India tour 14-30 November 2018

Udaipur in DesertThursday 22 nd and Friday 23rd November 2018

Day 9-10:- bus to Udaipur, located south from Jodhpur 259klms through semi-arid desert area of Rajasthan.

Wakeup call at 6am for ablutions, breakfast at 7.00am and travel cases packed and outside room door by 7.30am then on the bus for the another long day’s drive to Udaipur. Time though to get some last minute photos of the hotel grounds especially the swimming pool which looks like a grand affair.

The road south wound its way through sand hills and acacia trees in a semi desert area for the first 2 hours. A pit stop for morning tea and or toilet break was made at a midway restaurant set off the side of the road. Again the usual 10Rupee fee paid to the toilet Waller for use of the toilet and a souvenir shop to negotiate before entering the catering area of the premises.

More green to be seen further south Decoration on passing truck cabin Pit stop restaurant.

Back on the bus to resume the journey, the scenery gradually changed to a more lush green canopy with some rolling hills to be seen in the distance. A diversion was made off the main road to a smaller less well maintained back road which eventually led to another set of temples.

This was the famed 15th century Jain main temple. Jain is the third main religious group after Hindu and Islam in India and is considered to be a branch of Hindu religion. The temple has a very impressive white marble layout with 1,444 intricately carved pillars, no 2 of which are the same design, throughout the 29 halls of the complex. Rules are that visitors have to remove any leather objects as well as shoes etc. So belts, wallets, camera cases etc not allowed.

Approaching Jain Temple main entrance stairway entrance to inner sanctum

Following on from the Jain temple visit, the bus took the group further up into the low mountains on a winding road to eventually stop at a camouflaged restaurant in the middle of nowhere for lunch. Camouflaged because if you did not know where the turn off to the restaurant was it could be missed. On the way a few wild monkeys could be seen fleetingly on the embankments at the side of the road. These were of the black faced, long tail, blue/grey species.

Snap monkey at right of bus window Welcome gent at the lunch venue lunch table group studying menu.

Descending through the mountains to the plains, a stop was made at a shop in a local village to source the purchase of school items such as note pads, pencils, pencil sharpeners, rubbers and pens. These are to be donated to the young students at a primary school in a village not far from Udaipur. The children were very excited to receive these “gifts” and had been practicing their English pronunciation to thank the tour group. None of the group could understand what was being said at first. The teacher was upset for a moment saying “don’t you know how to speak English?” one could decipher some of what was being said when the Indian accent was taken into account!

Children receiving note books etc Lady welcome at restaurant Anna making a scary friend.

Next stop, at the outskirts of Udaipur, was a miniature art establishment for which the group were ushered into a demonstration room to view the detailed work done by the artisans. Then of course the hard sell on a walkthrough a show/sales rooms to get to the exit. Alan escaped to the security of the bus and waited for the others to arrive.

Art establishment outside Udaipur Artisan at work the hard sell!

The Trident hotel at Udaipur was reached at 6.30pm, passports checked at reception, rooms allocated, (Alan’s room162), dinner at 7.00pm, the usual buffet style with some ice-cream for dessert. After dinner Alan took the

opportunity

to launder his shirts as this hotel stay was for 2 nights. Into be bed by 9.30pm.