In the city of lakes and temples

We're in romantic Rajastan and in the truly wonderful city of Udaipur, the city of lakes and temples. We arrived yesterday evening after an epic day of travel involving four colourful bus rides to get from Anjuna beach to the airport in Southern Goa. We travelled in these rickety little buses, which were at times packed with people and luggage. Indians don't seem to have a problem with being squashed, I guess they are used to being crowded in. The bus rides were a lot of fun and it felt like we were true backpackers since we could have taken an expensive taxi all the way.

But on to Udaipur. It is probably most famous for something we won't be able to get to see. This is the Lake Palace Hotel, which was used in the James Bond movie Octpussy. It is a former royal residence and you used to be able to go across if you had a dinner booking, but now you have to be a guest. I think the rooms start from about $350 a night - so a bit out of our budget.

You can see the hotel from the city (it is in one of the photos above) as it sits serenly on its own little island in the middle of the main lake alongside Udaipur. We are staying in the old part of the city which is fabulous with its white-washed, flat-roofed buildings quite reminiscint of Morocco. There are narrow, steep, winding streets where you have to dodge the usual assortment of bikes, auto-rickshaws and cows.

We spent most of the day exploring the City Palace and two of the Hindi temples nearby. Both are about 400 years old. The temples are beautifully carved in limestone with images from Hindi mythology. While we were there a ceremony was on the go and there was singing and chanting. The palace has been turned into a museum and two hotels. The museum is a labyrinth of rooms and courtyards with fanstastic views over the city and lake. It was added on by various different maharajas and there are beautiful carvings, frescoes and paintings dating from different periods, showing things like royal processions, battles and lots of tiger hunts on elephants. These maharajas sure knew how to live! We had lunch on a rooftop overlooking the lake and palaces. They call it the Venice of the East and from where we sat it seemed an accurate description.

On the way back to our hotel for an afternoon nap, we walked up a little windy road. Kids in India love saying hello and being a bit cheeky with foreigners. Then followed the following exchange with a little girl from a window overlooking the street:

Little girl: Hello

Larna and I: Hello

Little girl: Give me five rupees

We ignored her request and walked on...

Little girl: You are bad foreigners

Larna: You are a bad local!