The Venice of the East - Udaipur
Udaipur's claim to fame is a fancy hotel palace in the middle of its lake. The 1983 James Bond film "Octopussy" was filmed there and people just seem to hold on to that for all its possible commercial potential. It was in Udaipur that we first began discovering a form of Indian painting which is quite extraordinary. Traditional themes are depicted in the finest of finest hand-painted detail on small mounted pieces of silk or specially treated paper. The pigment used to create these masterpieces is made by the painter from rock minerals which he/she grinds and combines with gum resin and water. The paint is applied by using a super small paint brush made of squirrel hair.
We stayed in a cute room for 2 nights - our view of the Octopussy hotel was great. The city is also called the "Venice of the East". Janine took the opportunity to brush up on her Indian cooking skills. A couple of hours was spent in a cooking course where Janine learnt one-on-one how to make a couple of her favourite Indian dishes. We both feasted on the produce of her labour for lunch. Otherwise Udaipur is again a desert town with a holy lake and the lake is again lined with ghats (washing platforms or steps leading into the water). We walked around, took photos and noticed some very elaborately designed Jain temples. We also went through the resident palace museum - lots of the typical gaudy relics of the Indian bygones - very interesting to explore! We did some more shopping as well - of course.
Culture shock: Wherever we go in India the rooms are usually fitted with a variety of light bulbs and fixtures (with corresponding rows of light switches) to choose from. All these rooms, however, have had all but one or two of these light bulbs removed - probably for power saving. Which brings us to another culture shock - scheduled power cuts are a normal everyday thing - in Udaipur, for instance the power is out from 9:00 to 11:00 everyday. All internet cafes keep their computers switched off until a client arrives - very annoying.
We stayed in a cute room for 2 nights - our view of the Octopussy hotel was great. The city is also called the "Venice of the East". Janine took the opportunity to brush up on her Indian cooking skills. A couple of hours was spent in a cooking course where Janine learnt one-on-one how to make a couple of her favourite Indian dishes. We both feasted on the produce of her labour for lunch. Otherwise Udaipur is again a desert town with a holy lake and the lake is again lined with ghats (washing platforms or steps leading into the water). We walked around, took photos and noticed some very elaborately designed Jain temples. We also went through the resident palace museum - lots of the typical gaudy relics of the Indian bygones - very interesting to explore! We did some more shopping as well - of course.
Culture shock: Wherever we go in India the rooms are usually fitted with a variety of light bulbs and fixtures (with corresponding rows of light switches) to choose from. All these rooms, however, have had all but one or two of these light bulbs removed - probably for power saving. Which brings us to another culture shock - scheduled power cuts are a normal everyday thing - in Udaipur, for instance the power is out from 9:00 to 11:00 everyday. All internet cafes keep their computers switched off until a client arrives - very annoying.
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