Udaipur-Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India: 11June07

The City for Krishna

Jophur is dry and hot. My nose started to bleed almost immediately upon arrival.
The bus arrived in the late afternoon, so we didn't have much time to explore. We went to the market and shopped for fruits and 'looked' at different kind of spices.
The market or bazaar is nice. They sell fruits, vege, garments and spice. They are donkeys on the road.
We have get used to drink tea by the small stall at the road side. It even doesn't bother me as much now even if a bull shit is right in front of the stall.
i like this blue city. This is a place where people really lead a life and the shops or bazaars aren't just there to cater tourists. They are there to serve the needs of local people and may at the same time for tourists.
i think if one could find at least one partner, then coming to India during this hot summer is not that bad after all. May be provided both could stand the heat. It is hot, but you see more local than tourists and you almost get cheaper for everything. At least, in India, they don't have tourists menu like in Vietnam. You pay the same as local if you eat in restaurant.



Scene on the way from Udaipur to Jophur.



Jodhpur is at its bluest in the old city. Traditionally, blue signified the home of a Brahmin, but non-Brahmins have got in on the act too.



Clock Tower and Market, the old city's commercial heart.

Udaipur, Rajasthan, India: 10June07

The child beggar threw stones to me!

The weather at Udaiphur was nice. It was colder than any other places in India that i have been , so far, and yet drier. So we didn't perspiring like hell.
The town area or toursit area itself wasn't as large. We went to the palace, museum, hindu temple and put an end of the day by the very energetic Rajasthani dance and music.
The room we got was windy and facing to the lake. It was indeed really a nice good place for honeymoon.
The not so nice experience was probably that a young beggar snatched my mango drink empty tetra-pack, thinking that it was a full drink. When he found that it was just rubbish, he threw stones at me! i was shocked. He was just may be 3 or 4 years old and he already started to beg and snatch things. What would he do when he grows up?
For those kids from normal family, how do they feel and think to see young beggars around their age struggling for a living? How does the parents explain to their children?



Udaipur is said to be the "white" city.



Lake Pichola and the city centre.



The usual India scene, people washing openly. Not every house has their own water supply.

Bombay-Ahmadabad-Udaipur: 9June07

i think you probably could only see thousands of men washing clothes together in India. We took a train to go to a dhoby ghat and witnesses the incredible scene. Then we went to the mosque in the middle of the sea (or rubbish? the causeway was surrounded by rubbish). You could only access to the mosque during low tide while the causeway link the land to the mosque was submerged during high tide.

We took a sitting day train to Ahmadabad to change to Udaipur. The episode of the day was Matt went down the train to buy newspaper. The train moved and i thought he would be some where in other cabin. After half an hour, when more people boarded the train, i was kind of panicked. He got everything with me and if he missed the train, it would be very very bad. The people sat around me obviously think i am his wife and they started to look at me with a kind of sympathy. Before i started to cry (after days of reliances with Matt and Vivien, i got very much meek now), Matt just appeared again in front of me. i was relieved and it was definitely not easy for me to carry 2 person's backpacks!

Cost: 202 Rs



Mahalaxmi Dhobi Ghat. According to Lonely Planet, 5000 men are working here. They use rows of open-air troughs to beat the dirt out of the housands of kilograms of soiled clothes brought from all over the city each day. It was indeed an amazing sight.



Haji Ali's Mosque. This whitewashed mosque is in the middle of Arabian Sea. It becomes an island during high tide but is accessible at the other times via the concrete causeway lined with beggars. The legend says the Muslim saint Haji Ali died while on a pilgrimage to Mecca and his casket miraculously floated back to Mumbai and landed at this spot. Then the devotees built this mosque which contains His tomb.



The palace on Jamandir Island of placid lake Pichola. Udairpur is called white city as most of the buildings are in white color. It is Rajasthan's most romantic city and a really good place for honeymoon. We got a room right facing to the lake and palace for off season price at Rs 200. A room like this would cost Rs 500-800 during peak period.