Well there was no question about it now, we were now drifting our way across the northern regions of India. We rolled our sleeves up and dug in as best we could; ready to soak up every ounce of mother India. Our experiences in Delhi left us itching for more, but some place out of the city and a bit more laid back. Udaipur would hopefully be that place for us.
Udaipur Lake!
Enjoying delicious Chai!
Located in textile rich region of Rajasthan, Udaipur should sound familiar to all the 007 fans out there. Still haven’t figured out which Bond movie was filmed here? … Octopussy, and you can’t go five minutes of conversation without a local telling you about it. Yes the great Roger Moore once walked the streets of Udaipur but besides Hollywood fame, it has much to offer. It is a charming city with several lakes that fill up once the rainy season has come. Lucky for us, our hotel was right on one of them. We had a nice area for delicious Chai tea with pillows and a large window looking out at the lake.
Cow ready to boooze!
We waited until the afternoon to explore though. It is just TOO hot to attempt it, especially with all the extra clothing i have to cover up in! As we were walking, we noticed the cows everywhere! Walking in the middle of the street,hanging outside shops and lounging around in the shade! But also goats, chickens, dogs and donkeys! Kids would come chasing us down the street to chat with us and try to get a ruppee or a pen out of us. After much confusion about the pens, someone finally told us tourists starting giving children pens to use at school….we liked that idea!
It was also kind of surreal seeing all the women cleaning their clothes in the lake. They would dump them in, then slap them really hard again the ground… like they were hitting the dirt out of their clothing! Every evening they did this while the kids played in the water.
Upscale Indian shop!
Brad found himself a super Indian outfit and looked handsome as ever in it! Eventually i followed suit with some outrageous pants and an appropriate-for-temples top. Happy with our new outfits, we spent the next few days wandering around the town and taking everything in again. We noticed all the street food but were a little skeptical to try it still. One man stopped to talk to us and we ended up on the back of his motorbike to see his fancy shop. Luckily he was being honest and actually had a boutique. After serving us Chai and showing off his designs, we eventually left unable to buy anything 
We were lucky one night to catch a glimspe of and Indian wedding. The kids were all adorable and the brother of the bride came and chatted us up for a bit. It was nice talking to someone who wasn’t trying to sell us anything! Although the kids were trying to get something out of us!
Just the girls!
Just the boys!
There wasn’t too much sightseeing to do in Udaipur; a couple temples, the city palace, and lots of shopping. When we did leave, we had bought too many tapestries, but left with a great feeling of the culture. We still had not been completely engrossed in it yet, but liked what we were seeing. Our next stop was Jaipur.
Temple and tapestries!
Walking into the hotel in Jaipur was the first upset that led to it NOT being our favorite city. The people were more than unfriendly and our room wasn’t the best, not did it smell it. It seemed quite dull, no pretty buildings or temples in close sight, no greens, lots of construction. Ok… i know it’s India, but Udaipur was still nice to the eye, and maybe it was thanks to the lake!
Not the cleanest place...
Monkey Temple!
We set up to get a tuk tuk driver for the day to take us to the Monkey Temple, Water Palace, and a couple other destinations. It turns out, there isn’t much to see in Jaipur. I went into the planetarium by myself. It was supposed to be free on Mondays, but apparently no longer. It was kind of cool, but not something i would do again …. Brad didn’t miss out on much haha! We expected the water palace to be way cooler than it was……which is a palace flooded with water that you look at from afar! Lol!
Planetarium
Throughout the day, our driver kept trying to take us to these shops and we kept telling him we didn’t want to! Then he was straight up with us and said he gets 30 ruppees for just taking us somewhere, plus commission if we buy something, so can we please just go and pretend to be interested! hahaha, we went with it in exchange for a cheaper fare! We ended up buying a beautiful tapestry too, so he really got hooked up!
Still empty!
On our way to the train station, we did have quite an experience. Brad and I were walking down the road trying to negotiate with tuk-tuk drivers for a fare, when this really cool-looking Indian man riding a bike turned around to help us. He suggested that we take the local bus, because it drives right by where we were, AND it is only 7 ruppees each (15 cents) as opposed to 2 bucks! It was quite an experience! At first it was quite spacious, but as the ride went on, it became PACKED! There Brad and I were with our massive backpacks and tons of Indian eyes on us! hahah, it took almost 2 hours by the time we got off…. running to catch the train that ended up being 3 hours late!
When it was time to leave Jaipur, we were quite pleased, not only to get out, but because the next stop was Agra to see the TAJ MAHAL!!
It took us a little bit to get the conversion down while we were shopping too, 45 rupees to 1 dollar. We didn’t end up going into the center because we were going to stay a couple days. However when Kaushik got home from work, he told us that tomorrow was the verdict after 16 years of waiting to decide a fight between the Muslims and the Hindus, for a mosque or a temple. Apparently there was super increased security because they were expecting some outrage and crime… so unfortauntely we decided we had to leave Delhi tomorrow.
After eating at a yummy Italian restaurant where it was soooo nice to have a delicious Caesar Salad…. Courtney and her friend took us to this “underground pub” called
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