Udaipur in September
One of the great positives of Bandra, our suburb in Mumbai, is that it is close to the airport. Now normally this is not a selling point for a suburb but Mumbai always questions orthodox thinking. The reality is that the noise of the planes is drowned out by the traffic noise, continuous honking, fireworks, marching bands, ceiling fans, air conditioners and poor plumbing that are a fact of life in Mumbai. The best thing about being close to the airport is that it is quick, easy and cheap to escape Mumbai. For your sanity it is always healthy to be planning you next escape.
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| View from the City Palace |
Our first escape post-monsoon was to Udaipur, a popular tourist city in Rajasthan with some friends and their two children. We were travelling with Ada as Lucy had conveniently scheduled herself a Badminton tournament in Delhi. The lengths teenagers will go to to escape their parents!
Udaipur is built around several lakes, hence the name the “Venice of the east”, and was designed as a capital city in the mid 16th century. The center pieces of the city are the City Palace, Lake Palace and Monsoon Palace which the reigning Maharaja rotated through depending on the season. Udaipur is also known as thewhite city with its use of white marble in the palaces and other buildings complementing other Rajasthani cities such as Jodhpur (Blue City) and Jaipur (Pink City).
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| And still the water is used for everything... |
But the best thing after the smoggy, damp and steamy monsoon of Mumbai was the warm and dry air and the sweet smell of cut grass that you encountered after disembarking the aircraft. Our spirits were instantaneously lifted, reminding you that there is more to India than Mumbai.
We stayed a short distance out of town at a well appointed 4 star hotel which catered well for the three small kids. Wandering though the city gave you a good understanding of the grandeur of India from this period and the views at night were stunning. We were fortunate enough to have a local who volunteered help orientate us to the city. He was an ex Armani model/Brahmin friend of Kate’s yoga instructor who was renovating a Haveli (a private mansion according to Wikipedia). Sounds exotic doesn’t it! Needless to say, he ensured we saw the best of Udaipur given our limited time an considering that our three short friends had developed a strong attachment to the hotel pool.
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| Devi Gargh |
A short and terrifying car ride out of Udaipur took us to a lunch at Devi Gargh a 17th century palace converted to luxury accommodation. The view, we were told by our friend was reminiscent of Greece (but with a better economy). The peaceful atmosphere for the paying guests was interrupted by the three kids while we sat on a balcony lounging on day beds enjoying a good lunch.
A great three days of drying out our spirits and wetting our liver’s left us eager to return to visit more of Rajisthan.
