Last full day In Udaipur

(Note: I’m posting this without photos - turns out Bera Safari lodge is in the middle of nowhere with very limited connectivity, so will update this once I’m back in civilization)

My last day in Udaipur was April 14, 2022 and my mission from when I was last there (2012? Palace on Wheels) was to stay in the Taj Lake Palace Hotel and to see the Monsoon Palace. My mission was fulfilled. I looked out of my window before going down to eat and saw children bathing in the lake. I also saw several fish jumping. Reportedly there are also crocodiles in the lake- hopefully not near the children bathing. For the first time in a very long while I took time to meditate on the patio before starting the day.

Breakfast was outside on the side of the lily pond. This morning it was a masala dosa, masala chai and fruit.

(Breakfast pictures here)

The Palace is full of pigeons and always has been. This means the staff are cleaning and painting every day. While at breakfast I saw the pigeon guy out with his flag waving it over the pond to keep the pigeons away.

(10 second video here)

Especially wonderful was the “misters” that started as I was finishing breakfast. Like in the hot Disneyland lines, the hotel turns on their misting machine and it feels lovely as the morning heats up.

Udaipur is known as the lake city, Venice of the East, and as such there are a lot of flowering plants. Also because it’s so hot there is a lot of dust, so I am feeling my allergies as something is blooming which does not agree with my sinuses.

Manoj and I agreed to meet at 10 for the day’s activities, but today there was a big procession to celebrate the birth of the last spiritual leader of the Jain community, Lord Mahavira, who was the 24th Tiranthkara of Jainism. The huge procession closed the center of town and the traffic diversions made the 15 minute trip one hour fifteen minutes.

Manoj was finally successful in getting through the traffic and we started up to the Monsoon Palace. Along the way we saw a huge snake crossing the road (sounds like the beginning to a joke - why did the snake cross the road…?). It must have been 6 feet long and looked brown, but I couldn’t find it online, so can’t tell you what type it was. The road itself went from bad to worse. It seems many things have deteriorated over the last 2 years of Covid and this road was one of them. We eventually got to the entry of the Monsoon Palace. The Palace itself was a huge disappointment and was expensive to enter the grounds - $9 for nothing but a view. The building itself is empty. It’s called The Monsoon Palace because during monsoon rains it is in clouds. A very romantic name for a disappointment (ok, the view was very good, but not 9 bucks good).

I’ve learned some Hindi words, for example: Gahr is garden and Mahal is palace. Udaipur, the capital of the Marwar State borders Gujarat. Gujarat is dry so people come here to drink alcohol.

We go back to the hotel via an ATM machine and via one of the many lakes which is quite beautiful. I spend the afternoon doing a full workout in their gym. It appears no one uses it because a) it is incredibly small and stuffy and b) the equipment didn’t work because they blew a fuse and no one knew. After my workout I did a swim in the very small pool. Marble gets extremely hot in the sun and I was running to get in. While in the pool, they fight a bit of a losing battle with the pigeons which can be disgusting while you’re swimming. Then I thought I would try their jacuzzi - they have 2 hidden in little pavilions. Problem is the jets don’t have the power to really do any good and I suspect they are there more for show and newly weds.

At 6pm I meet Manoj for a lift over to the entry for the hike up to the hill sunset viewing point. I wanted to walk up along the city walls, but was told this was closed. I thought my only option was a cable car (or rope car)

(Cable car pictures here)

and was happy to see that I could walk up parallel to these. This is what I opted for - it was about a quarter of a mile and not too strenuous.

(Photos of walkway here)

At the top I mistakenly ended up in a Moslem Mosque before finding the Hindu Temple (which was under construction, but no one seemed to care)

(temple photo here)

and then walking over to another viewing point where I could actually sit down. There were a lot of kite birds riding the thermals as the sun turned orange and slipped behind the hills.

(Sunset photos here)

I was debating all day whether to do this hike and I was glad I did. So far on this trip every time I push the envelop I am pleasantly surprised with the outcome.