![\"2015-01-06](\"http:\/\/durianapocalypse.net\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/2015-01-06-182817.jpg\" "\\"2015-01-06")
<\/a><\/p>\nIt\u2019s great to read<\/em> about a place, but not look at any pictures, \u2018cause then when you do at last get a glimpse, it can still be surprising enough to draw a gasp. There\u2019re a half-dozen man-made lakes around and about — constructed from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries — with massive, gorgeous palaces (many now converted to hotels) ringing the shores and, as you see, occupying small islands as well. It also looks mighty fine during the daytime. (Moreover, we\u2019re already in the Element Of Summer here despite it\u2019s only mid- January: Nary a cloud in the sky, daytime highs in the 80s; though still quite chilly at night.)<\/p>\n Octopussy <\/em>was shot here (and parts of Gandhi<\/em> as well), and it\u2019s certainly easy to see why such a location should have been chosen. It was one of my fave Bond films back in the day, but when it was released to DVD in the early-oughts, my estimation was that it had not held up well at all. Now, having visited Udaipur, I shall have to give it another look-see.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the incredible City Palace:<\/p>\n The tour of the same is a great wondrous time, including another heaping helping dose of those stunning Indian Miniature paintings to go along with the marvelous architecture and the most beautiful d\u00e9cor I\u2019ve yet seen in any such tour. Lucky you, however, I didn\u2019t purchased a camera permit, so I have no pictures of the interiors to pass along.<\/p>\n There is this, though. Leaving the Palace grounds, some dudes barraged my self with the usual litany of questions \u2013 What is your name?, What is your country?, Are you traveling alone?, How long have you been in India?, and cetera \u2013 and then asked me to sit for a photo with not only themselves, but also their students. The latter were massed just outside the gate \u2013 you couldn\u2019t possibly believe the enormous numbers of field-tripping schoolchildren rushing through the museums in India and Nepal. It\u2019s kind of annoying, truth be told, considering it\u2019s like waiting for the world\u2019s longest train to pass, and yet they don\u2019t even both to look at the exhibits.<\/p>\n Anyway<\/em>, don\u2019t generally bother to do so on these occasions, but as many cameras were already being passed around for the event, I added mine to the mix. I don\u2019t even think the smiling ladies next to me were a part of the group \u2013 they showed up and joined in after some photos had already been taken. Don\u2019t know why having one\u2019s photo taken with a frickin’ barefoot gora apparently carries with it such cache, but it\u2019s a great favourite pastime of the Indian citizenry. The kids seemed more confused than excited; but when I made to shake their hands after, they were happy to get into the spirit pretty good.<\/p>\n One can hike (or get a gondola) up to the top of one of the hills to view the sunset, and pray the temple, and so forth. And from the one angle…<\/p>\n …one might well be forgiven for wondering, \u201cThat\u2019s not such a big city \u2013 from whence all the smog?\u201d But, turn around and look down the other<\/em> side of the hill, and Udaipur is reminiscent of Kathmandu: Ringed by mountains, with urban sprawl jamming its way into every square inch of the valley floor below said mountains. (To be fair, there\u2019s a lot more green space set aside here than in Kathmandu \u2013 but the smog is nevertheless just as noticeable in the former location as in the latter.)<\/p>\n Also to be seen from the mountain-top, this incongruity set amidst one of the local neighbourhoods. One wonders, might it be a landing disc for a Martian craft? It would help explain how the sons of bitches living here some six hundred years before present pulled off the magnificent engineering marvels that are the lakes and palaces.<\/p>\n In addition to the smog, the city\u2019s other bugaboo is the obligatory motorcycle and tuk-tuk gauntlet. But, Udaipur being a hilly city, the damnable machines are, unlike in other cities in India and Nepal, truly terrifying here, careering down the steep inclines through the very narrow streets at even faster rates of speed than elsewhere they could. So I\u2019m more than a little thrilled to (knock wood) be getting out of here with my bones still intact.<\/p>\n Nastinesses aside, there\u2019s much to love here, beginning with the public art. There are any number of art schools in town, and the students use the walls for their final projects (or what). The subject matter is pretty samey, but it\u2019s great fun to be walking \u2018round a city whose buildings’ walls are filled up with such-like images…<\/p>\n \u00b7<\/p>\n And there are shit-tonnes of temples here, some of them very<\/em> impressive (not to mention freaky\/strange) indeed…<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n