Udaipor, India

Oh how things can change. Because Lara and I signed up for our Indian tour at the last minute the tour company accommodated us by putting us in one tour for the first half of our trip and a different tour for our second half. As mentioned before, the group that we were with in the first half could not have been better. The group in our second half left a lot to be desired. Our first day after Pushkar was a travel day. We drove from Pushkar to Udaipor. The drive was 8 hours on nothing but two lane roads with tractors and farm animals. Adding to our pain was Lara being sick with Delhi Belly. We made one tourist stop, Ranakpur Temple. Ranakpur Temple was the coolest temple I had seen in India. The temple is a Jain Temple and completely made out of marble. Supporting the multiple marble levels is 1,444 carved marble pillars, each one unique. Unlike the temple we toured in Pushkar, this temple was immaculate. Unfortunately, Lara was so sick that she just sat on the bench and didn't go in. However, Lara wasn't alone on the bench as our new tour group was apparently recruited from the AARP Complaints Department. The three other women on the tour with us were all tired of seeing temples and the only other guy in the group just wanted to take some pictures and go. They didn't think we would need more than 5 minutes. I spent 20 minutes inside taking pictures. I didn't feel bad at all, and Lara was glad I made them wait. We arrived in Udaipur in the evening and just crashed.


Starting our full day in Udaipor we toured the City Palace. As I mentioned previously, our new group wasn't the best to travel with. We had an entirely new group made up of Maureen and Herb (aka Maurb or Herbeen) a 74 year old married couple, Fran, a 70 something who's friends call her bitch, Anna, a quiet 60 something, and Naji, our new tour guide. When we arrived at the City Palace Lara and I took the tour with Naji and Herb tagged along (apparently thinking we would only be in there for 10 minutes). Maureen and Anna stayed at the entrance because they didn't feel like walking and Fran went to the gift shop. After one room Herb decided he had seen enough of the palace and walked out, leaving Lara and I with Naji for a private tour. Naji gave us a great one hour private tour of the palace which we really enjoyed. When we came out of the palace after an hour the rest of the group was waiting, except for Fran. As we waited for Fran outside the palace we had to listen to Herb and his complaints; it took 15 minutes just to get out of the palace, he lost his beloved hat while riding an elephant, Fran's a bitch, the camel ride made his ass sore, he overpaid for a marble table, Fran's a bitch...... We spent 45 minutes outside the palace waiting for Naji to find Fran. Fran was eventually discovered in the gift shop buying chachkies of a palace she didn't go in.

Udaipor is on a lake with two man-made palaces in the middle. One of the palaces was the palace used in the James Bond movie, "Octopussy". After the tour we took a boat to one of the island palaces, this was after we dropped Anna at her hotel because she didn't want to go. Before we boarded the boat Naji was bombarded with 'how long is this boat ride going to last?', 'what's on this island?', and 'can I stay here and just wait for you guys?'. The boat ride was just a simple cruise of a little lake on a pontoon boat, which was cool. At the island palace we stopped and had a drink. Following the boat cruise we took a tour of the city, stopping at a couple stores to acquiesce Herb.

Early the following morning we all went to Udaipor Airport. Herbeen, Lara and I were bound for Mumbai while Fran and Anna headed off somewhere else.