Okay, first of all a very important rule of travelling: Not everything works out the way you plan. Sometimes you plan everything perfectly and still things get out of control. The trick is not to panic or be depressed and continue on the journey. The journey itself will heal you during its course.
We had a not so good start to our trip to Udaipur. We were in Mumbai for an entrance exam and had a gap of 3 day before another exam which was in Gandhinagar. The budget stricken, travel enthusiasts that we are, we wanted to used this opportunity to visit a place we had not been to before. After jumping between Mount Abu and Udaipur, we had finally decided to head to Udaipur.
We had our Mumbai exam on the 26th June (Sunday), which btw did not go very well. After lunch, we made a booking using RedBus.com, some website which we had been using at the time to make our bus bookings. We booked the night bus from Mumbai to Udaipur which had a pickup point at Vashi. Around one hour before the departure time, we contacted the bus driver and told him our location. He was very confused as according to him Vashi did not come in the route of the journey and there was no pick-up point at Vashi. We tried to understand the situation but he asked us to contact the RedBus customer service. We called the customer service and after a lot of argument got to know that there was a technical error in the website and it mentioned Vashi (instead of Versova or something) as a pick-up point. They agreed to refund our tickets, but for us time was more important than money. Finally, they offered us to take their bus to Ahmedabad later that night and then take some local bus to Udaipur and they would refund the difference in ticket cost. At this time there was no point of arguing as our primary objective was to not lose the night travel and miss out on the opportunity to visit Udaipur altogether.
We took the bus from Mumbai at around 11 pm in the night and it dropped us at some bypass junction in Ahmedabad in the morning at around 5 am. The only way to reach the bus station from there was to take an auto rickshaw who was asking for a price much more than the actual price to reach the station which was around 6 km from there. Finding ourselves helpless again we had to take the rickshaw. Things weren’t looking to go our way at all.
We finally reached the bus station which was, to our amazement, very well organised and rather clean. Let me tell you something, we usually travel on a budget and more often than not end up taking the buses for our transportation. So, we find overselves at bus stations a lot of time. We kinda actually like being at the bus stations. It is our personal favourite pit stop place during our travels. We enjoy having tea and some snacks and watching people destined to go to so many different places from the station. Everybody is in transit and in that chaos we somehow find peace. So, coming back to the story, we used the newly renovated toilets at the bus station to freshen up and bought the tickets for the very next bus to Udaipur which was a 5 hours journey from here.
We reached Udaipur in the afternoon and searched for a hotel first. We usually did not used to book hotels beforehand and did so on the go. We found a rickshaw man who offered to take us to a mid range hotel not far from the city centre (of course he got commissions from the hotel, but we were used to this and did not mind having a start to the hotel search). Fortunately, the first hotel we got to met our requirements: it was cheap, not very small, had a window and was not far from the city centre. So, we booked the hotel, got freshen up, kept our bags (already small, we travel light) and headed back to the city centre. We were greeted by a beautiful scene of the Lake Pichola. Yay! Finally some photos.
We sat along the Lake for a while at the same time searching for “Places to visit in Udaipur”. We decided that it was better to go to the Monsoon Palace, which was a little away from the city, first and visit the places in the city the next day.
We took an auto rickshaw from the city to somewhere near the fort and then took a shuttle cab from there to the entrance of the fort. The shuttle service lets you buy return tickets. We reached the entrance of the Palace and it was in front of our eyes. Sajjangarh Fort, popularly known as the Monsoon Palace, was built by Maharana Sajjan Singh in 1884 and later completed by Maharana Fateh Singh, his successor, after his death. It is located on a Bansdara peak of Aravalli hill. The Royal Family used the fort to watch the monsoon clouds which brought the name of Monsoon Palace.
The Palace was grand, with large areas to walk around it and to sit in the garden. It offered spectacular panoramic views of Udaipur city and its stunning lakes, mountains and palaces. Just sitting there looking at the tiny white houses of the city of Udaipur brought tranquility. The journey had started to heal the distraught we had in our minds.
We spent an hour or so at the Monsoon Palace, taking pictures from any angles, with our phones, trying to capture the beauty that we were witnessing with our eyes. All the negativity started to go away. The unsatisfactory exam result did not seem to bother, neither did the terrible bus journey to finally reach Udaipur. Thing were getting better.
We headed back from the Palace and next went to Shilpgram. Shilpgram is a rural district bordering Fateh Sagar Lake, around 3 km from the city. It is known for Shilpgram Crafts Village, an open-air attraction with traditional-style huts built from mud and other things representing everyday items from diverse regions of western India including Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Goa and Gujarat. Entering the huts containing utensils, tools and other items used in the day to day life of the villagers there gave us a glimpse into a different aspect of the western Indian culture. We were most fascinated by the open-air amphitheater in the Shilpgram Complex. The dwellers of the village also performed traditional dance and songs which were the charm of our trip so far.
