The City of Lakes

Lake Palace Hotel
Originally uploaded by susiebarber

So yesterday, I arrived in Udaipur, which is home to two major lakes and several smaller ones. It's a beautiful city down the in the south of Rajasthan. Unfortunately, they've had a couple of years of below average rain fall and lake levels are very low. It's a bit sad, because the photos I had seen show a much different city.

After arriving and a bit of a nap (I had a bad headache), Annan and I set out to watch the sunset over one of the lakes and strolled through a couple of parks. He was very amused to find that Indian kids come up to talk to me and several Indians ask to have their photos taken with me. He didn't believe me! He says it's because they are from areas of India that do not get western visitors, so it's very unusual for them to see blondes anywhere but on TV and movie screens.

Today, he dropped me off near the City Palace. I first visited a temple and then spent a couple of hours in the palace. There's plenty of photos on Flickr if you're interested. From the Palace, I got my first glimpse of the Lake Palace Hotel. This used to be the summer residence of the Majaresh, but has been converted to a swank hotel. I read in a couple of places that this was the inspiration for the Taj Majal. Personally, I don't see it. Whatever.

I did walk down to the lake and take a boat ride out to Jag Mandir island (another island in the lake). This was the Majarana's son's fortress when he was trying to overthrow his father many years ago. Not much was open to the public, but there was a very nice rose garden that all of you Portlanders should appreciate.

Back in town, I wandered around for a while before heading back to the hotel. Only one person tried to scam me and for the most part, I was left alone. It was refreshingly nice. I spent about 2 hours just meandering and looking!

I need to go back to my room now. The Olympic Madison race was happening when I came upstairs to get on the internet. They had cut away to soccer for a bit, but the race should be winding down now and I want to see the finish. I hate to rub it in, but I love watching the Olympics live.

In a bit, we're driving to the "Monsoon Palace" across the lakes. It's the tallest point around and has a wonderful sunset and light show. Tomorrow we leave for Jodhpur.