Udaipur: Day 2: Chris' Birthday

Rooftop sunrise

Rooftop sunrise

Finally! A sleep that only saw us wake two or three times during the night! And only a couple of barking dogs! We woke up relatively refreshed and ready to celebrate Chris getting old.

As it was still early we ventured up to the rooftop mezzanine day bed armed with blankets to watch the sun rise over Udaipur. We watched as the sky turned orange and wondered how long it would take for the sun to finally come up. Then I spotted a sliver or bright orange. The sun had been rising directly behind a temple and, as such, had been hidden from view. It did come out though, it all its glory, and it was a stunning start to the day.

When it warmed up a little we ordered a big birthday breakfast for the birthday boy. Chocolate pancakes. Except that 'pancakes' in India means one giant pancake/crepe thing, slathered in chocolate and rolled up. Delicious all the same. Our eyes were too big for our bellies though and the fruit, muesli and curd we also ordered only got half eaten.

After doing some much needed laundry we wandered into town on a mission to get me a leather handbag. After pacing the shops yesterday we had a good idea of what we should be paying. After struggling to decide between camel and buffalo leather I was pleased to come across sheep leather. And I was also pleased to know that camels had to die before they could be used as leather...people couldn't just kill them. The beautiful water buffalo on the other hand weren't so lucky. We were infrmed that while the Hindus wouldn't kill them, the Muslims do that, they happily turn them into bags. On Chris' wise advice I settled on sheep leather, deciding that I didn't really need to pay for buffalo leather that would "last a lifetime" when I'd probably be bored of the style soon enough.

As I waited fr my bag to be oiled a darker colour, a leather laptop bag caught the birthday boy's eye. Despite being unsure when he would ever use it, and not owning a laptop, he just couldn't say no...especially when we imagined how amazingly hipster he would look when he combined it with his new shirts, his fixie and the Cafe Racer motorbike he is planning on building.

We bargained hard and definitely scored a bargain getting the two leather bags for 1800 rupees.

The view from Little Prince

After an hour or so spent back at the guesthouse we went out in search of lunch and found Little Prince where we sat and gazed over the lake as we ate pizza and finger chips (fries). We were reminded, thanks to the graffiti, that Udaipur is very proudly the home kof 007 Octopussy. After lunch we again returned to our guesthouse, up the stairs, only to leave again soon after. We were certainly getting a good workout at this place. While we were out I decided to treat myself (on Chris' birthday) and get a massage. I agreed to pay 400 rupees (about $7) for a half hour back and shoulder session. There was a miscommunication though so I ended up with a full body massage but still only paid the 400. Love that!

Birthday beers

I returned to our guesthouse to find Chris enjoying a birthday beer while enjoying our stunning place views. We dragged ourselves away to go and retrieve Chris' tailor made birthday shirts from Little Armani. We even picked up some chocolate birthday cake on our way and got me some sandalwood perfume oil from one of the roadside 'potion shops,' as Chris calls them.

Potion shopping

We found a place called Jasmin for dinner, back over our side of town in the Hanuman Ghat vicinity. We decided to take away our veg chowmein and veg burger but first I had something to do. As we waited for our meal I spotted a girl at a table near ours who looked very familiar. I was sure I recognised her from Sri Lanka. Uppuveli? Kandy? I asked her if she had been in Sri Lanka prior to India and, sure enough, she had. Turns out Jasmine, like us, was travelling from Sri Lanka, through India then on up to Nepal. Like us, she was next heading to Jodpur then Jaisalmer. Like us, she was struggling with India. Like us, she was from Melbourne. In fact, she was from Balwyn, where we are planning on living upon our return. The similarities were all getting a little bit weird. We grabbed her email and returned to our guesthouse rooftop to enjoy our takeaway dinner.

Lake Pichola and City Palace by night

We unfolded our aluminium foil wrapped parcels, Chris grabbed a beer, the sun set and the palaces on the lake put on a stunning display of lights and lasers for Chris' birthday. Very thoughtful of them we thought. It was the perfect end to a perfect final day in Udaipur.

 

Sunset rooftop views