Northward Bound

We grew quite fond of our heroic travel agent in Palolem. Where others failed (or gave up instantaneously, after misspelling the name of our destination and concluding that no trains were available), he tried combination after combination of dates, classes and stations, and always succeeded in getting us tickets. Although there were no direct trains available, he managed to get us to Udaipur in Rajasthan, which we had decided upon as our next stop after Mumbai, first by train from Mumbai to Ahmedabad, and then by sleeper bus from Ahmedabad to Udaipur in the evening. The journey northward would span two nights, but we happily accepted, as it gave us an interesting extra stop on our trip.

Yes, hello, we're checking in now from the white city Udaipur.

Ahmedabad is the capital of the Gujarat state, a chaotic and much too quickly growing city of five million people. Of the wall that once encircled the inner city, only fifteen huge stone gates remain today, standing as islands in the never-ending traffic craziness. But the people there are incredibly friendly: As we were struggling with our backpacks down the river of people, cows and motorbikes towards the city centre, two locals maneuvered us deftly past stalls and through side streets to the bus station. While on the crowded bus, the conductor jumped out and ran with us between the moving traffic on the street to get us on to the right connecting bus. Several other times were we wowed by how friendly and helpful the locals were - and never with any ulterior motive to sell anything or scam us, as was so often the case in Mumbai. We were also glad for a taste of the Gujarati cuisine, which is lighter, sweeter and less spicy than other Indian food. The first lassi (Indian yoghurt based drink) with wine gums and ice cream was quite a surprise!

Despite several old mosques and forts, the number one thing to see with only one afternoon in Ahmedabad was for us Sabarmati Ashram, Mahatma Gandhi's headquarters for 15 years during the Indian independence fight. The complex, which was home to both a small museum, Gandhi's spartan house and other buildings in the commune, is on a lovely spot by the river and a tranquil break from the bustling city. His actions and teachings are very inspiring, but we both find it strange how Gandhi is so highly revered in India, while the Indian mind set is in striking contrast to Gandhi's principles. The constant deceit, haggling, trickery and scamming which is so annoying for tourists, as well as all the crime and corruption hindering India's development, seems to be so contradictory to the teachings of its national hero.

Gandhiji in his garden.

The evening grew quite cold as we hurried on to catch our night bus to the white city of Udaipur, and by the time we arrived there at five in the morning, another hundred and some miles farther north, we were both chilly in our sweaters. The open-rickshaw drive from the bus stop to our guest house in single-digit temperatures was nothing short of frigid, and our all-marble room seemed like an icebox - the past weeks of paradise have taken the viking out of us! But when we got out the next day after sleeping in for the best part of the morning, the sun was high in the sky and our fears of freezing to the marble melted away.

The saying "never accept candy from strangers" can't possibly apply when they're as cute as this.

Both omelet, temperature and view are satisfactory. Alex consults Lonely Planet for the day's itinerary.

Our guest house is in Lal Ghat, a very touristy and busy, but also very convenient, central and pictoresque part of town. We went to one of the many rooftop restaurants and took in Udaipur in its full beauty: white marble palaces, temples and walls along the lake in the middle of the city, a sandy haze from the desert mystifying the hills and lakes in the distance, the iconic Taj Lake Palace hotel, the bridges and channels giving it a Venice-like feel. Udaipur is the city featured in the Bond film Octopussy, which screens at pretty much every guest house pretty much every evening. We watched it last night over dinner, after a long day of sightseeing.

The floating palace in Udaipur, in the Bond movie the headquarters of the femme fatale organisation Octopussy.

They've learned that many guests like Bob Marley, 100 rupee thalis, and watching Octopussy every night.

The city palace is the home of the longest continuously ruling dynasty in the world, the Maharajas of the Mewar kingdom. These tiger-hunting, treasure-collecting, palace-building, grotesquely rich megalomaniacs are still influential in Rajasthani politics today, but the city palace has been opened to the public and turned into a museum and royal wedding location. It's majestic and imposing on the hilltop above the lake, a true palace in size and grandeur, pillars and turrets and courtyards and golden chambers making for quite a tour. However, we shared the premises with a bit too many tourists and a cacophonous wedding rehearsal procession. We also took a stroll through the winding, narrow streets of the town to the palace's vintage car collection, and visited the slightly quieter Hanuman Ghat on the opposite bank of the lake.

Sunset photos, for your viewing delight. Yes, I'll get around to cleaning the lens.

For today we've booked an artistic tour of the city - a four hour round trip visiting local potters, painters, puppeteers and more, which has received good recommendations. Looking forward to that! In the evening we catch the train to our next stop, Bundi. It might be a little early, I'd love another day or two in this magnificent city, but we're on a tight schedule, with several other places in Rajasthan we'd like to see before we depart from Agra (spoiler alert!) in one week. Stay tuned!