Udaipur Diaries #Final Day

While I was sleeping there was a heavy down pour, so next morning I have decided to visit the Pichola Lake (apparently to check if the water level has increased).

The air was filled with the sweet fragrance of the incense stick (Agarbatti) and the resonance of morning chant reaching the ear from afar temple had mesmerized me. I stood there leaning on the railing & adoring the place for its astounding beauty. For a moment I felt that time has paused and there was peace everywhere and life seemed to be very pleasing. It was the most needed moment for me and I will cherish for the rest of my life.

Moti Magri was my next destination. Moti Magri because here the bronze statue of the Maharana Pratap with his favorite horse ‘Chetak’ is being laid down as a memorial. Also the significance of this place is that it overlooks the Lake Fathe Sagar (the receptionist had strongly insisted me to visit this place). So again I booked the app based auto-rickshaw headed towards Moti Magri.

The day being Monday and time past 10 am, we could seamlessly reach our destination in no time without encountering any traffic. Here again in Moti Magri, the same procedure follows as other places. Well, I took the pass and started to walk, although it was a steep road.

While i was heading towards the hilltop, these kids were suddenly came running from behind

Statue of Maharana Pratap riding Chetak

The best thing that i felt about this place is that it overlooks the lake Fateh sagar. Also one can view the solar observatory.

Lake Fateh Sagar

Apart from the beauty, the flow of cool breeze makes the place more romantic. Feels like a place that you would never want to leave.

Now i had no idea where to head next, i just booked an auto and asked him to pick me up. Some 10 mins later the driver came to pick me up, he asked me where i was heading to, but i explained him that i had no idea where to head, but i just knew that there was a place called Shilp gram nearby. He readily took me towards Shilp gram, also he started explaining the significance of the Shilp gram.

The auto driver was quite friendly and he explained about the palace with interest. Later he told me that he is a mechanical engineer by qualification and had a prosperous job, but due to some tragic accident he had to loose his job (I don’t remember what exactly happened) and now he earns his living by driving vehicle. Later he also took me for shopping.

Shilp gram is basically an arts and crafts complex. The village is the replica of the culture of the tribal people in the west part of the country. They display the typical Tribal houses, also cultural performance are carried out time to time.

You don’t have to visit the far flung areas to know the culture of Udiapur and Rajasthan as a whole. By visiting Shilp Gram one can get the sense and glimpses of the tribal community, their art and culture.

The driver turned tour guide took me to Lok Kala Mandal, which is a cultural institution where the folk art, culture,songs and festivals are studied and displayed as a museum.Of all the puppet show was the best they offered. They even show you how puppets are handled.

The day was short for me as i had my flight scheduled later in the evening. i had to cancel the idea of enjoying the cultural evening. So I asked the driver to drop me till my hotel and bid farewell to him.

I left Udaipur  rejoiced and motivated.

—-THE END—-

[I hope you all had a nice time reading my post. Stay tuned for more fun travel.]

Don’t forget to comment below.

     

Udaipur Diaries #Day 2

After visiting the City palace i walked around the old city (by old city i mean the places adjacent to lake Pichola). The roads are very narrow that some of the balconies, literally, lie hanging above the road. House doors open direct on the main road. So there is no question of drainage system. on that narrow lane, cows, donkeys and even horses are found loitering and littering too.

Little boy trying to pose while his mother was yelling at him.

As i was about to cross a mosque one little boy approached me to have click photo of him, as he was posing his mother yelled and demanded his immediate return. Poor kid he could not even see his pic. By now i was very hungry so I walked ahead looking for a restaurant.

The roof top restaurant had surprisingly dynamic view of the lake Pichola and the Fateh Prakash Palace Hotel and Jagmandir Island palace. In general the restaurants all over Udaipur serves multi cuisine including western dishes and surprisingly almost all the restaurants are located on the roof top. But options for booze are very selective, so you need to know exactly what to have before hand and chose your food destiny. Mind you that foods are quite expansive with decent quality.

