Udaipur for Valentine's weekend 2010

Trains are the lifeline of India and obviously aside from the fast and easy to use airline system, its my preferred method of transport in India on a budget. Although they have a dedicated website for booking your train tickets http://www.irctc.co.in/ here in India understanding all the abbreviations is like learning a whole new language! Thanks to the assistance from a combination of my Lonely Planet guide, the IRCTC website and some other sites I found through google, I managed to work out that the WL letters I keep reading every time I was trying to book our tickets to Udaipur - it means there are no seat available that can be confirmed and you are on a waitlist if someone cancels which apparently is often. I later found out that if you do book these tickets the time the train is due to depart your name will be posted on a list that is glued to the outside of your train carriage - half of which are ripped because everyone is grabbing it to find their name whilst the train is still moving.


So as you can imagine I wanted to know that if I was making the effort to pack, book a hotel and get to the train station at 10pm at night I was on that damn train! So luckily we were recommended a travel agent and told that in India money talks and if we pay them a commission of 250 rupees he would get us a confirmed seat on the trips we needed. We parted with the money and were given a ticket that has computer printing but again said WL but he had handwritten our "confirmed" seats and carriage.


So off we headed with our trusty auto driver to the train station on Thursday night for our 10.20pm train which ended up being 2.5 hours late - thank you I got the worst cold ever from sitting on that damn concrete floor :( My last trip to India I remembered the whole finding your train carriage and walking in the train station quiet daunting, so this time I was mentally preparing myself in the auto of what we had to do.


Arriving at Jaipur Central was not that bad and there was even a huge board that had the daily train timetable hand-painted in both Hindi and English. We looked for our train number, time and what platform and then headed in. As we were walking along a little boy of around 7/8 years saw my lady bettle head pillow strapped to my backpack and came to have a pat - at that moment a security guard watching screamed out at him and slammed his big stick onto the concrete, which sent the little boy running and gave me an almighty fright too! In a way we thought well thats comforting that security guards are present and clearly watching whats going on. We found our platform then sat on the floor for the next 2.5 hours observing train life in India.


A random old guy came up and started chatting so we did the mandatory we cant see you or hear you stare hoping that he would go away as he was a little scary. Some boys nearby saw and called him away from us and then he staggered their way - the boys motioned to us that he was drunk and they tried to get rid of him but he just came back our way. Then out of no where comes another security guard in his khakee coloured felt looking uniform, mandatory moustache and stick and screams at the man dragging him away and bashing him with the stick around the corner. It was all a little scary and everyone just sat and stared - minus the bashing part we were impressed the security guards seemed to be keeping an eye out for their tourists which was greatly appreciated.


Finally our train arrived and we prayed we knew what we were doing - the sign overhead change to our train number and then would alternate between this and our carriage number as per our travel agents handwriting on the ticket. We climbed aboard the mad rush and realised that our seats were apart on opposite ends of the carriage - nothing we could do so we took them and waited for someone of the ticket guy to look at our dodgy tickets and kick us off. As our tickets were for "2nd AC" the carriage was ok - each berth had 4 bunks - 2 up, 2 down. Mine was up - so up I went and made my bed - they give you two sheets and dodgy old brown blanket and a pillow (that was far more comfortable than the sack at my homestay!). So the ticket man came along with this huge dot-matrix printed list - pages of A3 size, he takes your ticket and marks you off. A huge sigh of releif as he marks us off no problem. Then the lights went out in the cabin - yes I dont think I could handle it back home, but you have no choice here - and everyone went to sleep. To be honest it was the best night's sleep we have both had since arriving, except for the generous love of the AC vent that helped make my headcold worse.


We arrived into Udaipur station at 10am and everyone departed the train - we werent sure if the hotel had sent someone to pick us up as we didnt confirm so we thought lets get a rickshaw. I chose the most trustworthy face in the crowd (hilarious - trust and rickshaw usually are not suited for the same sentence in any country) he agreed on 50 rupee and we thought great because the hotel told us 250 rupee. Then as we walked off we saw the guy from the hotel holding up a sign with my name "Ms Kat" - damn - so off we went cursing ourselves for the overcharge but not letting it bother us too much.


Udaipur - the city of love - India's most romantic city that is frequented apparently by many of the stars of Bollywood for their honeymoons - just not that weekend that I could see! So we stayed at the Krishna Sri Niwas Hotel - a family run establishment that I would highly recommend for anyone wanting a nice stay in this city at a reasonable price. The location was on Lal Ghat within walking distance of most of the towns main attractions. I saw town as in comparison to Jaipur, this is pretty. Of course you will always have deafening car horns, mad drivers etc but it's a maze of lane ways you can walk up and down the hills to the little markets, City Palace, restaurants and Ghats.


We spent much of the first day exploring around town and me not feeling so crash hot so I was trying to con as many of the juice guys on the street as possbile to do me a fresh lemon or orange with no ice. We found the lovely Papu Juice's who promised no ice or water and even had the peeled oranges in the fridge which was a true winner in comparison to everyone else. We were lucky to be in town for the long weekend of Shiva celebrations, so watched the locals come up to do their pooja's at the main temple. It was interesting to observe - we sat inside the temple beside a group of old ladies in saari singing at the top of their voices to the shrine at the front of the temple. On my right there were a huge group of men all chatting and socialising and the old ladies were scolding them I am guessing for their talking and not singing perhaps? The men seemed to get annoyed so all got up and left - I thought it reminded me of Greek church - except perhaps the old ladies too would be gossiping instead of paying attention or singing their praises.

