In this blog... I get ill, go to afternoon tea with a 'Prince', cycle to a mountain palace, and see the world's largest turban.
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It was going to happen eventually. Being exposed to some many different foods, people, germs, and in India, standards of hygiene, meant that I was bound to get some sort of illness sometime, and in Udaipur it finally happened. I'm just surprised it took six weeks in India for it to do so! In one hit this week, I've been suffering from a spot of Delhi belly, a cold, a fungal infection on my finger as well as having to have another anti-rabies jab following the dog bite the week before. Surprisingly, with the exception of one day, I've managed to function fairly normally through all this and it hasn't hit me too hard.
Monday
So back in Jodhpur, and with no direct trains to Udaipur I reluctantly took the bus south, a seven hour journey. I'm beginning to hate buses, but they're a necessary evil sometimes. The scenery on the way was nothing too special, lots of scrubby hill land, with a few flat patches in between where vegetables and rapeseed were being grown. A couple of times we passed people living in makeshift tents beside the road, fashioned from scavenged wood and tarpaulins, cooking outside on the street using small stoves. Sadly a sight you will see somewhere most days, but at least they have a bit of space and hygiene, unlike the big slums of Mumbai.
Despite being a long distance express bus, the driver had no hesitations in suddenly slamming on the brakes to pick up people as he went. The roads we took varied completely, sometimes dual carriageway, sometimes dirt track, and at one point a very steep and windy minor road that wound up through some hills, with many langur monkeys hanging out in the trees by the road. In some of the villages we went through, people gathered round the village pump, and women carried home large containers of water in their heads. We passed a fairly smart looking horse breeding farm, some lovely dry stone walling, and a few large marble quarries. After this, there was mile after mile of nothing but marble sales yards, selling huge slabs of the white cut variety. I've never seen so much of the stuff.
Arriving at Udaipur, I shared a rickshaw across town to the hotel area with two British girls here on holiday, who were also on the bus. We were so overloaded with ourselves and bags, that with them stuffed in the back, I had to share the seat with the driver, him sat off-centre holding the handlebars (being part-motorbike), whilst I held on tight to keep myself both on the seat and in the vehicle! It was hilarious, but given the slow speed, not as dangerous as it sounds. There were a lot of hotels on offer but I struggled to find what I was after, with them either being too busy, too grubby, too expensive, or lacking in other guests. I usually take the first or second place I find, but here I turned into one of those hotel snobs you see on TV, and looked at seven different places before I found the right one. It was worth the effort though, having a fantastic rooftop cafe overlooking the beautiful Lake Pichola and the royal palace, and for the remainder of that afternoon all it seemed fitting to do, was sit in the warm sun looking at this amazing view, reading my book and drinking a beer. In fact I ended up sitting in the same spot for nearly eight hours!
The stunning Lake Palace, Udaipur
After some food, I chatted to an English guy on the the next table, him having been in India for a couple of months to volunteer and travel as a break from work. He was bored of his marketing job, but also bored of traveling, and whilst he was nice enough, his misery was infectious. I hate negative people. Two Russian girls sat on the next table along and we all got chatting for a while before Mr Happy disappeared off. I'm very intrigued by Russia and have been for a long time. The first group of Russians I met in Munich a few months ago upheld the loud vodka-swilling stereotype, but here Natasha and Natasha were the opposite. Their English was extremely good and accent quite soft, and they were friendly, polite and good fun. We had a good chat about all sorts, and I asked hundreds of things about Russia that I'd always wanted to know.
Tuesday
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| Hot wheels |
Half-way back I was cycling back around the lake, when out of nowhere came alongside me an Indian guy in his late twenties, riding an eighties road-bike and wearing an eighties shell-suit, and so began a truly surreal experience. With no introduction, he blurted out the usual 'what is your country sir?' in the very formal and old-fashioned English commonly used here, and he proceeded to chat away and ask various questions. He asked my name, and I asked his - he replied 'Prince Kamakhaya Singh'. 'You're a prince?' I said, slightly surprised and a tiny bit suspicious. He went on to tell me how he lived near the lake and cycled round for fitness every day, but his family home was the palace 'Devi Garh' around thirty miles away. As time went on he started to seem increasingly crazy and arrogant, yet remaining very friendly and inquisitive. He then started coming out with some truly ludicrous statements, with no hesitation that they might be seen as anything but normal. For example - he said he's started over seven religions, is the best polo player in the world, and is the living reincarnation of over two hundred people. Okayyyy! He seemed harmless though, and when he invited me to his house for a cup of tea, I obliged out of curiously of this strange person.
Prince Kamakhaya Singh
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| Having afternoon tea at the house of Prince Kamakhaya Singh |
A short while later back in Udaipur, we cycled up a steep hill to his reasonably large suburban home overlooking the lake, and he pointed to a plaque above the gate which indeed said 'Prince Kamakhaya Singh'. I asked if he lived alone, and learnt he lived there with his parents, and I was given a seat on the balcony whilst his mum prepared tea and biscuits. I found myself talking in a similar style to Louis Theroux - asking seemingly innocent things but underneath thinking 'you madman'! I probed him with more questions and the truth started slowly revealing itself. He was legally allowed to use the title of Prince, but it appeared that he bought the rights to do so and registered it with the local government. He'd also bought the rights off the internet for £0.10 a time, and then had approved by the local government, to legally be known as the reincarnation of Bruce Lee, Roger Moore and Spiderman amongst others, as well as a few Hindu gods! It transpired that the palace somehow left his family during his grandfathers time, possibly due to debt, and he was now in litigation with the current property group to claim back the rights of ownership, the grounds of which weren't apparent. The statement that really told me that he should be institutionalised, was one that made me bite my lip and hold my chest in, trying my hardest not to laugh. He told me straight faced and without hesitation, that he is the legal owner of the universe. The entire planetary system of the universe...
