Previously
I just spent a few days in Varanasi, exploring the spiritual side of India. Seeing rituals with bodies burned, ghats and ceremonies was definitely interesting and the city was non-touristic which I would later appreciate.
Arrival and Settling in Udaipur
I arrived in Udaipur from my flight and found a group of 5 from Alaska to split cabs with. The two guys in my cab were space astrophysicists. I found it kind of funny how worried and cautious they were. They had put on live location in both cabs, so they could track each other. Even for booking the cab, they wanted the prepaid and more expensive one for security reasons compared to using a cab just at the airport. The cabs couldn’t even drop us off at our places for some reason so we walked and split up soon after.
I got to my hostel and after checking in, I chilled on the rooftop which was really nice with a great view of some palaces and a lake. Unfortunately there were not many travelers up there but I finally had some meat; butter chicken! A traveler named Rory from Vancouver but lived in London talked to me, he’s doing 6 months in India and working for part of it but was winging it; definitely an interesting guy. I then went off to sleep but three Indians from my room were talking really loud outside in the common area which made it tough to sleep. Then at 3am they came in the room, continued talking really loudly and put the lights on! I couldn’t believe how rude they were and I was about to snap! I kept quiet though and wondered if this was an Indian thing to not be considerate of others.
The next morning the three Indians were still talking pretty early, I was ready to slap them. I got up and chilled on the rooftop a bit with breakfast before heading out. I went to a temple nearby called Jagdish temple; it wasn’t very big but inside the temple was singing and instrument playing with a really fun vibe and I got into it a bit too. I then went to a supposedly nice garden called Gulab Bagh and on the way I finally got Falooda! It’s a sweet Indian drink I had as a child so it was a bit nostalgic for me and it was tough finding it in India so far.
I got to the garden but it was nothing special, there were some kids playing cricket in an area, a small library and some roses in a garden. On my way out I saw lots of monkeys and one fighting with a dog which was pretty funny. There was a man feeding a bunch of monkeys too and it was fun just watching and hanging out with the monkeys. I then had some breakfast at a cafe and then checked out a ghat right by. I ran into a couple from my Varanasi to Udaipur flight also from Toronto. They’ll also be in Mathura and Vrindavan for Holi so I may run into them there.
Hostel Day Tour
I got back to my hostel for an Udaipur tour and I met three other travelers, Daniel from Switzerland, Rory who I met on the rooftop before and a guy from the Netherlands. It was really difficult to fit the four of us and the driver in a tuk tuk but we made it work. Our first stop on the tour was some lake which I found to be nothing special. Next was Animal Aid, a place that takes care of disabled and injured dogs, cows, donkeys and other animals. We had a tour and got to hang out with the dogs and cows and some even helped lifting up a cow!
We then went to Badi Lake, it was pretty with some nice architecture and we chilled there for a while. We then stopped at some art place which was really dumb, only Daniel and I checked it out. They showed us some art techniques and then tried selling us some art. We had a quick bite to eat, and then went to Monsoon Palace. The hostel receptionist and our tuk tuk driver told me to say I’m Indian for a way cheaper price at Monsoon Palace. I put on an Indian accent and bobbed my head and it worked! It was fun trying to pretend to see if I could get them to believe me and I saved a lot of money, so I’ll start doing that from now on when I can. We had to wait in line for a taxi to take us to the top of the palace. We eventually got there and there were quite a number of tourists, mostly Indians but it was a nice view for sunset.
Right after sunset we got back to the hostel and decided to get tickets for a famous folk dance for tomorrow. They ended up having an extra show tonight, so we went to that which was pretty entertaining, especially the puppet work. After the show we went back to the hostel for dinner on the rooftop before calling it a night.
Day 2
The next morning I was again woken up by one Indian guy in my hostel room, I think he was one of the three from before. First he was talking late at night, then he had an alarm go off at 3ish am and then at 4 am he was just listening to his alarm! I could see him awake and it wasn’t like he was sleeping through it so I told him to shut it off in a pissed off tone. I woke up for 5:40 am and walked to Karni Mata temple for sunrise. It was a decent walk with the last 20 minutes having a lot of stairs involved. The sunrise view was decent, nothing amazing but I had it to myself and it was calm which was nice. 20 minutes after sunrise more tourists came as I was leaving so it was great timing. I got back to my hostel and chilled and read on the rooftop. Daniel joined me and we had breakfast.
At 10:30 I went to City Palace which was the biggest attraction in Udaipur. Unfortunately I was not very impressed. Parts of it I found alright, but it was extremely touristy and got very annoying with people taking photos constantly and being crowded. I spent about 2 hours there before leaving.
Outside the exit I got a coconut and spoke with a local for a few minutes for a genuine conversation, but then he wanted me to go to his art store! It was sad I couldn’t just have a nice conversation with someone without a catch. I went to his art store since I felt bad and he showed me his art and how he makes it. He was really pressuring me to buy something but eventually I got out. I got the Falooda drink again from another place which was pretty good. I then got back to the hostel and chilled with Daniel. We played cards and then carrom, an Indian game where you knock checker-like pieces into pockets. I taught him how to play and then Rory joined us. We played that and cambio, a card game from South America which I taught them also. While hanging out, another traveler from the hostel named Mike came to us and said he was interested in joining us for our car ride to Jodhpur tomorrow. That made a full car for the four of us to Jodhpur to have a private taxi for the day.
By 5 pm Daniel and I checked out a boat tour for sunset but it was sold out, they said to come back at 5:45 to see if another boat goes. We went with Rory to the Falooda place from earlier today and I got a bhang Lassi this time. I didn’t really taste the weed, maybe since there was ice cream in this one. We went back and were told another boat wasn’t going. We then met up with a Belgian and German guy from our hostel and a rickshaw guy said he knew another boat ride for 300 INR and he would drive us there for 50 each. We were skeptical but we didn’t have to pay anything unless we got a boat ride so we had a really cramped rickshaw ride for 10 minutes with 4 guys in the back. We got to the boat place and can’t believe it’s legit, we even got it cheaper than the other boats! I tried for the Indian price, but it didn’t work since he saw me with other tourists so asked for an Indian ID.
The boat ride was nice for sunset and it would have been the same ride as the other boat. We got so lucky and it was all so spontaneous this happened! When we got off the boat, there was some photoshoot with one cute girl and one ugly one, it was pretty funny the pictures they were taking and the guy involved was really not into it. We then took two tuk tuks back into the city for dinner and this is when I started getting high from the bhang lassi. We went to a few places and then on the third we settled on a place with a rooftop for dinner. I got unlimited thali which was a traditional dish of Rajasthan. I went to sleep after because of the weed and the rest of the guys chilled on the rooftop.
Final Thoughts
Unfortunately, Udaipur did not meet the expectations that I had. What I mainly knew of the city was that it was known for its palaces and the main lake which was all beautiful to see (great view from the hostel!). Apart from that, I felt Udaipur was very touristy, with not a lot to do in the city and the great City Palace disappointed me. I had also thought there might have been some decent spots to party but that wasn’t the case. I at least thought the hostel would have been easy to meet travelers given the reviews but I found it to be quite difficult (only the one hostel tour let me meet a few). Overall Udaipur did not feel like “the real India” and unless you want to see some nice palaces, I would not recommend going.
Up next is our day road trip to Jodhpur in a private taxi, stopping at a fort and temple on the way!
Cruzin the World 