We spent a good amount of time in the Shilpgram complex. It felt like having entered a different world altogether. It is hard to imagine that there exists a region almost within the bustling city life that is so distant from it. Visiting those huts and the villagers gave us a sense of pride in the diversity of our our beautiful country.
Having spent a great time in Shilpgram, we returned to the city centre and went to our hotel for a quick rest. It was already evening and we headed back to the banks of the Lake Pichola. The colours were completely different, with the sun setting sown. We sat in a public park close to the lake and watched the sky turn from orange to almost black. There was a person in the park who was playing the flute. Listening to the melodious tune with the beautiful scene in front of us was a delight.
We sat there until it got dark and later got up to grab dinner. We ate at a vegetarian restaurant and later took a stroll towards our hotel to bring an end to the first day in Udaipur.
Next morning we woke up and got ready to check out from the hotel. We requested the manager if we could leave our bags at the reception and collect them later before leaving, to which he agreed. Our plan for today was to visit as many sites in the city as we could. However, we had realised that the city had a lot to offer and we had limited time. We started our day by heading to the City Palace.
The City palace is located on the east bank of Lake Pichola and has several palaces built within its complex. It was built over a period of nearly 400 years, with contributions from several rulers of the Mewar dynasty. The Palace is huge and it was difficult to get a picture of the complete palace from anywhere near the complex.
The palace is built on a hill top and provides panoramic views of the city. Several popular and historical monuments and sites can be seen from the Palace complex. The beautiful Lake Palace (Jag Niwas), which is situated in the Lake Pichola looks magnificent from the Palace. Other sites such as the Monsoon Palace and the Jag Mandir can also be seen from the City Palace.
After visiting the City Palace inside out, we went to Bagore-ki-Haveli which is situated close to the City Palace. Bagore-ki-Haveli is a haveli which was built in the 18th century by the then Prime Minister of Mewar, Amar Chand Badwa. This palace has over a hundred rooms, with displays of costumes, modern art and paintings representative of the Mewar dynasty. There is also a Museum in the palace.
Although visiting these huge palaces and trying to imagine the times of the Emperors and Queens was exciting, it was time taking at the same time. In order to best utilise our time, we decided against going to the Lake Palace and satisfied ourselves with the pictures of it from the City Palace. We then had lunch and decided to go to the Shri Karni Mata Temple via the Ropeway.
The Shri Karni Mata Temple is situated in the Machhala hills and provides stunning views of the city. We did not want to miss out on the opportunity to get the picturesque views of this beautiful city and its surroundings. We were told that the sunset views from the top were something not to miss. There is a ropeway service from the Deendayal Upadhyay Park in the city to the top of the hill. It is a 4 to 5 minute ride to reach the cable car stop. We had to climb some steps to finally reach the temple complex dedicated to goddess Karni Mata. After giving our prayers we walked further up to a fort like structure. It had a shrine of Pahad Wale Baba also known as Malang Sarkar at the Cannon Point, the Fort wall and an ancient warehouse. We sat there looking at the stunning view of the city of Udaipur.
We could see the Lake Palace in the Lake Pichola, the huge complex of the City Palace, the Doodh Talai Lake, from where we took the ropeway in the city, the houses of the city of Udaipur and of course the landscapes of the mesmerising Aravali mountains on the other side of lake. Although there were clouds in the sky and we could not get the perfect sunset view, the view that we got was nothing less.
We took the ropeway back down to the city. We had already checked with the city bus station about the night bus to Ahmedabad where we were headed. We went to the hotel to collect our bags, and then went to a restaurant for our dinner. Later that night, we took the bus to Ahmedabad bring an end to this wonderful trip.
This trip started on a rough path. We had the option to either curse the situation and let the opportunity of travelling to a new place go or we could continue the journey hoping for something better to come along the way. We chose the second option. The troubles stayed for a while but eventually things got from bad to better to awesome. We had a really great time in Udaipur. We got to see a new place, a place filled with so much history and natural beauty. Whenever I look back at that time, I am never reminded about the troubling journey or the bad exam but by the time spent in Udaipur, which always brings a smile to my face.
Fun Facts about the city:
– Udaipur is mentioned under the spelling ‘Oodeypore’ in Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book as the birthplace of Bagheera, the fictional panther.
– Indian sections of the James Bond film Octopussy were filmed in the city, the Lake Palace, and the Monsoon Palace.
Once Upon a Trip... 
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