10 Year Itch

Every other store in Udaipur’s cramped old city sells handicrafts, paintings, garments (kurthis and other traditional wear) or jewelry. It’s a shoppers’ paradise especially for handicrafts, which are some of the best we’ve seen so far in our traveling. The wooden figurines and wooden wall decor were absolutely gorgeous! Anybody wanting to decorate their home with a little bit of traditional flavor must definitely make a stop in Udaipur. We found the most variety around the Jagdish chowk area but this is also the most tourist-ridden place, so hard bargaining skills are required. Madhu and I browsed through many stores as we LOVE window-shopping, especially for home decor stuff. In the end, we picked up a couple of things as gifts for family and some jewelry for yours truly!

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Udaipur offers a vast variety of restaurants just like any commercialized tourist-friendly city is expected to. Since real estate is hard to come by in the old city, rooftop restaurants are the norm. These are usually atop hotels providing accommodation as well. The hotels that are by the ghats offer nice lake views from their rooftop restaurants and therefore, charge more. These restaurants are relatively better furnished (matching chairs and tables) and have a good ambiance. The others offer city views and are usually just a bunch of tables and chairs thrown around the terrace of the hotel. Since we were there during the wedding season we were regaled with views of fancy firecrackers every where we looked, no matter which rooftop we were on . However, none of the older buildings have a lift so at most places we had to climb 4 to 5 floors to get to the rooftop; a great way to build appetite .

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Jaiwana Haveli

Lonely Planet has tons of hotels listed for Udaipur. But out of the lot, we zeroed in on Jaiwana immediately ‘coz they had an internet sign posted next to their listing. And when we called them, they said that they actually had wireless as well. Lotus Hotel in Junagadh had also claimed to have wireless but we had found no connection there. So I was a little wary of Jaiwana’s claims. However, theirs truly worked!

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I’m sure spirited travelers can cover all of Udaipur’s sights in a couple of days or maybe 3. But we seem to be taking it real easy and are in no hurry, whatsoever . So yesterday was our 5th day here and we still had a few things left to explore. In spite of that, mid-afternoon, we found time to watch Rocket Singh – Salesman of the year, in a nice theater in the newer parts of town – an afternoon well spent!

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Jag Mandir lies towards the south of Lake Pichola. The boat ride leaves from the City Palace jetty.

View of the ghats from the boat

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Saheliyon Ki Bari means “Garden of maids”. This garden is located on the banks of Fateh Sagar Lake, was built in the 18th century by Maharana Sangram Singh.

Gardens

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Our 3rd day in Udaipur began with a visit to the beautiful Bagore ki Haveli, built in the 18th century by a former minister of the region. The entrance to the haveli is right by the Tripoliya (3-tiered gate) at Gangaur Ghat. The gate is also part of the haveli and built around the same time. We bought entry tickets and entered the haveli’s lovely courtyard. From here, the black stone Jharokhas, overlooking the courtyard, looked absolutely fantastic!

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Shilpgram Crafts is organized by GOI to promote arts and crafts of Rajasthan. The artists are provided stalls free of cost.

Shilpgram

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Bagore Ki Haveli is an ancient haveli located next to Gangori Ghat. It was built by Amir Chand Badwa, who was the Chief Minister at the Mewar Royal Court.

Main Courtyard

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While sipping chai at Cafe Namaste, we accidentally stumbled on to the adjacent store, Ashoka Arts, which not only sells miniature paintings but also offers lessons in them. Inside we were warmly greeted by the manager and ushered into an open courtyard behind the store. It turned out that the store and cafe were part of Hotel Gangaur Palace, which is an old, authentic Mewar Haveli offering budget rooms and a roof-top restaurant. The courtyard is in the center of the hotel building. Here sat Madan Salvi, their resident artist who offered classes in miniature painting. It costs Rs.100 per hour for painting on paper and Rs.150 per hour for painting on silk. We opted for paper. The manager of the store then asked us to select a design that we would want to paint. We were shown small miniature paintings of horses, elephants, camels, women and much more. He advised us that we should opt for something simple as it takes hours to make a painting. So Madhu opted for his favorite animal (other than a dog, of course), horse, and I opted for my favorite animal (other than a dog, of course), an elephant .

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