udaipur, kumbhalgarh fort and ranakpur jain temples.
udaipur.
returning to one of my indian favourites.
great hostel mewargarh palace. the owner rizwan is an utterly nice and helpful chap who offers something that is hard to find in india: absolutely reliable information on trips, transportation and restaurants. the rooms and bathrooms are brand new and the cleanest i have seen in india - and i mean clean in a european way. and luckily the family run roof restaurant has good food. one of the top 5 places i've seen during 15 years of travelling all around the world.
photo tour through the lanes and along the ghats. palace tour: labyrinth of hallways, rooms and small courtyards. it doesn't really look glamourous - maybe because the reception halls are not accessible to the tourists - well, i've been there once upon a time when i had a remarkable multi-course more-is-not-enough-dinner :-). but with a bit of concentration it's possible to ignore the visitors and imagine the court life in the palace.
do a bit of market analysis regarding indian miniature painting, unfortunately i can't find the shop anymore where i bought a masterpiece years ago. but at least i know what quality i want. maybe i'm lucky again.
fantastic dinner at the restaurant ambrai with a perfect view of the lake and the palaces and the sunset. life can't hardly be better: smelling, tasting, chewing and watching india. who says there is no male multitasking? i make more reservations just be sure to get the best table in town when i'll return to udaipur.
kumbhalgarh fort.
taxi ride through the rural back country. amazing how dramatically life changes once you're out of the cities. it's like going back in time. real time travel. farmers with oxcarts, women carrying hay on their heads, old-fashion flour mills. picture motifs every other meter. too bad i don't have time to stop as much as i' d like to.
the fort is impressive. truly a prototype of a fortress with massive walls, perfectly located on a rocky mountain. but what on earth makes you build such a thing in the middle of nowhere? only a military strategist knows the answer.
ranakpur jain temples.
continuing to ranakpur. the landscape gets even drier. looks like a hard life out here. if the fort wasn't impressive enough, the jain temples are even better. incredible sculpturing of pillars and ceillings. i just wander around staring.
continuing to jodhpur in the night. all cars are using high beam. not really remarkable - except the windscreen is completely scratched. suspense. the driver feels the same. he's driving slowly. my favourite impression of the night: a guy riding on a bicycle on a highway full of speeding truck drivers - without light. that's what i call trust in the gods. as the indians have so many there is a good chance that at least one of them is protecting the mentally retarded.
udaipur.
..back from jodhpur and jaisalmer. i take a nap on the couch on the roof and watch the sunsrise while i wait for my room. not a bad way to start a day. i reckon it doesn't make me an early bird...
strolling along the lake. lunch at ambrai restaurant. table at the lake.
rizwan takes me to a shop with high-quality paintings. we skip the preliminaries: i ask the the owner to show me the good stuff right away... tea-drinking...chatting about styles and qualities...bargaining. the whole show. i like his paintings. he likes my credit card. after more tea and and even more bargaining i leave. with some paintings. souvenir budget is spent.
dinner at ambrai restaurant. yes, table at the lake. nothing beats this view.
window shopping for kashmir shawls. 'just showing is my pleasure'. that's a funny phrase. i wonder how long the sales guy is keeping this attitude. i think i will have some fun for the next half an hour. and because i'm so nice i let him have some pleasure showing me his cloths. he explains the different qualities of wool and silk ratios and prices. i make a chart. a complicated issue needs a structured analysis... this is where the sales guy loses his pleasure of showing and his temper: 'this is not how i make business!'. 'i see. but this is how buy things! sorry, i'm german. we like charts. i'm sure, as a serious business man you're doing your market analysis and math, don't you?' ...i can't help it. i have a feeling 'just showing' was not meant to be a serious statement. the 30 minutes are up. enough entertainment for me. i wonder if there is really people who buy a multiple times over-priced shawl for 200 euro?
chatting with rizwan until midnight about everything under the sun, strange sales people (rizwan finds it not as funny is i do... ' these people give tourists a very bad impression on india'), and his future plans with the hostel and the special demands of the backpacker clientele. he's the proof that there's nice people in every corner of the world.