Udiapur

Udiapur

Our first morning in Udiapur we went to tour the City Palace.

The Palace is half open to the public as a museum and half private for the king of Udiapur now. There is also a private hotel as part of this structure as well.

The palace was built and added onto by different maharajas throughout the years. You can really get the sense of how the kings and queens lived.

Many off the steps were uneven and that was done on purpose to make it harder for enemies to run up and down. The doors are also very small not because people were short but because again in enemies ever got into the palace they would bend forward to duck through the door and guards could easily chop their heads!

After city palace we went to use an ATM and our cards weren't working so that put a little stress on us both. We went to have some coffee and cake at a restaurant with the rest of our group though to figure things out. Eventually Thom's card worked so we are ok. I am still trying to figure things out with my bank at the moment. Ahhh the troubles of traveling abroad...lol

Anyway, Next Monty had set up an Indian cooking class for us which was fantastic!

We actually all helped to cook everything and then the best part we got to eat all of it too!
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We started with masala chai, made a few vegetarian dishes and even rolled and cooked our own chapati which is like Nan bread or a tortilla.

We also got all the recipes so we'll need to cook and share when we get back.The chef teaching us was hilarious.

We walked around a bit and stopped in another one of a Monty's friends shop who was an artist. He was trained to paint miniature paintings. Very small detailed paintings using a brush that thins out to one hair. He painted an elephant with both of our names on it on my nail to demonstrate.

We wanted to support this artist and so be bought one of his elephant paintings that took him 20 days to complete. They framed and wrapped it for us as we'll so we could ship it.

Later that evening we met up again to go to the cultural center in town where we got to see many traditional dances performed with live music.
Women danced with fire pots on their head

Finger cymbal dance

Puppets
And more...

That night we had dinner on a different rooftop owned by one of Monty's friends. It was kind of modern with a flat screen TV on one wall and a pool table set up near another. Unfortunately people from our group were beginning to get sick. So our group was getting smaller and people went to bed right after dinner. My stomach wasn't bad but it wasn't feel too great either so I also took some medicine and went back to the hotel. Thom and Peter a great guy from the UK stayed to have a few drinks and talk with Monty and some of his friends from the area. They had a good night.

The next morning we went to this nice place to have a good breakfast and then walked around to do some shopping.

We got some spices, tea and tins. Thom got two shirts tailored and made and I got two dresses although one is still a little too big. Nothing is a fixed price and you have to haggle for everything. I find it extremely stressful and don't enjoy it at all. It is also hard to just look because people are always shouting at you to look at their shop and even if you just want to look they take EVERYTHING out to show you. Even when you agree to actually buy something they keep asking you if you want more things. It is super stressful to me personally. I just always feel either bad or guilty or like a sucker. Maybe I'll get better with this in more time.

After we went to ship a box with most of our goods including the duvet cover we got in Jaisalmer back home we met up with the group again for a boat ride on the lake.

Jag Mandir is a palace built on an island in the Lake Pichola. It is also called the "Lake Garden Palace". The Lake Palace is now one of the most expensive hotels in the area.

We toured around the lake checking out more views of the City Palace we toured the day before

Then we had a fancy dinner on top of rooftop hotel across the water with the group.

Thom and I splurged on a bottle of wine as it is not common to find and there is only one that Monty recommends as good. It was Sucra Red a cab/Shiraz blend and it was yummy!

We had a nice evening watching the sun set and the palace light up.

Then back to the hotel to pack and early to bed as we need to be ready in the lobby at 5:00a.m. to catch a 5 hour train to Pushkar. Monty said this might be a good spot to purchase some instruments!