Our second day in Udaipur was just as fantastical, and jam-packed, as the first. We started off the morning by eating at a delicious little hole-in-the-wall cafe called "Edelweis Cafe." As we were finishing our meal, we heard the beating of a drum and the sound of what sounded like a parade coming. Within moments, there were what seemed like hundreds of women dressed in brightly colored sarees following the march of a drummer down to the water's edge (near our cafe). Several cows were walking with the women too (pretty funny to see). It was so strange though, because many of the women had these clay pots with green grass growing in them held on top of their heads; the women's eyes were closed and their heads were moving in a circular motion as if they were in a trance. It was very odd. Everyone watching from that cafe thought that the dopey-looking women were drugged on something (opium maybe?) Wanting to know more, I hurried down to the waterfront to see what was going on. It was a wedding. Anuj and Shirien said that different areas of India had different rituals and traditions, and neither one of them had seen this before either. I will never forget it.
After breakfast we took a rickshaw to see the Royal Vintage Car Collection. While I am not a car person (I'm a shoes and dresses person), the cars would have been very exciting for anyone who even slightly enjoys cars. Most memorably for me was the Rolls Royce Phantom from the James Bond "Octopussy" film. Then the four of us killed some time by taking another boat ride to a little beautiful park-island. We walked around for about half an hour before returning to our driver, and heading to a little village called Shilpgram, where local nomadic Indians put on demonstrations for visitors about all-things Indian-culture related (painting, weaving, dancing, singing). I usually don't like places like that, but it was great. My favorite part of the village was when I wandered off and talked with an Indian man about the granddaughter-grandmother duo who were painting a wall and spoke zero English or Hindi (only their local language). This man asked me right away where I was from, and when I told him that I was from America he responded by saying "I thought you were from Israel" :) This man then went on to tell me that he's from the Indian/ Pakistani border, and that tensions are really high there. He said that the Muslims are really terrible to the Hindus, and that the Hindus who are on the Pakistan side of the border are very persecuted, and that Hindus in Pakistan are not allowed by Pakistan's Muslim government to sell their land in order to move to India (so they are trapped). I had no idea about this.
After Shilpgram, the four of us headed back in our car and headed up to the mystical Monsoon Palace. The drive was literally up to the top of a mountain...incredible. I am so lucky that I was with Anuj and Shirien, because they speak Hindi and have been here before. Melissa and I didn't ever need to worry about negotiating prices or doing anything...it was awesome haha.
Anuj had made reservations at the exclusive Lake Palace for dinner, but when we showed up at the boat launch to get there none of the staff had his reservation marked down (even though we'd already called several times). Finally, Shirien put her food down and told Anuj to "give me your phone. This is ridiculous." It turns out (drumroll) that Anuj had made reservations for a "Lake Palace" in Kerala (a plane ride away to Southern India hahaha). So we headed back to our hotel area. Once back near our hotel, Melissa and Shirien went to a cultural center called Bagore-Ki-Haveli to see a traditional Udaipur-style dance. Anuj and I opted to take a walk to our dinner restaurant, stopping along the way to buy some oranges and to look at some pretty cows. We also found and tried my favorite "lamud" fruit from Thailand...it was smaller and rounder than in Thailand though :) At our Italian restaurant, Savage Garden, we ordered some delicious dishes (some of which were fully cooked, others not so much). For dessert we ordered "ice cream with tulip." I was so excited to eat an edible tulip, but it turned out to just be a crunchy waffle shell. What a disappointment! The whole rest of the trip we joked about (me) eating flowers from neighbors gardens, centerpieces at weddings and restaurants, bite marks on flowers, and having a refrigerator full of stolen tulip blossoms. We literally died laughing about it on the flight from Udaipur back to Delhi. Then I lucked out and got three brownies because Anuj was sitting next to a Diabetic!
The next morning we only had an hour or so to browse around the charming (magical) streets of Udaipur. We stopped into a fantastical puppet shop (I still have dreams about this little shop) and into a beautiful journal store that carried one of a kind camel-leather-bound journals (I bought three!) I especially loved the puppet store because it appeared to be a few generations of family members working there, and there was a 3 or 4 year old girl there. Her Dad? demonstrated one of the puppets dancing for us, and there were even reversible puppets! Can you imagine how fun it must be to be this little girl growing up in a puppet shop?!
