Around Udaipur

Oct. 10

We reached Udaipur the night before and so were ready to this morning. We had a really nice Rajasthani Thali for dinner at the hotel outside next to the pool. They served these big baskets of naan, paratha, and this special roti that was really good. Shrawan had suggested this place called Shilpagram that apparently Gandhi had started to preserve village culture. It was like a living history museum basically, and they brought tribal people and artisans for short periods to perform and sell their handicrafts. And they had recreated these traditional village architecture form areas like Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Goa. This retired professor was out guide and was explaining about the architecture. He was a funny guy and if you asked a question he was like, “just a minute, I will tell you.” The villages in Rajasthan used a lot of clay and cow dung to keep the bugs out. The doors were short to keep the sun out, and the compound they showed us was for multiple families living together. There was a building for weaving on the loom, and one used to keep foods cool. The walls were really thick on that one and the roof was really tall and there was ventilation underneath.
So then we were trying to figure out about the palaces to see, and the driver asked for directions to the Lake Palace, but it definitely wasn’t it! It was just a little lake! Finally we figured out where it actually was, but the Lake Palace in the middle of the lake is now a really, really expensive hotel and you can’t go in it. So we went to the City Palace instead. It again cost Rs. 200 to take your camera so we didn’t. There were lots of courtyards with fountains, lots of stairs and narrow passages, too. Then there were rooms decorated with all these colored mirrors, or colored tiles, or inlaid tile/enamel. This palace had actually been used up until the 50s because it was a princely state. Caryn had been to Udaipur before and said we could make it up to the Monsoon Palace if we got to the bottom gate before 5:30 so we hurried over there. It was this palace that had never been finished but it was up at the top of this big hill and was being restored or something, so there really wasn’t much to see in it. It was really just for the view which was amazing. We happened to get there in time to see the sun set!