was clearly not their calling. As he dangled two purple maharajahs in front of me announcing the cost he could obviously read my face and instantly slashed the price, i walked out with them wrapped ungracefully in a black bag where they would remain until they were posted off to haunt Blighty.
As she was a regular visitor to Udaipur i let her lead the way as we headed straight into old town and the heart of the market bazaar. Surrounded by bangle shops and saree makers it would be easy to get disoriented but my guide traversed the streets with...well German proficiency. Soon we were into the food markets, offering anything from chilli's by the kilo to blocks of ghee bigger than your head. The fruit and veg section stretched out for miles and with each vendor selling the same produce and in vast quantities I enquired as to why so many sellers, my guide informed me that obviously the Indian people like to shop around for not only the best quality but price too and also that different vendors would belong to certain castes and as such would receive business from those of the same 'level'.
With all rooftops competing for the highest and unobstructed views over Udaipur it was difficult to choose, deciding on the trolls roof we watched the city disappear into twilight to the sound of Octopussy playing in the background.
My room remained to be hotter than it ft in the midday sun, finally succoming to soaking a sheet in cold water and wrapping it round me in bed which, at least for an hour, seemed to do the trick although the process did require repeating with increasing frequency.
The other main draw in Udaipur is the city palace, a home to the Maharajah of Udaipur and now, like most of these royal relics, has been turned into a museum and top end hotel. As expected the palace was filled with all the opulence you would expect from a royal abode however there was one other familiar sight that wasn't so pleasing, the dreaded Indian tour group. These particularly bold species tend to huddle in large numbers surrounding a central alpha male, or guide as they are locally known. The group moves together in a singular body, absorbing all in its path and swarm from point of interest to point of interest, the only straying from the body when said point of interest requires photographing, however, on hearing the voice of their alpha male will, without hesitation or consideration for those in their path, bid to rejoin the body as quickly as possible in case they miss any of the guides gospel. As you can probably guess I got absorbed, bashed into and stuck behind numerous tour groups, slightly hindering what would otherwise have been a pleasant stroll.
With the heat of the day hindering all but the most essential of activities I was in luck that Udaipur had to shortage of cafes and coffee shops to ply you with refreshment and a plethora of pastries from the seemingly obligatory german bakery. With a number of these cafes being situated on the banks of ths lakes it was all to easy to be absorbed into a wicker chair and read the afternoon away.
The state is famous for the Rajasthani Puppet and accordingly a section of yet another, smaller, palace cum museum was dedicated to the art. The whole room was filled with hundreds of puppets depicting anything from royal courtyard scenes to various Hindu gods in states of wrath. As I was exiting I noticed that there was a line of puppets lying on the floor, these looked a rather sad set compared to the fine examples around the rest of the room. Enter the depressed looking ticket collector from the entrance. He announced with great pride that this was his shop informing me that these were all handmade by his family, something that was clearly not their calling. As he dangled two purple maharajahs in front of me announcing the cost he could obviously read my face and instantly slashed the price, i walked out with them wrapped ungracefully in a black bag where they would remain until they were posted off to haunt Blighty.
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