About the first thing you find out when you get to Udaipur is that that the James Bond movie “Octopussy” was filmed on location here. I haven’t seen any old Bond movies in a while, and I don’t remember one from the other, but if you remember it or want to see some sites, maybe rent it. This isn’t really a four day town for me, and I’m in day three with nothing much else to do, so maybe I’ll watch “Octopussy”, which is showing in almost all the hotels and guesthouses.
About Udaipur. It’s called the White City for a couple of reasons. One is that when the king from Chittor moved his Mewar kingdom to Udaipur, they worshipped the Sun God, and whaite symbolized that deity. Another reason I heard was it’s called that beccause the Moghuls never took it, so it remained pure, that is, white. Anyway, it’s billed as the most romantic city in Rajastan. That doesn’t mean it’s the most romantic city in the world, at least as far as i’m concerned, but it would be a nice place to walk around with your sweetheart. There are lakes with views in many directions, cozy restaurants, sunsets over the mountains, lit up buildings at night, and little lanes like Naples to wander through.
This is the view at sunset from the rooftop restaurant at my hotel.
The next one is from almost directly across the way, toward the City palace, which is to the left from the above picture, so the south from the rooftop.
Here’s the view from the rooftop.
I’m getting kind of burnt on palaces, but there are some nice things in this one. they did a lot with tiles, mirrors, glass, and jewels.
And here’s a shot of a courtyard facade, which my photography did not do justice.
As I’ve said, the women dress in spectacular colors here. The best was at a program I went to with dance, music and puppetry.
It was a nice show. Below, the guy in the alcove playing his horn. The guy on the left on the floor is playing some kind of drum, and the woman is playing a squeeze box. The woman obviously is dancing with a pot of fire on her head. They actually do this in various areas of Rajastan. I have loads of pictures of different exotic dances. Soon I’ll burn a couple of CD’s and send them home.
There are three or four nice gardens in town. Here’s a shot of a courtyard in one of them. One lone lotus is blooming in the left foreground.
Hmm. I guess you can’t see the flower.
As I said, Udaipur is supposed to be romantic. I guess I can go there. There’s a little sitting area in my room, like a window loveseat. Here is the sunrise from there, with a big HIndu temple. If you can’t nuzzle your sweetie to this, well….
I ‘m off to the Pushkar camel fair tomorrow on the night bus. Talk to you from there if there’s a connection.