Back in New Delhi for the afternoon, Anuj, Melissa, and I went out with Sagar (Shirien's little brother) for the evening to Khan Market. There was really great shopping, but not so great prices. Then we went out for some famous kababs and mutton! Yum.Town. Then onwards for 2 for 1 happy hour drinks (no shisha womp womp), and, finally, Bowling. Sagar scored 3 strikes in a row in his last turn. Good thing I wasn't partners with Anuj or Melissa! I, on the other hand, bowled a whopping 39!
I just arrived in Sri Lanka after spending the past 29 hours in the hospital in Thailand with a bacterial infection (feeling much better now!) I am way behind on my India posts, and I'm hoping to catch up as soon as I can! Enjoy these leftover Udaipur pictures :)
After breakfast we took a rickshaw to see the Royal Vintage Car Collection. While I am not a car person (I'm a shoes and dresses person), the cars would have been very exciting for anyone who even slightly enjoys cars. Most memorably for me was the Rolls Royce Phantom from the James Bond "Octopussy" film. Then the four of us killed some time by taking another boat ride to a little beautiful park-island. We walked around for about half an hour before returning to our driver, and heading to a little village called Shilpgram, where local nomadic Indians put on demonstrations for visitors about all-things Indian-culture related (painting, weaving, dancing, singing). I usually don't like places like that, but it was great. My favorite part of the village was when I wandered off and talked with an Indian man about the granddaughter-grandmother duo who were painting a wall and spoke zero English or Hindi (only their local language). This man asked me right away where I was from, and when I told him that I was from America he responded by saying "I thought you were from Israel" :) This man then went on to tell me that he's from the Indian/ Pakistani border, and that tensions are really high there. He said that the Muslims are really terrible to the Hindus, and that the Hindus who are on the Pakistan side of the border are very persecuted, and that Hindus in Pakistan are not allowed by Pakistan's Muslim government to sell their land in order to move to India (so they are trapped). I had no idea about this.
After Shilpgram, the four of us headed back in our car and headed up to the mystical Monsoon Palace. The drive was literally up to the top of a mountain...incredible. I am so lucky that I was with Anuj and Shirien, because they speak Hindi and have been here before. Melissa and I didn't ever need to worry about negotiating prices or doing anything...it was awesome haha.
Anuj had made reservations at the exclusive Lake Palace for dinner, but when we showed up at the boat launch to get there none of the staff had his reservation marked down (even though we'd already called several times). Finally, Shirien put her food down and told Anuj to "give me your phone. This is ridiculous." It turns out (drumroll) that Anuj had made reservations for a "Lake Palace" in Kerala (a plane ride away to Southern India hahaha). So we headed back to our hotel area. Once back near our hotel, Melissa and Shirien went to a cultural center called Bagore-Ki-Haveli to see a traditional Udaipur-style dance. Anuj and I opted to take a walk to our dinner restaurant, stopping along the way to buy some oranges and to look at some pretty cows. We also found and tried my favorite "lamud" fruit from Thailand...it was smaller and rounder than in Thailand though :) At our Italian restaurant, Savage Garden, we ordered some delicious dishes (some of which were fully cooked, others not so much). For dessert we ordered "ice cream with tulip." I was so excited to eat an edible tulip, but it turned out to just be a crunchy waffle shell. What a disappointment! The whole rest of the trip we joked about (me) eating flowers from neighbors gardens, centerpieces at weddings and restaurants, bite marks on flowers, and having a refrigerator full of stolen tulip blossoms. We literally died laughing about it on the flight from Udaipur back to Delhi. Then I lucked out and got three brownies because Anuj was sitting next to a Diabetic!
The next morning we only had an hour or so to browse around the charming (magical) streets of Udaipur. We stopped into a fantastical puppet shop (I still have dreams about this little shop) and into a beautiful journal store that carried one of a kind camel-leather-bound journals (I bought three!) I especially loved the puppet store because it appeared to be a few generations of family members working there, and there was a 3 or 4 year old girl there. Her Dad? demonstrated one of the puppets dancing for us, and there were even reversible puppets! Can you imagine how fun it must be to be this little girl growing up in a puppet shop?!
