Udaipur, Chittor Mt Abu - March 2006

This year we decided on 'Udaipur' as the destination for our short March vacation. And this turned out to be our best vacation in a long time. The place is so very beautiful with loads to do and see.
We took the new Mewar express night train from Delhi to Udaipur. It takes 12 hours and is super fast compared to the older Chetak that took about 20 hrs. Nowadays the Highway is excellent right up to Udaipur and a taxi will get you there from Delhi in about 8 hours comfortably. Our kids were keen on a train journey with its 'bunk -beds’, so we didn't explore the taxi option further. True to their promise, the kids just loved the journey. It was made even more enjoyable by a group of 34 school kids in our compartment!
Coming out of the train, we were relieved finding the heat in Udaipur to be not too much worse than Delhi (though the average temperatures are about 5 degrees higher in Udaipur). We found an Auto with a charming middle-aged driver, who was keen to show us all of the Udaipur in about 6 hours for Rs 225 :) He mentioned that we could stretch it to 8 hrs without any extra charges. We liked the man (!!) and bargained for a full day for Rs 300, and we could go wherever we wanted. We continued this arrangement for the whole 3 days that we were in Udaipur.

Day 1: we enjoyed the lovely City Palace with the Crystal Gallery. Had lunch at the Garden restaurant and saw the vintage car collection of the erstwhile king. We went back to the guesthouse for an afternoon siesta. The evening boat trip to Jagmandir was lovely, and so were the Pakoras at the Fateah Prakash sunset terrace. Later we went to explore the shopping options. We found the Emporiums to be quite expensvie, and settled on the local market near the Hathipol area. They have some lovely cotton clothes at unbelievable prices (Cotton Plaza is the place to go though the shopkeeper isn't too keen on showing things unless you promise to pick at least 3 things). We found some good ethnic footwear too.

Day 2: we took a taxi to Chittor (Rs 1150 - for full day including tolls between Udaipur and chittor) . The fort is quite grand and got a good guide for Rs 150. Children had fun watching the Baboons eat peanuts out of the hands of tourists. We got scammed on the lunch: We went to the place with loud banners all over the place (mistake number 1). Ordered the 'thali' that wasn't on the menu card but was available (mistake number 2) - later the Thali turned out to be Rs 70 though the rest of the items on the menu suggested it should be about Rs 25. One plus point was that the children had a nice time with the two ducks in the backyard. The journey time to chittor was only one and half hours and we reached back Udaipur at about 3.30 in the afternoon. In the evening we went to Apni Dhani. Its a village kind of resort made on the lines of Chokhi Dhani at Jaipur. This one is much smaller. Nevertheless its very beautifully done on a hillside, with lots of flower beds and small green patches all around. The food here, was the only authentic Rajasthani one that we found in Udaipur. Another highlight was the 'Acrobats' show. Children still rave about the ride on 'Banshi' the camel. I would highly recommend this place.

Day 3: we went around tourist attractions near the Fateh Sagar - Sahelion ki bari - a very well maintained park with dense overhead green cover, Chetak samarak (another place with well maintained lawns and fountains), Nehru Park - a lovely 'cool' park in the middle of the lake. We went to Shilpgram but it was too hot for a camel ride around the place. We did enjoy a rajasthani song sung enthusiastically by a group of folk singers. The lunch at the "shivani' diner was very nice. It had a great Gujarati Thali that even the kids enjoyed.
We went to the Sunset Park in the evening. This place has a nice Musical fountain show also. The kids loved dancing along side the fountains. The evening was rounded off with a sumptuous dinner by the poolside in Shiv Prakash Palace. This place is quite nice and not as expensive as the Lake Palace.



Day 4: In the morning we went shopping against the wishes of children. But they were happy once they found some nice wooden toys among other stuff at Hathipol. Had another lovely Gujarati lunch at Natraj. Then went around looking for some Churan and similar things. We found excellent stuff at 'Atlee' Tea store in Bapu Bazar. In the evening, we went to the one-hour show at 'Indian Kala Mandir' - this turned out to be 'the' highlight of the trip with an amazing puppet show followed by an even more amazing folk dance show. The 'Bhowai' dancer danced on broken glass with 11 pitchers balanced over a 7 inch glass on the head - maybe she is the last person on earth who can still do this. The performance left us dazed and we didn’t know what do next. The lovely dosa and chutney at 'sankalp' didn't get the attention these deserved.




Day 5: As we had heard quite a bit about Dilwara Temples at Mt. Abu we had planned to return by the Rajdhani Train leaving Abu Road at 8:30pm. So we took a full day taxi from Udaipur to take us to mt Abu, sight seeing there and dropping us at the railway station in the evening. The road from Udaipur to Mt Abu runs through jungles with tribal huntsmen, the taxis aren't willing to ply on this road in the dark. They insist on dropping you early at Mt Abu so that they can reach back Udaipur during the day itself. But we figured that if we retain the taxi for the full day and ask him to come back early the next day, they are ready to charge only for half that day and it came to Rs 1500 for the trip for us. I believe that is cheaper than a drop off from Udaipur and then a local taxi at Mt Abu. The Dilwara temples are truly an 'out of the world' sight. The marble carvings are astonishing to say the least. The peace garden a little further is also worth a visit.
In the evening, we took a Shikara ride on the Nakki lake. It was well worth the price. There are some interesting rock formations around the place. The handcarts used to transport children to the sunset point are remembered more than the sunset itself. Oh yes, had another lovely Gujarati thali at Kanak Dinning place - the best out of the three we had.












The ride home was full of fond memories; maybe we will go for another vacation to Udaipur.