Udaipur

On our last day on tour, we stayed in a medium-sized town called Udaipur, in southern Rajasthan.  It was about a 5 hour drive from Jodhpur, our last stop, and on the way we stopped at a tiny hamlet called Ranathkpur that had an amazing Jain temple complex.  The largest temple was made completely out of white marble (a specialty of Rajasthan) so it was translucent in some places.  It was a massive bilding, with multiple trainglular shaped domes with intricate carving of symbols all the way to the top.  Further down on the outside of the building were rows and rows of deities and animales carved in relief.  Inside the building, there were wings flanking a central pavilion with idols on it; and about 1044 columns holding up the roof.  There was intricate carving everywhere - so impressive!  Despite there being other tourists with cameras, the atmosphere of the place was still quiet and spiritual.

Udaipur has a thriving tourist industry thanks to the artificial lake that was created by one of the Rajasthani maharajas several hundred years ago.  There are several branches of the lake, and all have flanking restaurants and hotels touting 'lake views' and 'indian, continental, and Chinese food'. The lake was amazingly bueatiful in parts, and we took a walk around the perimeter our first night.  The next day, we had a boat ride that was included in our tour cost, and it was really pleasant on the lake with a breeze and watching the life on the shores.  There is also a tiny island with a palace bthat was used for the James Bond film Octopussy, so we took several action photos ;_The lake was surrounded by mountains in the distance, which made the whole vista very beautiful.

The rest of Udaipur was kind of a let-down actually.  We were maybe just tired of seeing temples and city palaces by that point, but the City Palace seemed run-down and and not that impressive to begin with.  They had a much touted 'crystal gallery', a collection of cystal objects bought from London by one of the maharajas) who died before receiving it_ and it was impressive, but too small for the cost.  I have now seen a crystal bed however, something I have never imagined. How extravagant!  Other than that however, there was not much to see and do, and we were glad to leave our faithful driver and return to Delhi.