Udaipur- like Venice in Rajasthan, India

Udaipur- like Venice in Rajasthan, India

Wow, did I not post since Pushkar? I wrote a blog in Jaipur once and when I clicked submit, my booked internet time had run out, so that one disappeared.
Meanwhile I have been in Bundi, following the footsteps of Rudyard Kipling, a nicely quiet place after Pushkar, and then 2 days and three nights in Jaipur (see photo album). Oof, Jaipur- two days of sightseeing tours, and I could not take in another palace today! But Amber Fort, Gaitor and the Palace of the Winds are nice. The more my guide told me about the life of the Indian queens, the more I felt sorry for them.
Each Maharaja had either 3, 12 or even 23 wives (the 23 included concubines) and it seems, male jealousy and possessiveness knew no bounds in the old days of India. Noone was allowed to see the faces of these women, and therefore, the wives were never allowed to go outside. They had to stay inside the palaces, view the world through darkened curtains, and could not even walk freely, as they were each decked out in 13kg of clothes and another 3,5kg of jewelry and were driven around in wheelchairs inside the palace. When I asked, how they spent their days, I was told:"The Maharaja visited them in their rooms."...
This morning I took the early morning flight on Jet Airways at 7.15am and thus had a whole day to spend in Udaipur. Now I feel like, I wish I had kicked the last three cities off my itinerary and come straight here. This city is a white dream! Clean, well kept, all the houses look unbroken, all is painted in radiant white, and the best, there is a large, romantic lake with a white palace in the middle! I love it here. And it is green! Sooo green! I have not seen green like that since I came to Rajasthan. I took a boat tour on the lake and felt like I was on the Lido in Venice, Italy. And I was not the only one, the Australian couple felt like that too. And now I have finally done my shopping and am the proud owner of two Punjabi suits and three pairs of silken Aladdeen pants, the ones that look like a skirt closed at the bottom, with two elastic footholes on the corners. They looked so cute, I took all three. Also got some beautiful jewelry. And am staying in the nicest hotel ever, the staff is really sweet and help[ful, and it has a pool- Mahendra Prakash on Lake Palace Road. I feel like I shold come back in winter and spend a week just in Udaipur.
Tomorrow I am headed for Delhi and home.
Hope you enjoyed my India travel blog series.

Fri, September 25, 2009 - 9:22 AM —