Mumbai to Udaipur - day 4 and sick already!

We took a 9 hour non air-conditioned second class train from Mumbai to Ahmadabad and then a sleeper train from Ahmadabad to Udaipur for another 10 hours. Udaipur is a city in Rajasthan north of Mumbai. The train rides were quite an experience as they were packed but we chatted to some of the locals and enjoyed the views from our open bar windows which almost made me feel like I was imprisoned. Especially when you ride past other trains and you see what it looks like from the outside. Coincidentally, as I was enjoying the scenes, Slumdog Millionnaire song 'Paper Planes' came on my ipod. That was not planned!

We started to get very hungry and with there not being much choice to eat on the train, we decided to be brave and eat the dhal puri which is served in a paper cone. It was delicious however I paid the price later on that night. I awoke in my sleeper bed on the train at 4am cold sweating and serious stomach cramps. It was pitch darkness and I was scared to go to the bathroom so I curled up in a ball in my bed and suffered silently till daylight. As soon as I got out of bed I ran to the toliet--which was a shitter smelly hole in the train and I vomitted out all my curry dinner! It was disgusting. Then I knew I had Dheli Belli. As our train arrived in Udaipur and I got off carrying my massive bagpack, with hot sun beating down and crowds of people everywhere, I felt so sick, weak and ready to faint and had to sit on the ground and wait for the crowds to go. We got into a tuk-tuk of Firoz who took us to his uncle's villas called Amar Villas which is where I am staying now. The people are so welcoming and treat you like family.

I spent the entire day (20 hours) in bed with fever, naseau, dirhea and stomach cramps and all I wanted was my mummy next to me to look after me. I knew I would get sick at some point but I didn't think it would be this soon, but in a sense I guess it's better to get it over with in the beginning and hopefully I build some form of immunity against it.

  

Royal Memorials

Camels symbolize love

Luckily, when I awoke the next morning, I felt a little better but still weak from not eating. Karen went for yoga and when she got back we took a tour of the city and went to Fateh Sagar lake, the King Garden called Moti Magri, the princess garden called Sahwlion Ki Bari. Here we had locals coming up to us asking to take pictures of us. We also visited the Royal Memorials which is where they buried the Kings and wives of the city. They spent 50+ years building these beautiful buildings of marble and carefully engraved with various symbols. Along the way, we came across camels which symbolise Love in India. The horse symbolises power, the elephant - good luck and of course the cow- holy! I am really liking this city, it's not as hectic as Mumbai and the people are even friendlier. Almost everyone who walks by says hello. There are also cows everywhere - all over the streets, eating foodf rom the garbage! As you know, they are sacred so nobody hurts them or eats them--instead they feed them and treat them with respect.   

During the day we relaxed at the guest house and then later on headed to the Lake Palace in the old city, 20 mins walk from where we are staying. Karen and I went with two guys we met at our villas - Danny from South Africa and Ben from Israel, both really nice people. We browsed the village on the way and bought our bus tickets to Pushkar. Udaipur is filled with lots of roof top cafes so we stopped off to eat. I had some nuts in my bag and ended up vomitting again at the cafe. The boys tried the 'Special Lassi' which is a traditional indian yoghurt drink made with different flavours such as mango etc. The special lassi however has a special ingredient - marijuana! I wanted to try it but my stomach would refuse any dairy at that point. I enjoyed watching how happy these boys became after trying it--nothing but big smiles!

Vegetable market

Indian spices market

We went to the vegetable and spice market which was filled with vibrant colors of fruits and vegetables in baskets and the noises of vendors trying to sell their foods. Karen bought some fruits but with my bad stomach  I feel reluctant eat anything but toast and noodle soup. Luckily with our tour guide we got local prices or otherwise we would have been ripped off. He was lovely, he showed us around the city, villages and taught us alot about the Indian culture and Udaipur history.

City Palace

Dinner nearby Palace with Raul

We continued on to the City Palace where we saw the palace of the royal family of Udaipur. The palace is massive - the biggest in Rajasthan and is divided into 2 hotels, a museum, and the actual residence of the roya

l family. Danny knew the manager of one of the hotels  called Raul so we were very lucky to get an exclusive private tour of this luxurious indian hotel overlooking the lake - a room costing almost 50,000 rupees a night, which is alot of money for here! We saw the rooms, the pool, the bar...all beautifully designed and peaceful. After 3 hours of browsing this large building we headed for dinner and met up with the guy who showed us the hotel, and his friends.We shared alot about each other and our cultures. Was a nice evening and Raul invited us to come to his home the next day for dinner with his family. Really kind and welcoming and I am looking forward to that.

  

Normel!

Going back to my earlier comments about the driving, I have been noticing that the women sit on the back of the motorbikes with no helmet and holding their baby. If this was the western world, you would be immediately stopped and fined.  It's unbelievable, but when I asked our driver he says that there are not really any accidents, considering the lack of safety measures. That's what you call driving skills.