It was one of the most bizarre encounters I'd ever had, and with the daylight drawing in, I politely said goodbye and cycled back to the hire shop. But not before he took down my details, and told me he'd send an invite to his wedding when it happens... despite not actually having a girlfriend, nor wanting an arranged marriage.
Udaipur was the location for the 1983 James Bond film - Octopussy, with much of the film being set around the nearby lake palace, and city streets. People of the city are very proud of this, and many of the restaurants play the film every single night to lure in customers. After thirty years I would guess they must be pretty bored of it! I went to one such place near my hotel and watched it that evening, noting whilst watching that the streets and fashions of India look exactly the same thirty years later. But I felt a bit off my food, and couldn't even stomach a bland pasta, so went to bed early after my Bond fix.
Wednesday
I woke up feeling a bit offish, after a few days of not being quite right, but after breckfast went for a wander anyway, having a look around nearby Bagore-ki Haveli. An eighteenth century Haveli, it's best described as an Indian version of a mansion house, and now preserved as a museum. I enjoyed looking round for an an hour or so, especially seeing the collection of turbans which included the world's biggest one - too big for even an elephant. But I felt sluggish when I left, with every beeping horn and pushy shopkeeper driving me up the wall much more than normal. I gave in and, feeling drained of energy and feeling pretty rubbish, turned back to the hotel, spending the rest of the day either on the toilet, or lounging in the sun in the rooftop area, reading my book.
Bagore-ki Haveli
Thursday
After a good sleep I felt more back to normal, and not wanting another day around the hotel, yet again hired a bike and set off out of the city. I chose a mountain bike this time, knowing I needed some gears, and lugged this heavy bit of kit slowly up the steep hill to the Monsoon Palace - a now empty building a few miles out of town. The views were terrific, and only interrupted by a group of Indian lads who wanted my photo taken with them at seemingly every photo opportunity. I've mentioned before this is a fairly common occurrence in India, I guess 'foreigners' are a bit novel to some of them. Whilst it can be fun for a while, their approach can be downright rude sometimes, when they just shuffle alongside and take it without actually asking, or more often when you're ordered into their picture, and can become a little grating after a while. I cycled back down the hill, then out through some very interesting rural villages, where their grasp of English is understandably less good, and for the first time I saw some terrible teeth. I guess dental care comes second to just surviving for many. Twenty miles later I was back at base feeling completely ruined - definitely still not my normal self.
Friday
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| Saheliyon ki Badi gardens |
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| Ahah centopaths |
Cycling on the roads of India is very different to anywhere I've ever ridden. There is no consideration of other road users, no indicating, and you don't let people out, stay in lanes, or wait for people. Instead, I found that everyone pulls out of junctions without even looking and expects the traffic to just stop for them, and they'll cut you up and force you into the back of parked cars if you don't ride assertively enough. It's each for himself, and total chaos! I was soon back in town in the shopping area.
I hate shopping and particularly hate useless souvenirs, but force myself to buy the odd few things knowing I'll appreciate them in future. I stopped to buy some paintings, all originals and quite nicely done for not a lot of money. In one of the shops I visited I couldn't help but be transfixed by the ears of one of the artists I met - on the outer edges of the flesh he had great tufts of black hair growing where I've never seen it grow before, it was amazing. One of those situations where you have to wrestle your eyes back to where they should be!
Saturday
The center point for Udaipur is the lake, and having not visited the most obvious attraction yet, I decided to take one of the boat cruises out around the beautiful white palace in the middle of it. It was a nice way to spend the morning, and on another island that we stopped at nearby, I chatted to two older tourists who had Indian heritage, but had lived their lives in South Africa and I noted just how different their mindset was because of this. They were hilarious to chat to and quite modern, if not a little racist, and I had a proper good laugh with for a while.
Lake palace from the boat
It was time to move on. I'd felt a bit shoddy for the whole time in Udaipur, but it was never enough to ground me, and spending the time just resting wouldn't really have helped. I'd met some interesting locals, but was disappointed not to have met more fellow travellers at the hotel after the first day. Sometimes when this happens it's just me being lazy, sometimes the layout of a place makes it a bit unsociable, and other times certain places attract certain types of people, so I'm not sure which applied this time, possibly the latter. I'd thoroughly enjoyed the beauty of the lake and surrounding buildings, even if the rest of the city was typically grotty, noisy and chaotic, and it had been fantastic to get out and about on a bike again.
Still makes me cringe everytime I see this happen, and it's all too common
Shilpgram model village, a bit cheesey for my liking
Countryside near Udaipur
Local farmers I saw whilst cycling
The monsoon palace
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