Udaipur

We arrived in Udaipur from Kathmandu on 4 October  and have had a marvellous time here in the state of Rajasthan. Leaving Kathmandu and Nepal was hard as we'd had a such a great time what with the trek in the Himalayas, Pokhara and then Chitwan National Park. We'd highly recommend coming to Nepal but be prepared for the pollution which is pretty bad in Kathmandu.

Udaipur is the city of lakes and our hotel (The Tiger) looks over Lake Pinchola which has the famous hotel in the middle ($500 per night). Accom is pretty good here and mid range with brekkie thrown in is about $40. Not bad for what is becoming peak season.

We've done a few sightseeing things like visit the cenotaphs of past Maharajas and the Monssoon Palace which is 980 m up on a hill that gives sweeping views of southern Rajasthan. The highlight though was the Royal Palace, a real example of Raj architecture. We did something we'd never done and hired a guide and it made such a difference. He was a young guy who was so proud of his heritage and culture and his enthusiasm was great to see. He was an outrageous flirt with all the feamles and had a good handle on Aussie slang but with an Indian accent. I couldn't stop laughing. He's been to Oz a few times and was in no way overbearing.

On Wed night we did an Indian cooking class that was recommended to us and had a wonderful night of cooking with Shashi (in her house) who taught us how to make pirathas, marsala, daal, poraka,  naan bread, chipatis and even chai tea. With us was Nelson and Francois from Portugal and it was a good night. At the end (10pm) you sit round and eat and it was at this time that I spied a huge rat under Carolyn's chair - it was like a kitten, it was huge. I'm trying to signal to Carolyn to move her foot without drawing attention to what was going on. Carolyn is looking at me oddly and I'm trying not to laugh. The reality is rats are everywhere here and you see them in even the most clean places. 2 days later and I'm still ok so obviously it did me no harm. The food was terrific and we all got a cook book. A night to remember!

Tonight (Fri 7 Oct) we head to Mumbai and on Monday catch the train to Goa - can't wait.

Sorry still no photo's - I'll try again in Mumbai to upload some.