Dinner on a rooftop with a view of the palaces and temples

puppet show

Jack with a Nazi motorcycle, now on exhibit

outside a hotel (the sprayed on logos, not)...

On the lake in Udaipur, Part 2 - Pichola Lake, the City Palace, The Lake Palace, and Jag

Click any of these photos to zoom/enlarge

Udaipur is a fascinating town, with a rich and varied history. It is now largely known for its fabulous palaces, but the city has many other claims to fame and charms--both discreet and right in your face.

It's in the high nineties here, but actually gets cold in the winter. It's hard to fathom this town gettng cold, but there you have it.

Over half a million people live here now, and judging from what we find on the narrow streets, nearly all of them drive scooters and auto-rickshaws, and spend much of their time honking their horns (always good naturedly) at each other as they thread their way through cattywompus intersections and crossroads. I've seen many packs (strings?) of donkeys and oxen as well. As always, one of the most fascinating sights are people on scooters in every possible configuration. There are women in Burkas with sunglasses riding scooters and motorcycles, and there is always someone carrying an improbably heavy or tall load. There are families of four on one motorcycle or scooter, and women in traditional dress ride sidesaddle as passengers. Fortunately, no one goes very fast and they always take care to warn cars, other scooters, and pedestrians when they will cross paths. For westerners (at least those of us not from England or Bermuda), driving on the left-hand side of the road poses a potential hazard--you must always remember to look both ways

Compared to other places we've visited, Udaipur's residents dress in both western dress, and a beautifully rich mix of native costumes, with colors, turbans, jewelry, etc., all indicating your caste, martial status, and even whether a woman has had a son. The town is about mid-way between Dehli and Mumbai, and is also known as a center of those famous miniature paintings.

Just now, as I was writing this, I heard singing and bells. I went out our gate to the crossroads where there was a fantastic parade celebrating Krishna. People were dancing, smiling, burning incense, shaking percussion instruments and carrying flags and banners. They were dressed in fantastic colors and robes of linens with variously colored headdresses. Hari Hari Kirshna Hari Krishna Hari Krishna Hari Hari. Wow, and what an assemblage of 150 watt smiles! I was so absorbed I forgot to go grab a camera.

The most famous and notable here are the Lake Palaces along the lake (we are staying in a former palace, although it is not directly on the lake, but a couple of blocks away). Aseries of palaces built at various times since the mid-16th century line parts of the lake, and the tiny islands in the middle of the lake.

Jag Mandir is an island in the lake with a charming palace and sylvan gardens (no flowers right now--it's too hot). You take a little boat over there from the City Palace (300 rupees). We did that today, and that's where most of these photographs are from...

The City Palace is the first in line of the impressive string of palaces. You enter City Palace through a fantastic triple-arched gate built in the early 18th century. To get to the lake, you folow walkways past the inevitable stern-faced guards (aren't cops the same wherever you go?) through a series of courtyards, terraces, sidewalks and gardens.

The Lake Palace was built around 1750 of marble. It sits on Jag Niwas island. It was built as a royal summer palace, but is now a five star hotel.

There are other palaces along the lake: Monsoon Palace, the Hindu Jagdish Temple, and Bohara Ganesh JI--a temple to Ganesh, where thousands of worshipers go every Wednesday.

One thing we noticed about Pichola Lake were numerous areas where people bathe and wash clothes.

Udaipur was named Best City of the World in 2009 by Travel & Leisure. On the more mundane side, it was also the site of much of the James Bond film "Octopussy," (you seem some pretty hilarious posters and memorobilia ariound that) and recently Darjeeling Limited was filmed there.
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