Udaipur is, without doubt, the most beautiful place we visited in India. It was amazing, and I say this as someone who spend 2 days there with suffering from bowel trouble, vomitting and stomach cramps. From the second we arrived everything was a million and four times better than Jaipur (except in Jaipur whenever you told someone you were from England they said "lovely jubbly". If they did that in Udaipur too that would make it even better). For starters we greeted at the very calm station by a rickshaw driver waving a sign saying "Welcome Rabacca" (they misheard the spelling over the phone). Then we drove through all these lovely quite, by Indian standard, little streets to our hotel that over looked one of the lakes that Udaipur is built around. Our rickshaw driver, Bilhu, then offered to take us out again in the evening and the following day to show us around, which we happily agreed to. It was quite the most lovely arrival I've ever had in India. Then of course the cramping and vomitting began, but I've decided thats my Malaria pills and not Udaipur's fault.
Udaipur very lush and green with patches of oppulence (spas and luxury hotels), surrounding it all are very dramatic mountains, twisty roads and incredible views across the valleys. It is quite James Bondy in places, which is fitting, as Octopussy was filmed here many a year ago. Bilhu was there when it happened and told us that the locals didn't know what was going on, suddenly lots of English people decended on their town! The guidebook, and a massive sign outside our hotel, promised nightly showings of the film as the town is incredibly proud of this connection. This seems to be complete lies as I didn't see it once. On our last day I spent the entire time (10 hours!) curled up in the cafe nursing my many illnesses and they didn't show it at all. I would have quite liked a bit of James Bond to take my mind off everything!
Anyway, we saw some beautiful things (but also had to suffer through a two hour tour of some villages led by a guide who spoke incredibly slowly and left massive pauses between every sentence. At one point he stared at as all for a good 20 seconds and then started giving us Indian names!) and it was a very relaxing way to spend our last few days before the madness of Mumbai and the school kicks in.
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