The shopkeepers and street hawkers in Udaipur seemed to get it when you said you were just looking which is just not normal for India! All day we walked past temples watching the locals come to pay their respects. Outside the temples are ladies with baskets of garlands in white and yellow of the marigold flowers just like they use for weddings. The locals were buying them and taking them in. At the main temple in town the stair case leading up was like a gauntlet of poor ladies with their stainless steel cups or bowls with a rupee inside shaking furiously as we walk past asking for our money. There was a heap of beggers also around the temple and so many that made me think of Slum Dog Millionaire - its like they have the token beggar sterotypes pimped out everywhere here.... the ones with blindness who had their eyes burnt (that freaks me out), those missing a leg or two, the old ladies, the kids with a rent a baby - its true after a while you become desensitized which I think I am at if they are out on the street. Actually this morning in Jaipur (sorry changing location for a second - this girl of around 12 years probably had the worst ever acting skills we have seen so far, once she saw her "sad" face was falling on deaf ears, she mumbled a few disgruntled words in Hindi and stormed off!

So back to Udaipur - that night we went up to the fort nearby to see a dance and music showcase of traditional Rajistahni folk dances. I had seen it all last time but its set in such a beautiful outdoor castle in the evening that I was really happy to see it again and this time made sure that I hung back to arrange a private dance class for the next day.

After the show we went hunting for a restaurant that our Lonely Planet guide made sound ok and from what we saw the food variety was not too exciting. We found our friend Papu down at the juicebar and he gave us directions across the bridge to the restaurant - everything was all light up with coloured fairy lights across the bridge, krisha chants blaring out of temples and one that we walked past even had a DJ and lighting system going off out the front!

Eventually we found the restaurant and it blew us away - what a gorgeous, super romantic, cosy and picturesque restaurant - one of my best in India so far. It's called Ambria and is situation at the back of the heritage hotel called Amet Haveli on the waters edge with spectacular views of the Lake Palace and opposite fort. The food ranged in price from 100 - 250 rupees per dish ($2.50 - $6 approx) and was to die for. I haven't eaten meat since arriving in India this trip so thought now is the time as it had a huge list of delicious Rajistani curries. We orderd a mutton Rajistani curry and a chicken curry, basmati rice and garlic naan along with a fresh lime soda. They had alchohol here but I'm not really a fan when I travel alone - even though I do like India's Kingfisher beer on a hot day. The ambience of the restaurant was fantastic - its all outdoors set under one massive old tree with candles on every table, a waiting area complete with a fire pit and live tabla and sitar musician - I was in heaven just needed my date instead of my female volunteer colleague! We rolled out of there very content from an amazing night that cost us $25!!!!

Next day we visited the city palace which was amazing - not to mention the massive stage they were setting up for a wedding this week with an expected 1500 + guests. There was one courtyard in particular that I just loved - it was made from sandstone and had trees and was surrounded by India's beautiful Mughal style archways that I would kill to have at home, plus what used to be a pool in the middle of the courtyard with lots of Lotus flowers chiseled into the sandstone. I really beleive that Royal families of today are getting ripped off when you see castles like this!

Later that afternoon I had my private lesson with the leading lady of the show we had seen the previous night. I arrived at 5pm outside the fort and was told to hop on the scooter with this young boy of around 15 who was driving me to her house - yes I sat Indian style with my legs both to the left even though they expected me to sit foreign style - it's just not pretty!

I met my teacher - in her 50's and unmarried - is this a professional dancers curse? Every successful dancer I know is unmarried or failed marriage - I know success comes at a price but really???? So she taught me a traditional folk dance all about the costumes you put on a camel - sounds odd but it was beautiful. If I can work out I will post it to my blog as I did video it. She was so sweet she even dressed me in a traditional costume when I danced it for the last time so I could feel like the real deal. I loved how each move I did correlated to the words and the tiniest hand actions meant things like sewing pearls, the ocean, my camel etc. I discussed the idea of coming back in Sept or Oct and studying with her to learn the balance the pot dances on your head and also the symbols dance - lets just survive this India trip first!

We had dinner at another hotel on Saturday night but it just didnt compare to our first night there so we promised that since the next night was our last and also Valentine's Day we were going back to Ambrai's! Sunday morning I had arranged with the owner of our gorgeous hotel to have a cooking lesson as she has made a purpose built kitchen where she conducts lessons - now this is my second "cooking lesson" when I travel and I think I have a new addiction - eating was always there but I really love learning how to cook different style foods and she gave us a great lesson on Indian spices. Its been creeping into my head that I would love to be able to own a little hotel with such a set up of course including dance classes for the guests! I'll have to perfect some dishes though! :) in class I made my first Chapati, Aloo Gobi (cauliflower and potatoe mild curry), Masala Chai and Paneer Masala. Then after our class we got to enjoy our cooked meals up on the hotels beautiful rooftop overlooking the Lake Palace - there was 5 of us in the class.

For the first time on this trip I went shopping and bought two gorgeous paintings in Udaipur as the city really does have some talented artists. So I bought one painting of an old Rajisthani man in traditional turban with his big moustache - it's very cool and the other one of the traditional miniture Maharajah style paintings with the scene of the prince going to the palace with his guardsmen.

All up we had a fantastic time in Udaipur both loving our hotel, the city, the food and people - we really didnt want to come back to our homestay but know its all part of the experience.
Another update coming soon about how the projects are going and our trip to the Taj Mahal this weekend! Namaste!