Romantic Udaipur

It’s said to be one of India’s most romantic cities and, after simultaneously suffering from Delhi belly in Pushkar, Luke and I needed some romance in our lives.

We stayed in the old city which has steps going down to a lake (known as a ghat in India) where there’s a beautiful floating palace that has been turned into a posh hotel. You may recognise it from the James Bond film Octopussy or The Exotic Marigold Hotel – one of the local tailors had a picture in his window of him with Dame Judi Dench which he was very proud of.

Me enjoying a lassi and some pakoras with Jagniwas Island, or the floating hotel, in the background.

The ghat looks dirty but many of the locals still go there to wash their clothes which they saturate with soap and then beat to death on the rocks. They also get naked (or at least down to their underwear) and wash themselves in it. I’m not really clear on India’s stance on nudity because I’ve been told to “cover your shoulders and legs” which I don’t mind doing but, when they get to a ghat, there’s boobs galore. Ah well, life is full of hypocrisies, especially in India.

Washing drying next to the ghat.

Probably the most romantic thing we did while there was go up to Monsoon Palace and watch the sunset which was extremely beautiful. The palace itself isn’t very impressive but the view at sunset is perfect.

And here's the beautiful view.

We spent a lot of our time relaxing and spent far too much time in Edelweiss coffee shop drinking tea and eating chocolate cake. To counterbalance this laziness we spent an afternoon doing a traditional Indian art class. Luke (who’s clearly got a better grasp of art than me) tackled a tiger and I drew a big fat elephant.

In Udaipur it pays to go to the other side of the lake away from the old town - we found a local artist called Lockey who only charged 50 rps (50p) per hour for his classes whereas Namaste Cafe charged 150 rps (£1.50).

To carry on with the culture, we went to watch a show of traditional dancing and entertainment at Bagore-Ki-Haveli which involved some pretty dances and some eccentric moments including a fantastic puppet show, which reminded me a bit of Punch and Judy, and a 70-year-old woman dancing with 12 bowls on her head. As our guest house owner said: "She’s very nimble for her age."

Crazy bowl lady - after this she added six more.

Our journey away from Udaipur back to Jaipur meant another sleeper train which can be hit or miss. Sometimes they’re glorious – friendly Indian families who smile at you – but sometimes they can be frustrating. On a recent one Luke, who was feeling ill, had a group of Indian ‘Lads on Tour’ below him who were drinking whiskey and talking VERY LOUDLY until gone midnight. At one point I poked my head through the curtain and told them to be quiet and turn the light off. They turned the light off but carried on giggling like children.

The attitude of men in India is causing me a few problems at the moment. Initially I decided to be quite submissive as it was easier to just let Luke deal with everything... that lasted about a week and I think I’ve blown! It's just not in my nature to be submissive.

Not all, but some, Indian men completely frustrate me. It’s not just the spitting, snorting, hocking up phlegm, weeing in the street and extreme amount of loud burping (although that’s obviously both annoying and disgusting) but the complete chauvinistic attitude shown by some of them. Quite often when I try to negotiate a price or say “no” to something they look at me like they can smell a fart and then get quite narked, whereas if Luke does the same it's all a bit of a fun game. 

It seems women aren’t allowed to express and opinion or show a man up. When I get really mad I just have to remind myself that India is a bit like 1950s Britain and things will change – and it’s not a one-woman crusade that I need to do alone in my nine weeks here!

More things we’ve learnt:

1. In India, someone will always be sat in your allotted train seat.

2. Cows can walk up stairs. Who knew?

USEFUL INFORMATION ABOUT UDAIPUR:

Accomodation: We stayed at Harsh Vilas in the old city near Gangaur Ghat. It’s clean and basic with no decent view but only cost 500 rps per night, harshvilas@hotmail.com.

Food: Cafe Edelweiss, 73 Gangaur Ghat is great for cakes and breakfast, while Jheel’s Roof Top Restaurant, 52-56 Gangaur Ghat, has a great view, tasty cheap food and the smiliest owner you’ll ever meet.

Getting there and away: We took the train from Ajmer (a 30-minute bus trip from Pushkar) which took around 4 hours. We left for Jaipur on a night train which took 8 hours.