We have been in Udaipur for the last 6 days and I think this is probably my favourite place in Rajesthan, as it has a bit of everything.

The bus journey here was ok. There was no air con and no toilet, but we did get a private double cubicle. The bus was slightly taller than a usual coach, so down one side there were double seats and above it were the double compartments. This did feel like you were climbing into a cupboard to sleep, but there was enough height room to sit up and I could just lay full out if I flexed my feet! The good thing was that it was private and had a lock on it, and had large opening windows, so whilst moving it was quite cool. The journey however was rather bumpy, and it felt like the driver had decided to just go cross country for most of the journey! On the other side of the bus were single comparments both lower and upper, and these were mainly occupied by Indian's, who were all crammed in (mostle 3 or 4 to each compartment) plus many in the corridoor. They tended to just do short parts of the journey though and must have been paying very little compared to the tourists. Saying that it only cost us just under 5.00GBP each for the 13 and a half hour journey, plus 14p for each of our bags!

So, back to Udaipur, why do we love it so much? I love the usual short walk which we take into the main area from our hotel, along the main but very narrow road. On the way we pass women with 7 or 8 donkeys all carrying rubble on their backs, whilst the woman tries to keep them all together. Meanwhile cars, rickshaws, bikes etc are all beeping their horns at them as they can't get past them. Mixed with this you have the cows and the dogs and their various droppings all over the place. We also in the first few days had to cross a stream of water across the road, as there was a burst pipe. They soon fixed this though by digging a huge hole in the middle of the road and leaving it with no warning or barriers, when we came back several hours later though, they had filled it in, so now there is a mound in the road instead! This morning, Graham had trouble turning off the tap, as the washer seemed to have gone, and the response was "this is India!" I also love walking past the laundry shops to see the fraile old ladies lifting huge, heavy irons which look 100 years old, and the one nearest to us has some kind of bird in the corner in a cage.

Many nights we have seen the tractors going along this same road carrying bricks and paving slabs. We watch the chaos from a bar, as they try to cross each other on the road. We even saw one doing a wheelie up the hill, as his load was so heavy, and there were a few Indians sitting on the front of the tractor trying to weigh it down!

So, whilst here we have been doing some sight seeing, as well as some relaxing, as it is getting really hot now during the afternoons. For those of you who don't know, Udaipur was used for some of the filming of James Bond's Octop**** so of course they show the film everywhere in the evenings. We did go to see this, but the temple next door was playing loud music and had a firework display too! They just turned the sound up, as we were sitting on the roof, and it was good to see the fireworks from up there. We have visited the Classic Car museum, been on the cable car up to Sunset Point. We have been to the main City Palace and museum, and took a boat ride to Jag Mandir Palace. The Lake Palace is private though and can only be accessed if you have booked a very expensive room or dinner reservation. We also went up to the Monsoon Palace (on the hill) and down to Gangor Ghat, as well as visiting the Jagdish Temple.

So, that's why we like it. There lots to do if you want the touristy things, but there are also lots of good lakeside and roof top cafes to chill out in if you want to. The place is also of a medium size, with a specific tourist area, which I like, as I feel safe, as a woman here, in those sort of areas. Our hotel was also great. Probably the cleanest yet, and with nice gardens and roof top to relax in/on. So we would definately recommend Udaipur and the Khumbar Palace, and it's only 5.60GBP for a double en suite room.

For those of you James Bond fans, have a look at the pics to see if you recognise anything. The problem with the film is that it jumps about from different places and different palaces, but we think we got some of the shots. Also, the car used by the bad guy (Black Rolls Royce) was in the car museum, so we've put up a picture of that.

Take care

Maggie x