We arrived to Udaipur after spending the night on a sleeper bus. Luckily we were in the first set of bunks, so we did not get tossed around as compared to the back of the bus, we actually fit quite nicely with our packs and all. Thank goodness for portable music. Udaipur immediately proved to be was the most chilled out place thus far. Very good vibe, and it is where Octapussy was filmed!
We stumbled into a guest house at about 5:30 am, praying that they would have some rooms available… We crashed in a room until 10:00 am, changed to what has been the best room thus far, lake view, clean and white. But at 700 Rupees it was a little pricey. We were in the heart of the tourist hood, with loads of restaurants at our fingertips. We stumbled on a hotel with cooking classes, and were reeled in when the teacher gave us a taste of her cooking! Wow, by far the best Indian food we have had. Good thing wee tried the food, as the price of the cooking class was steep - $25 for 3 hour lesson, and lunch included, hey that is expensive for India! But it was so worth it.
We met a couple from Australia in Sudha Guest House, on the ‘other’ side of the river. Which proved to be even more authentic, with less hagglers and less stores. The cook at the Sudha guest house proved to be one of the finest that we have encountered thus far. Like almost all India kitchens that I have seen, there is only one burner, tucked into a room the size of a small closet. Yet the feasts that these little kitchens can produce are out of this world! Absolutely phenomenal.
The tuck shop owner who had to rub my shaved head – perhaps for good luck??? Its alright, Ananda didn’t seem to mind. The owner proved to be a good talker, we ended up buying an expensive bus ticket to go to Mumbai, and it proved to be a disaster, but we arrived, so that is what matters. We did discover some good toothpaste: “the best one” - according to the tuck shop owner - drew out attention as it is made from “the pure extract of the Meswak plant” hmm, sounds interesting. Hmmm, it is made from all natural ingredients. Cool. Hey, wait a second, it lists only the “key ingredients” well W.T.F. does that mean????
“Best Price!” Whenever you are buying something here, you hear that expression, well either that or “Best Quality!” I am going to go nuts when I get back home, there is no negotiating with that bloody interact machine, I wonder if the north American society would be better off with a little more negotiating? Yeah I think so, we would talk more!
I have seen many tanker trucks that say ‘Non-Flammable’ on the back. I think that the jury is still out on this one!
In Udaipur, it was so cool to see the old traditional irons that are heated with coals. WOW. It really takes you back to see the non-electric original way of doing things. Especially as night when there are people ironing on the side of the road, and you see to glow of the coals…
The street dogs in India for the most part are really chilled out dogs. It seems like the “shannti shannti” of the locals has worn off on the street dogs. They are completely passive, and look around to see if there is something coming that will cause them to relocate. I think that the relaxed nature of the people is due to the positive energy and that shows itself in the animals. Lets see if I keep this throughout the journey.
We caught a free Shakespeare play at the castle, it was reported to have a ‘mixed’ cast. But after thirty minutes of hearing prefect Shakespearian English, a local actor made an appearance and reminded us that we were in India. It was so awesome to be in an open courtyard sitting on small pillows on stone seats, watching an old play being preformed in the open air while stray dogs would wander around take a peek then go about their business. It must have been like this originally!
From Udaipur we headed to Mumbai. I will skip the Mumbai entry as we will be going back in about a month or so… So the next stop was Pune for two weeks.
We stumbled into a guest house at about 5:30 am, praying that they would have some rooms available… We crashed in a room until 10:00 am, changed to what has been the best room thus far, lake view, clean and white. But at 700 Rupees it was a little pricey. We were in the heart of the tourist hood, with loads of restaurants at our fingertips. We stumbled on a hotel with cooking classes, and were reeled in when the teacher gave us a taste of her cooking! Wow, by far the best Indian food we have had. Good thing wee tried the food, as the price of the cooking class was steep - $25 for 3 hour lesson, and lunch included, hey that is expensive for India! But it was so worth it.
We met a couple from Australia in Sudha Guest House, on the ‘other’ side of the river. Which proved to be even more authentic, with less hagglers and less stores. The cook at the Sudha guest house proved to be one of the finest that we have encountered thus far. Like almost all India kitchens that I have seen, there is only one burner, tucked into a room the size of a small closet. Yet the feasts that these little kitchens can produce are out of this world! Absolutely phenomenal.
The tuck shop owner who had to rub my shaved head – perhaps for good luck??? Its alright, Ananda didn’t seem to mind. The owner proved to be a good talker, we ended up buying an expensive bus ticket to go to Mumbai, and it proved to be a disaster, but we arrived, so that is what matters. We did discover some good toothpaste: “the best one” - according to the tuck shop owner - drew out attention as it is made from “the pure extract of the Meswak plant” hmm, sounds interesting. Hmmm, it is made from all natural ingredients. Cool. Hey, wait a second, it lists only the “key ingredients” well W.T.F. does that mean????
“Best Price!” Whenever you are buying something here, you hear that expression, well either that or “Best Quality!” I am going to go nuts when I get back home, there is no negotiating with that bloody interact machine, I wonder if the north American society would be better off with a little more negotiating? Yeah I think so, we would talk more!
I have seen many tanker trucks that say ‘Non-Flammable’ on the back. I think that the jury is still out on this one!
In Udaipur, it was so cool to see the old traditional irons that are heated with coals. WOW. It really takes you back to see the non-electric original way of doing things. Especially as night when there are people ironing on the side of the road, and you see to glow of the coals…
The street dogs in India for the most part are really chilled out dogs. It seems like the “shannti shannti” of the locals has worn off on the street dogs. They are completely passive, and look around to see if there is something coming that will cause them to relocate. I think that the relaxed nature of the people is due to the positive energy and that shows itself in the animals. Lets see if I keep this throughout the journey.
We caught a free Shakespeare play at the castle, it was reported to have a ‘mixed’ cast. But after thirty minutes of hearing prefect Shakespearian English, a local actor made an appearance and reminded us that we were in India. It was so awesome to be in an open courtyard sitting on small pillows on stone seats, watching an old play being preformed in the open air while stray dogs would wander around take a peek then go about their business. It must have been like this originally!
From Udaipur we headed to Mumbai. I will skip the Mumbai entry as we will be going back in about a month or so… So the next stop was Pune for two weeks.
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