Udaipur

 

Who would have thought ... a breakfast of chicken sausages, potato, cooked tomato, bacon, egg and toast. I could have been at home.

It was a 260km drive to Udaipur with only one stop for chai and samosa.... Yeah I think we do eat all day, but perhaps not as much as we drink! I've lost count of the empty water bottles we've thrown out but it's been enough to start our own recycling factory.

The country became very dry as we headed into Rajasthan and most of the way driving was pretty easy .... Apart from the number of trucks of course.

We arrived in Udaipur early afternoon. 

The hotel is very lovely as you can see in the photos and the room looks over the lake. 

We are staying here for two nights as we've had a few one night stops and they get very tiring. We sometimes need two nights to catch up on a few chores like washing clothes. Tarun also had to mend his pants.... I remember him doing that on the last trip we did together as well. Nice to see a man who can mend his own pants!

Udaipur is a beautiful place . I was here in    November 2013 and I have very fond memories of it. This is the place where we did a cook school.... hmmm I never did try out those dishes at home. I have cooked the chicken curry that Tarun  taught me to make last year though and it was very good..... wow, he can cook and sew...... What a catch!!!!

 And here is the photo to prove that I really did make it. 

The hotel restaurant leads right down to the lakefront so we spent a bit of time sitting there watching the activity on the lake and the squirrels darting around. It was quite a contrast to the chaos we experienced earlier today in Ahmedabad.

Tarun remarked on how clean the lake looked  but changed his mind when I told him about the dead fish I saw floating around in it last time I was here. The restaurant actually serves 'lake fish' but I'm not planning on ordering that.

We went for a walk around the lake just before sunset.......

......and kept walking and walking ......

....... until it got dark. We had the odd stop where we sat and watched life go by. Lots of people just walking, talking and snacking on street food. I worried a bit about the dog that was caught on a little bit of land between the water of the lake and a big high wall but it was a waste of time as after a while she just took a mighty leap up on to the wall and was gone. Didn't know dogs could jump so high.

It was a walk back in the dark with a full moon and the lights reflected on the lake. This place may be touristy but I like it very much. It is very very beautiful and the area around the lake looks very much like it could be in Europe.