After filling my tummy and little tipsy, i went back to hotel, enjoyed a Chinese horror movie about a devil on the cable TV provided in the hotel room…

 —***—

The next day i woke up with the warmth of sun rays peeped in through the window. I jumped out to the bed freaking out that i have wasted my morning hours, where i could have enjoyed the early hours enjoying the regal palace standing against the background of the gradual hills sipping hot Masala chai (Which I actually did next day).

I cleaned myself up and got ready for the day with a quick plan i.e. to visit the monsoon palace and other areas nearby. Here again Google came handy and super helpful. I would say, those who has got no plans Google has got one for you, so, Google it out. The monsoon palace is just 7 kms away from where I stay, i walked down the road to get an auto or may be taxi that would drop me till my destination.

 

It’s almost a common practice everywhere to ask for higher price seeing a foreign face. The tuk tuk (auto rickshaw) charges minimum of 100, if you are good at bargaining one could bring it down till 80. However to my surprise, the app based taxi provider comes much cheaper (cost me Rs. 76), although you have to wait a minimum of 5-10 minutes, but comparing the price its worth waiting. So having learnt the lesson the other day, I booked an auto rickshaw via app.

By the time I was leaving the hotel room it was almost noon and the traffic was horrible, moving at snail’s pace. Even if you try to be cool and being ok with the situation, the annoying noise of honking would definitely raise your adrenaline level and you are bound to get hyper and irritated. Apart from traffic one will encounter cows / Horses/ Donkeys loitering and littering on the street

After battling with traffic for about 20 minutes, slowly and gradually, we managed to come out of the traffic and soon the driver accelerated the vehicle jumping some red lights and leaving behind several vehicles, I was dropped in front of the entrance of the Monsoon palace (Sajjan Garh).

Monsoon Palace (also known Sajjan Garah Palace)

To reach the Monsoon palace one needs to get a pass first, after that you have two options whether to walk or to board the pickup vehicles. Walking would burn most of your calories as it requires hiking and boarding a vehicle would cost you Rs. 90. As the temperature was high with extreme humidity I preferred the vehicle.

View behind the Monsoon Palace

I went up with an impression that the palace would have lots of remains like that of the city palace but it was just an empty palace where even the guard was having his afternoon nap in the guard chamber. The palace was crowded with people from all over the place; groups, couples, families with their numerous families and few back packers.  But I should admit that the palace has 360 degree view of the entire Udaipur, I would suggest if you are in a hurry and want to view the entire Udaipur?  Grab a binocular / DSLR and just visit the Monsoon palace.

Left side Lake Fateh Sagar and to the right Lake Pichola

Beneath the hill (Where Monsoon palace is situated), there is Sajjan Garh Biological Sanctuary. Here again you need to get an entry pass and an option for the vehicle. I suppose those vehicles are for those who are ailing but want to visit palaces, but here people take it as a joy ride. Well I preferred to walk.  Damn! it was hot and humid walking on the concrete way by the thorny bushes where after a discrete intervals animals housed in their mini-habitat appears. I managed to say hello to all the animals in about half an hour and I was left with nothing but exhaustion.

Being tired I decided to have some good food, so went to a hotel that had nice ambiance and served delicious north Indian food.

All is well when you are fed well…

[Coming up on on DAY 3: View of Fateh Sagar Lake, Shilpgram: Rural arts and craft complex, Puppet show and about mechanical engineer rickshaw driver ]

Note: Please provide me with your valuable suggestions on my style of writing. 

 

Udaipur Diaries

Flight scheduled @ 5:30 in the morning.

Well I must admit that internet has made our life much easier; easy to book a taxi that picks you up from your door step and the advantage of web check-in where you can walk in like a king. Although I could not pretend to be one, sadly because, i had to seek assistance from the counter (as I was not sure which direction I was supposed to head to). Damn on me. As this was my first time travelling via Terminal 2.

I boarded the plane, took my seat. Till now everything was normal, I was happy as well as excited, my fellow passengers were enthusiastic. Some of the passengers were from abroad; I could read some Canadian travel group from the back of one of the T shirts the troupe members were wearing.

As the flight was moving towards the runway, it started to drizzle. Till now the overall view was fascinating and romantic. I plugged in my ear phone with a grin and tried to take the advantage of reserving the window seat.