Back in New Delhi for the afternoon, Anuj, Melissa, and I went out with Sagar (Shirien's little brother) for the evening to Khan Market. There was really great shopping, but not so great prices. Then we went out for some famous kababs and mutton! Yum.Town. Then onwards for 2 for 1 happy hour drinks (no shisha womp womp), and, finally, Bowling. Sagar scored 3 strikes in a row in his last turn. Good thing I wasn't partners with Anuj or Melissa! I, on the other hand, bowled a whopping 39!
I just arrived in Sri Lanka after spending the past 29 hours in the hospital in Thailand with a bacterial infection (feeling much better now!) I am way behind on my India posts, and I'm hoping to catch up as soon as I can! Enjoy these leftover Udaipur pictures :)
A woman carries some big bowls on her head; blue shutters.
Cows! Look at the black one's hump!
View from breakfast :)
View from breakfast...other direction!
Anuj likes to order dessert first. Just like me!
Shirien, Melissa, Anuj
Do you see the bowl of ketchup?!
A drummer?!
Suddenly a very intriguing, unusual "parade" marched by
Many women were spacily holding silver jugs with
grass growing from them on top of their heads
(We later found out this woman in the middle is the bride!)
Many others marched alongside them
The whole thing was strangely wonderful, and lasted
for about 10 minutes
COW
COWS!
The wedding party marches down to the water
This woman collapsed and looked totally out of it...
It was kind of scary
Women kept collapsing!
The ceremony near the water
Rajastan wedding ceremony
The wedding guests!
Such beautiful colors!!!
I loved this so much.
INDIA!!!
So amazing. I wish I knew what was going on!
The groom flicking water onto the grass
The guests sit and watch
So nice
Then there was this little group sitting in the shadows
of a nearby building
Dogs and Door
(Different) Dogs and Door
(I'm a sucker for these shots)
Rolls Royce
Some vintage cars
An old school bus!
It was a Chevy!
'Merica!
I don't know what this car is, but here I am with it!
Melissa and a mechanic who worked there and loved cars
Don't know what this is, but it's cool!
Cleaning the car
Whoah...underneath the car!
Don't know what this one is either but I like the colors
The Palace Udaipur Vintage and Classic Car Collection
Charcoal corn!
Camels!
A pretty yellow flower on the small island we went to for a bit
Traditional performance at Shipgram
What is different from this picture and the last one?
She has bowls on her head an a knife in her mouth!
Making a blanket!
Painting a wall!
The girl on the left kept smiling at me. Her grandma is on the right.
Monsoon Palace!
Majestic, right?!
In the clouds :)
PURPLE water lilies
Me
Trying to be artsy
Me and Anuj
That's a nice picture
Kitten!
Looking down on Udaipur from the palace
(Also, there were monkeys when you looked directly down!)
Turret!
Do you see me?
An Indian police man opens some kind of trap door
(Maybe for water drainage?)
Shirien
Me
Me again
One of my favorite pictures from the whole trip :)
I waited for so long for this annoying family of 3 to move
from this turret so that I could get the perfect picture haha
I got it!
I'm a princess in a castle in India!
On a balcony at dusk
Quickly exploring some of the grand empty rooms upstairs
Feeling a little bit like Rapunzel
I would love to wake up to this every morning.
So cool- I bet that the view hasn't changed much :)
An old graffiti-ed door with and a cool lock
Time to go to the Lake Palace for dinner...NOT
(Sorry Anuj only joking :))
A building near the palace
Sunset
Back in town: A cool shrine of sorts...it's a couple
of silver-painted "people" rocks!
How many dogs do you see?
This cow just wants to be part of the conversation!
In the kitchen at Savage Garden
I spy...tulips!
Pumpkin soup
I really like this Dog & Door picture
Different angle
A little closet-shop. So cute!
Puppet shop!!!
I really liked this one until Anuj told me it looked like a voodoo doll.
I love how the eyes and nose are little jeweled beads!
This man was working in a puppet :)
The little girl!!!
Anuj drifting into airplane sleep hehe
Food on the flight back to Delhi
The "Sky Chef" packet says "Mumbai- New Delhi" :)
Garfield! The friendly fat orange cat who let me pet it at Khan Market
Budweiser's in Delhi
(And my cool elephant-painted thumb!)
Sagar, the stud, and me.
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