Udaipur

We caught a bus from Abu to Udaipur. The bus got a flat which added a couple of hours onto an already long journey. Both of us are now well and truly sick of bus travel. Unfortunately many of the places we’re visiting in Rajasthan aren’t connected by rail, so we’ll have to put up and shut up for now. 

Udaipur is known as India’s most romantic place. Beautiful Lake Pichola sits in the middle of the town surrounded by palaces, temples, ghats, and havelis. It’s one of the most popular tourist destinations in India. The hotel we booked was well located providing a lakeside view from our room.

After sleeping off the nasty bus journey the day before, we headed out to explore. First priority was sorting an outfit for Holi which was occurring the day after. Holi is the festival where India’s population water-fight and chuck coloured power over each other, so I didn’t want any of my clothes getting ruined. I found an ideal outfit, but haggled too hard and walked away over a minor 50P difference. I swallowed my pride and went back later to purchase the shirt and trouser combo. 

We then visited the City Palace. It’s the largest royal complex in Rajasthan, made up of eleven palaces. We spent a good three hours exploring with the help of an audio tour. 

Preparations for Holi were in full swing when we visited the palace. The current Mewar king was putting on a posh party to celebrate the festival. 

Next up was the Jagdish Temple. The temple is surrounded by large square which was teaming with people preparing a PA, stage, and bonfire for the evening’s pre-holi burning ceremony. 

Dung patties make good firelighters

We then headed back into the palace complex for high-tea at the Gallery Restaurant. Stuffed!

In the evening we went back to the square for pre-holi burning ceremony. Prior to the main event - with the PA pumped up to eleven - we’re treated to some quality transvestite/boy-band dancing. Whist the transvestites dance, massive streamers packed with fake money are shot into the crowd. A portion of one of the burning fuses landed on my neck which smarted a bit; health and safety non-existent Indian style!

After the dancing finished, everyone was instructed to get a least ten feet back from the bonfire. There must have been a couple of thousand people there, so it was a bit of a crush. Unfortunately we didn’t know that the bonfire would by lit with fire crackers that lined the approaching main road and circled the square. When these were let off the crowed surged back and I was trapped right by the exploding fire crackers (Shejal managed to escape). The noise was deafening and the whole thing got a bit mental. I managed to hide behind a line of braver locals and retreated back before the big fireworks started. Visions from those ‘when things go bad’ TV programs flashed before my eyes! I found Shejal at a safer distance and we watched the rockets being launched from the bonfire. With the crowd super pumped up, police moved in to clear the area ready for more crazy Holi behaviour the day after. Surveying the scene, a policeman said to me ‘not very safe’; I nodded and we made for our hotel. Exhilarating/scary experience. 

We’ve been really excited about Holi, being that it’s so popular here in India we knew it would be a crazy experience. We awoke to sounds of the hotel owner and his family waterfighting in the courtyard. We donned our Holi outfits and made our way down to the courtyard where the family were waiting to ambush us. Covered in powder paint, we walked into town, all the while being covered in more paint and receiving hugs from locals. The further we go into town the more mental it gets. Being that we’re obviously foreigners, we got a lot of attention. Keen to avoid Shejal being inappropriately touched by drunken local chaps (this happens a lot, most Indian woman stay at home on Holi), we head back to the hotel after an hour. 

Once back at the hotel we join with the hotel owner’s family and other guests (one Indian writer, two Italian chaps, and a French couple) for more water-fights and paint craziness. The hotel put on snacks and beers, so it was like a party. 

Shejal's contact lenses after Holi

Festivities stopped at 2PM, and we headed back to our room for showers. My hands were stained blue from the coloured water which I couldn’t completely get out. One of the Italian chaps put purple paint on my toes which I also couldn’t shift; it looked like nail varnish!  After washing we went out to get some food - the chaos of the morning replaced with deserted colour soaked streets. There was nothing open apart from one cafe where we weirdly bumped into a Columbian chap we met in Ahmedabad. Good day, great experience, but knackering. In the evening went to recharge at a nice restaurant overlooking the lake.

 

On our final morning we woke up early to go on boat tour of lake.

Udaipur was one of the highlights of the trip so far. It’s a beautiful place with loads to see. We’ll never forget the experience of Holi, truly lucky to be in India during this crazy festival!