Udaipur - The Red City

Ok, the title of the post is factually incorrect, Udaipur is actually known as the white city (and the city of lakes or Venice of the East), but after sitting out by the pool reading books for a few hours, Sarah's legs and tummy are redder than Arthur Scargill's political views. In fairness I am feeling a bit of burn too, so we have been slapping on aloe vera gel like it is going out of fashion!

Today, has not been very productive as we are loathe to leave the lake palace, it is so lovely here, we have not availed them of half the services they offered (i.e. they have a resident astrologer who you can get a star chart from) but whilst Sarah was having an afternoon nap I popped out and got my requisite Udaipur fridge magnet!!

However, one thing we did was  have an early morning bike ride through the streets of the old city of Udaipur, which was very random, but a lovely way to get a feel for how people travel in India. The bikes were traditional Indian bikes, and the brakes on my one were a bit dodgy, but it was fine to pootle about stopping off at various places as the guide explained to us the way of life in Udaipur while dippng his hands into every shopkeepers stock and letting us taste, gratis, the various Indian delicacies they were trying to sell!!

Market in Udaipur, our guide kept grabbing foods for us to taste

The roads are narrow, but it was cool at that time of the morning and, because shops didn't open until about 11am, it was relatively quiet at that time of the morning (apart from Sarah moaning that i had woken her up as silly o'clock to go on this tour!!). It only took an hour and so we were home in time for breakfast, which we had out by the water garden. It is a feature of this hotel that you can tell then where you want your meals and they will set up a table and chairs and make it happen for you!

Sarah waiting for breakfast at the Lake Palace!

After breakfast we went and sat by the pool as I mentioned, before packing up our stuff ready for the early start tomorrow (up at 4am!). So, after 10 days of touring, we are finally leaving Rajasthan and heading to our final destination in Goa, where the pace of life (and this blog) will slow down, as there is not much to do there, apart from relax!

The Maharana's palace, as seen from our room!

But before that we sat and watched a traditional Rajasthani performance that the palace puts on every evening. It is clearly popular with the guests as the staff all set up lots of extra chairs to cope with the demand for seating. Sarah and I inadvertently stumbled upon this because we were at the bar when the performance was scheduled to begin, and we were captivated by the lady dancer.

Not only could she dance, but she could do it while carrying a load of pots on her head and then to make things a bit more of a challenge, she decided to stand on the rims of a couple of whiskey glasses (how on earth she found out she could do that will remain a mystery!) and then if that was not enough she decided to stand a couple of knife edges too!!

The woman who delivers the curry to your table.....;)

In all, I am sad to leave the Lake Palace, this place is the most amazing hotel I have ever stayed at, and that is purely down to the impeccable service! But now we are making our way down to Goa, via Mumbai. The Leela has a lot to live up tomorrow.