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Udaipur

from a visit in February, 2000

The Lake Palace Hotel. Set on a tiny island (taking up the entire island) in Udaipur's lake, this is THE place to stay. Although it has some beautiful decorations, it is overrated. At least the cheaper rooms are, at $250/night. Maybe the royal suites are better. But I'd recommend visiting for lunch and stay on the shore in the much more opulently appointed Fateh Prakash. (Or, even better, the Maharajah's old hunting lodge, Shikarbadi, where you can enjoy monkeys on your rooftop and wild pigs and deer outside your window.)

The lake is pretty, except for the garbage floating along the shoreline.

With its whitewashed houses and narrow turning streets, Udaipur feels Mediteranean.

The City Palace is the best I've seen in India. Wonderful inlay work.

Indian royalty loved bringing in European glass.

An inner courtyard of the City Palace.

A lion painted on the walls of the City Palace. There were also innumberable paintings of maharajas killing scores and scores of tigers. Depressing.

A begger who demanded money for taking his picture, and insisted on a stiff pose.

Rooftop restaurants are everywhere, giving great vantage points for watching the life of the city. Much daily life goes on on the roofs, and some apartments are just open air terraces.

Bathtime.

As everywhere in India, garbage litters the streets. A little girl is getting water from a public spigot.

On the lakeshore at sunset.

Washing, of clothes and people, is done in the lake. Yes, all the sewage runs into it too, untreated. Still, Udaipur is one of the most pleasant cities I've visited in India.