Besides the beautiful palaces and forts, my favorite thing about Udaipur was the lake…and the fact that we had a great view of it from our hotel! Eating dinner at the rooftop restaurant gave us an amazing view of all the palaces, the lake and the sunset. There was a “cool” breeze off the lake too which felt amazing in the million degree heat.
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| Alex and the City Palace from the roof of our hotel |
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| A view of the sun setting by the Monsoon Palace |
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| City Palace is lit up at night |
I also really liked just wandering the streets in Udaipur. The traffic was a bit nuts (cars, motorcycles, autorickshaws, people, and cattle) so we tended to walk around in short intervals to avoid going completely insane trying not to get run over. Our forays for souvenir shopping, sightseeing, and coffee shops led to some great people/animal watching.
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| Roadblock |
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| Traffic in Udaipur |
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| There were lots of murals on the sides of buildings |
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| All around the lake are these “ghats” which have stairs leading down to the water. Different ghats are typically used for different activities. From our hotel we could see the swimming/bathing ghat across the way and this ghat right next to our hotel was where people came to do their laundry. |
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| Women at this construction site were carrying rocks in bowls on their heads to add to the cement mixer. It was interesting that the women were doing the heavy lifting while the men were working to mix and spread the cement. |
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| The pots this woman is carrying are ceramic water jugs. |
During a day trip to a fort outside of Udaipur, we also had the chance to enjoy some more rural sights. I really liked being in the countryside where everything felt a bit more peaceful and less crowded.
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| Traffic jam-country style |
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| In the fields |
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| These boys are getting water from the well. |
From Russia with Love 