The plane took off, piercing the dense cloud and flying forward –to put this in a very poetic manner, but suddenly the plane started to shake. All those exciting / happy feelings flew away in a friction of second and some inauspicious thought filled my tiny little mind. Kicking all those thoughts aside I joined the chorus of laughter with the co-passengers (while in group usually we don’t express fear). The plane kept shaking at discrete interval, my heart beat was faster than usual; outside it was completely engulfed with darkness, it was a completely bizarre experience for me. If the situation would have been prolonged for even a minute longer, I would have freaked out and started screaming (I guess).

View through the window

Once the plane was stabilized, the flight attendant started serving us with breakfast. I asked for a veg food, so I was provided with Idli, curry and Upma. I was just done with Upma when the attendant came in rushing and started collecting the food tray as we were about to land. She apologised that owing to the bad weather service time was delayed, thus, had to cut short.

Minutes before landing, I enjoyed the changing landscape, the majestic view that the country side offers, the movement of tiny little vehicles, even human are worth seeing and wondering what are they up to.

Finally, by 7:05 the plane landed at Maharana Pratap Airport in Udaipur. As usual people were in rush to jump out of the plane, even though the doors were not open. Well, one thing that I have noticed about the foreign travellers is that they wait till the gang way gets cleared. One might argue that because they have giant bags to carry and wait for, so they take all the time they can afford to. But what about our Indian families whose luggage’s are often so huge that they use two trolleys? I leave this onto readers to come up with their own satisfying conclusion.

I had a hotel booked in the heart of the city through my friend. But I was not sure how to reach there. Well these days Google and its magical apps come to your rescue readily. The only thing that distant you from Google is the data pack. Well I had a data plan, so Google was a good companion of mine here. Mr Google informed me that the distance between the airport and the hotel was 22 kms. I had no other option than to book a taxi. The option for booking a taxi at the fingertip was void here as no taxis were available so I had to opt for prepaid taxi booking. The prepaid taxi cost me Rs. 600 to reach the hotel,  where as it cost only Rs. 358 for 32 kms here in Mumbai.

Since it was early hours in the morning, the traffic was easy to evade and drive through the narrow lanes of the old city. The taxi dropped me at the door step of the hotel in about half an hour.  I checked in the hotel. The hotel had a nice panoramic view of the Lake Pichola and the City palace of Udaipur, is this resulted into the name of this hotel? (I guess so)

The tiredness of early morning flight and taxi travel had driven me intensely towards the bed. I dozed off for more than 3 hours. As soon as I woke up, I took shower, rushed to the restaurant upstairs and ordered for something to eat. The cold water shower, the broad day light and the magnificent view of the old city had refreshed me, and I looked forward to explore the city.

After making a quick query from the receptionist I took the road and started walking. It took me just 15 mins to reach the City palace. The roads heading towards the palace are quite narrow, In fact, the entire old city has the same dimension which i realized later on while i was walking across the old city.

To highlight in brief:

• Built by Maharana Uday Singh II, the palace displaces artist’s marvel. The delicate mirror  and marble work ,colorful glass mosaics and silver work.
• If one goes to the tip of the palace on one side you can view the entire cityscape. And on the other side the floating palace, Hanuman ghaat (lakes) and even the Monsoon palace.
• The palace is located very strategically, from defense point of view and also for the aesthetic view.
• It takes minimum of half an hour even if you simply browse through (meaning skipping the details provided for every items / pics/ utensils / war gadgets and even story behind each room, doors and windows).

It appears to me that the mountains are embracing the entire city. The entire view is very soothing and mesmerizing. The cold breeze tickling the body and the majestic view of the landscape could give anybody a goose bumps, or say,  could calm one’s mind, body and Soul (Provided you can ignore the murmuring crowds behind you).

The view during day and night are magnificently different. One has to have both the views Otherwise no point visiting such a beautiful place.

[More to come: About the food; Visit to Monsoon Palace; Zoological Garden; Panoramic view of Fateh Sagar lake, Pichola Lake and many more]

Note: This is my first blog post, so, please provide me with your valuable comment/suggestion. What ever comes to your mind.