india part 4

after jaipur we went to another "ur"...there seem to be lots of them...udaipur is named for udai singh, a maharaja...it is built around lake pichola, which is supposed to be really pretty...according to who knows who, udaipur is the venice of the east...i wouldn't really agree with that...the monsoon has been pretty crappy for the past two years, so the lake is pretty low, and doesn't look very pretty...not at all...there are two islands in the middle of it...one is a palace, and one is a hotel...they're both lit up at night, and quite picturesque...it's pretty at night than during the day...at least that's what i thought....there is another lake on the north side of the town, called fateh sagar...that lake is low as well, and looks just as icky...
when we arrived in udaipur my foot got caught as i was getting out of the rickshaw that delivered us to a hotel...i didn't think anything of the cut on my hand at the time...
there are a number of temples around town, and the first one we discovered was nearly completely deserted...of course, as we walked in to explore, two locals came with us, each trying to be our guide...udaipur was the place where we had the most people who would walk along with us for a little while telling us facts and showing us places, then ask for money, even though we hadn't asked them for anything in the first place...frustrating...anywho, this temple was indo-aryan, with exquisite carving...we went to another one as well, but it was covered in people, and somehow that made it less interesting...
our favorite part of udaipur was a cooking class we took from a lady named shashi...having been in india for nearly a month, we had tried a lot of different foods, and were really excited about learning how to make some of them...she started the class by telling us her life story, which was awesome...she's a widow, and by the laws of her caste, she's not allowed to remarry, ever...she also told us some other details....she's a very strong woman...anywho, 3 hours later, we had prepared a FEAST, and got to attempt to eat it...that was probably the first and only time in india that we weren't able to finish everything in front of us...so much food...and such good food...as part of the class we received the recipes of everything we made, and now we're both really keen to have "indian night" with some friends after our trip....at the end of the class shashi also gave us earrings, a keychain, and a friendship bracelet...fantastic experience...
we left udaipur on a bus one morning, and arrived that afternoon in mt abu...it's a hill station, and the road up the mountain is windy...surprisingly, i didn't get sick...we hired a paddleboat and paddled around nakki lake for an hour, which was nice...at one point on the lake a couple indian guys in another boat attempted to make conversation, and one even climbed over onto our boat...the only problem is that they spoke only a few words of english...i'm not exaggerating...when we said we were going to keep going, i had to indicate that it was time for him to get out of the boat, because he didn't understand...he also asked us for our mobile numbers, which of course we don't have, and wouldn't have given him...that would be a conversation of total silence!! anywho, the other reason to go to mt abu is to see the jain temples at dalwara, a few kilometers away...they are made of white marble, with incredibly intricate carving...you're not allowed to take a camera in, so i don't have any pictures other than the ones in my head...there are 5 temples, and to someone like me, they all look somewhat the same...they are awesome though...temple #5 isn't finished...according to someone who works there, while it was being built, a war broke out, and funds that were supposed to go to the temple were diverted to the war fund...sad...
on the bus ride from mt abu to ahmedabad, i did get motion sickness...at least i felt awful on the way down the mountain...but after our first food stop i felt a lot better...that was our first time (and only time) in a sleeper bus...when we arrived in ahmedabad, it wasn't clear at all when we were supposed to get off the bus...we asked, and got conflicting answers from the same guy..."last stop"..."this stop"..."next stop"...we're used to miscommunication by now...ahmedabad is one of the more muslim areas of india...there are quite a few mosques, and quite a few women who are almost entirely covered...the street market is huge, and keeps going and going and going...we saw another bollywood movie, chandni chowk to china...we didn't like it as well as our first movie, rab na bana di jodi...there aren't many tourists in ahmedabad, i don't think we saw any other foreigners...