Udaipur

We've been moving around quite a bite lately, but we decided to take it easy with 3 1/2 days in Udaipur. The city is lovely, it has a hilly, Mediterranean feel to it, and it sits on a lake with two beautiful palaces in it the middle. The lake is higher than it has been in years, but unfortunately most of it is still not navigable and our hopes for leisurely boat rides have been dashed. However, the beautiful view from the cafe in our hotel is in on way compromised. Before Udaipur we had a day(almost) in Jodhpur, where there is a huge, apparently impregnable fort filled with an intricately latticed palace. You might recognize it from a number of films, including "The Fall" by Tarsim, where I saw and said, I'm going there. City that surrounds it is painted blue partly because of Brahmins and partly because of termites and mostly because it keeps things relatively cool. It was also my computer desktop in the months leading up to the trip, which I've tried to duplicate here. Jodhpur was actually the one place we sprang for the audio tour, so most of the antiquities and Historically Significant Sites have been somewhat bemusing. Anyone who is willing to answer our questions tends to have very limited responses to offer. Why is this city abandoned? Religion Troubles. Is that painting a hippo? It's very stylized. Why do they wear such outlandish moustaches? No reply. I must admit I am experiencing Cultural Heritage fatigue. Time to hop back on the train, and head out to Uttar Pradesh. I wish I had some pictures from our various bus rides through the country, because the scenery there has been some of the more interesting we've seen, but my tiny camera is simply not fast enough to capture the scenery as it whizzes by at what seems like 100 miles an hour and about 3 inches from our faces.