On the way to Udaipur, we stopped at the amazing Jain Temples of Ranakpur where we took photos of the aged structure and the locals took photos of Nora. Built around 1439 and constructed entirely of carved marble, you have to wonder who had the time and patience for such a detailed project.

We arrived to the "Lake City" of Udaipur where the locals are still proud that their city was part of the setting for the 1981 James Bond movie, Octop**** The film is still shown every evening at the various cafes and guest houses. Udaipur is most famous for its two island palaces that appear to be floating on the lake. Both palaces have been converted to hotels but only the Jag Mandir palace can be visited by tourists. The more attractive of the two locations is unfortunately off limits to non-guests as a security precaution following the Mumbai hotel attacks in 2008. Besides the palaces and various temples, the streets here are narrow and choked with traffic, pollution, people, and cows going about their business. This makes for great people watching and photography but the congestion and general lack of personal space wears you out quickly. On another note, the food continues to be fantastic for me but Nora has had stomach problems since Jodhpur.

Once again, I don't see a reason to linger here any longer than necessary. Only the locals can swim in the lake and maybe even they shouldn’t do it. The contamination issue of the lakes and rivers here pretty much eliminate India as an ecotourism destination, at least here in the state of Rajasthan. So with no options to swim or enjoy anything about the lake except its appearance, we will move on via the early train to Ajmer and a bus to Pushkar.