One fine 47 degree afternoon Dan and I committed our bravest and craziest act of the trip so far - we boarded an un-airconditioned bus for a 14 hour journey with only one scheduled bathroom break. The cherry on top was that we would arrive at our destination, Udaipur “the Venice of India” Rajasthan at 5am the following day, not the easiest time to be conscious and/or in control of your bladder.
The bus ride was everything you would expect and more (the more being bedbugs), and included some unexpected self discoveries. I never thought that I would laugh to see somebody intentionally upset a child, but there I was...it was provoked though! A child popped onto the bus to sell water and roughly shook one of the men on the bus awake, giggling hysterically. The man retaliated with a glob of monkey balm on the cheek and tears promptly ensued. (Monkey balm is the Thai version of tiger balm, only much much much stronger!).
Happily for us, Udaipur was totally worth it - it was like being in an idealised India. There were few signs of poverty, easy going touts, cool temperatures and clean streets. It was also incredibly picturesque, being surrounded by mountains and built around two lakes. The makers of James Bond thought so too and filmed Octopussy there back in 1983 – we counted 11 restaurants in walking distance of our hotel that screened Octopussy every night! We loved watching it, having just been to all of the places shown, but the novelty must be fading for the poor staff working there...
Ahh Udaidur...
Definitely the romantic city.
After many hours of waiting... and an anxious period of fluorescent yellow hair... my girl is blonde again! Quick word from Soph: Never EVER bleach your hair. I'm not sure who was the most traumatised - me because my hair felt like static-y rope for several weeks, or Dan because it was my sole topic of conversation for that same period of time.
The culture show was one of the highlights, running round in circles and balancing 10 pots on your head. Good times.
The other major highlight for me... Squirrels! I could watch them for hours. But Soph normally dragged me off kicking and screaming after about 5 minutes.
Aww, it's like Effe (a much beloved pet rat) with a racing stripe & fluffy tail. Awesome.
Cooking class with Indian Borat, we got a bonus lecture on why men are superior to women.
Some arts and crafts...
Temples...
And our favourite activity in Udaipur, chilling with chai & watching the sun set over Octopussy's lair.
The bus ride was everything you would expect and more (the more being bedbugs), and included some unexpected self discoveries. I never thought that I would laugh to see somebody intentionally upset a child, but there I was...it was provoked though! A child popped onto the bus to sell water and roughly shook one of the men on the bus awake, giggling hysterically. The man retaliated with a glob of monkey balm on the cheek and tears promptly ensued. (Monkey balm is the Thai version of tiger balm, only much much much stronger!).
Happily for us, Udaipur was totally worth it - it was like being in an idealised India. There were few signs of poverty, easy going touts, cool temperatures and clean streets. It was also incredibly picturesque, being surrounded by mountains and built around two lakes. The makers of James Bond thought so too and filmed Octopussy there back in 1983 – we counted 11 restaurants in walking distance of our hotel that screened Octopussy every night! We loved watching it, having just been to all of the places shown, but the novelty must be fading for the poor staff working there...
Ahh Udaidur...
Definitely the romantic city.
After many hours of waiting... and an anxious period of fluorescent yellow hair... my girl is blonde again! Quick word from Soph: Never EVER bleach your hair. I'm not sure who was the most traumatised - me because my hair felt like static-y rope for several weeks, or Dan because it was my sole topic of conversation for that same period of time.
The culture show was one of the highlights, running round in circles and balancing 10 pots on your head. Good times.
The other major highlight for me... Squirrels! I could watch them for hours. But Soph normally dragged me off kicking and screaming after about 5 minutes.
Aww, it's like Effe (a much beloved pet rat) with a racing stripe & fluffy tail. Awesome.
Cooking class with Indian Borat, we got a bonus lecture on why men are superior to women.
Some arts and crafts...
Temples...
And our favourite activity in Udaipur, chilling with chai & watching the sun set over Octopussy's lair.
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