Day 8

Our driver was here just after 14:00 and we got going soon after that, just took a few minutes for me to get ready. First we went a bit outside the city sentrum to a cultural heritage site (Shilpgram) operated by the government. Here, various tribes from all over Rajasthan had been contracted to build one of their settlement-complexes. Materials and workers from their area had been used so the structures were absolutely authentic. They were also in use; in addition to the structures the government hired in craftsmen from the region on a two-week basis. They live on site and have these two weeks to exhibit and sell their work to the tourists. They are paid well for their stay and live in good conditions for the duration. There were also entertainers - musicians and dancers livening up the area. Susanne was welcomed into their dance as well.

She also got a nice miniature painting on handmade rice paper and a nice armband directly from those who made them. We had to leave at this point as we wanted to have a looksee in the Udaipur City Palace. It was not far from our hotel and our driver let us out just down the street from the palace entrance.

I guess I will never get used to the little space and pushy merchants. They are like phonesalesmen without the ability to hang up when you feel that youve declined politely enough times. It seems like the only effective way to loose them is to keep walking and repeating "no thank you" until they have followed you so far that tey become worried for their store. We did make it all the way up to the palace without being rerouted through any stores, got through the line of "official guides" and entered the guarded palace grounds. A lot more calm there. I liked the palace, again it was quite different from the other fortifications we have visited. This one had a lot of plants and trees inside, more open space and a lot of water-elements like pools and fountains. We were quite late and had to skip most of the audio guide, but I think we both had a nice experience there. Having eaten no breakfast we were starting to feel a bit peckish and went to study the menu at one of the restaurants on the grounds. Over Rs300 for nothing but a little snack was a bit hard considering the general price level, and just a few meters down the street we found a nice clean international restaurant on a balcony overlooking the busy street and whose prices were much more reasonable at Rs70-100 for most veg. meals. Susanne opted for a veg.burger and I went for mixed veg. wraps. Food was really nice. When we were done eating we noticed our driver loitering around on the street and caught up with him. On our way back towards our hotel we stopped by a Jain temple. Here a person introducing himself as a Kashmiri art student gave us an impropmtu tour of the temple. He was the only one there NOT requesting money, instead he would very much like for us to come with him to the school he studied miniature painting at. It was just across the street and our driver joined us to make sure everything was OK. A quick tour of the school later we were again on our way home. However, instead of going back to the hotel we walked a bit further to a museum and cultural center in a large haveli. Here there was a show performed by several professional entertainers. Various styles of music, dance, balancing and a stringpuppet show. I liked one of the shows, a sort of sitting dance using the movements to various bells and with that creating a melody. The rest of the shows I found to be more culturally interesting than directly entertaining. After the show - where for once noone were asking for extra money - we walked back to the hotel. First I inquired about our laundry; sure, it had been delivered. Or had it? Susanne found two of her socks but that was it. It seemed like the staff took the matter of lost clothes seriously so we retreated to our room to wind down a bit. Perhaps 10 minutes later the doorbell rang and our clothes had been found. Most of them anyway, as the rest of Susannes socks were still MIA. Another 5 minutes later they also found their way to our room and Rs400 or €6.8 changed hands. We then decided for a nightsnack on the roof terrace. I took the antique elevator (having to manually open and close the two sets of doors by hand) while Susanne took the stairs. She went for a basic potato-dish (Zeera Aloo) and I gave the Hara Bhara veg. kabab a try. Both were very nice and just enough to get full. Now we have packed and blogged, pictures are being uploaded and as soon as Ill post this Ill go brush my teeth and try to get as much sleep as possible. Hoping for 7 hours, as its 01:00 here soon and we should get up 8ish if we want to grab some breakfast before we leave. I also have to withdraw some money as we are almost out and the ATMs here didnt want to issue any money today for whatever reason.

Oh, and an interesting situation that occurred just as we exited the hotel. Someone opened their car door just as a scooter was passing (without sounding the horn). Suddenly the scooter and driver are laying on the ground and there is a crowd of people around. Scooter is righted, driver (a girl) is helped up and de-dusted, she gets up on the moped and is on her way again. No exchange of names or insurance details, or involvement of law enforcement officers. Just a near-normal occurrence.

Pictures from today are going up at http://www.flickr.com/photos/aronn/sets/72157625603404529/?page=13 and beyond.