Jaipur and Udaipur

Elephant carved from one stone

Our driver drove 4 hours to Ranthambore to pick us up and take us back to Jaipur. Along the way we stopped at Hathi Bhata where a giant elephant was carved out of a single stone. The elephant is 25 feet long and over 20 feet tall! There was a family there with children and two babies all dressed in beautiful Indian finery. One adorable baby was with its grandmother. I asked to take a picture with him and due to a language misunderstanding she handed him over for me to hold! I tried to hold him carefully and take a selfie quickly so I could give hime back before I dropped him. The family took another picture with us and another toddler. They also had us take a picture with the whole clan by the elephant. Wonderful friendly folks!

With our driver Ashok who drove 4 hours to pick us up

Meeting the ladies with the cute baby

They gave me the baby to hold and I am trying not to drop it

With another cute baby

Picture of us with the family 2

The lake in Jaipur

Our driver had a wedding to attend later that day but he arranged for us to hire his friend to take us around Jaipur. We drove by the beautiful fascade of Hawa Mahal and numerous gates to the “old city.” He took us to the lake with a palace in the middle of it, Jal Mahal. We took pictures and got some delicious sugar cane juice from a guy running a diesel powered juicing contraption (see video). Next we went to the City Palace and Jantar Mantar where our guide has arranged a guide to show us around. Jantar Mantar was an observatory built in 1734 by the first king of Jaipur who had previously built a smaller one in Delhi. There are 19 astronomical building-instruments on the grounds that were used to tell time, predict eclipses and track the progression of planets among other things.

Sugar cane juice anyone?

One of many gates into Jaipur inner city

Samrat Yantra Indias largest
sundial accurate within 2
seconds built in 1724

The centerpiece of Jantar Mantar (and also of the one in Delhi) is a HUGE sundial. The one in Jaipur was the largest in the world until a couple years ago. It is 88 feet high and is accurate within 2 seconds. I couldn’t get a picture of the shadow on it, but there is a smaller sundial accurate to the nearest minute that I was allowed to go into (see pics). There were several other fascinating instruments we looked at including one with an inverted sky carved out of marble with a metal disk suspended above it showing the position of the sun. It’s amazing what great mathematical feats they accomplished in India. In Nepal we learned they were the first to calculate the height of Mount Everest and were accuarate within 30 meters way back in 1847.

There is an adjustment for each date since it is not on the equator

Smaller sundial in Jantar Mantar

Small sundial accurate to nearest minute so every hour is the big line with four groups of 15 minutes

Natalie and I in Jantar Mantar with the palace in the far background

Jai Prakash Yantra This inverted sky of marble has a small metal circle in the center representing the suns position

Another cool building I am not sure what it does

Colorful tuk tuk

The City Palace was next and I learned that each of these major cities (Jaipur, Udaipur, etc) had kings that ruled the area. However, after the end of British Rule in 1947 all the kings were suddenly kings no more as India gained its independence and the Republic of India was born. These former royal families still owned the palaces but parts of them have been turned into hotels and tourist attractions, which is how the families get revenue. We saw a large covered area that is sometimes rented out for parties inside the palace grounds, which has two giant sterling silver urns. These urns, which are 5’3” tall and hold over 1000 gallons, were used to carry holy water from the Ganges River for the king when he traveled to England in 1902 as he did not want to get sick drinking the water in the West.

Buying a miniature painting
from a palace artist

Looking through the palace courtyards

Large covered space now rented out for parties that has the two giant silver urns that one king filled with holy water from the Ganges for his trip to England

Adorable mama and baby

Our last stop was to the “monkey temple” which is Hanuman Ji Temple, where tons of monkeys hang out and you can buy peanuts to feed them. We never even made it to the temple, we stopped just inside the gates and had fun feeding monkeys. They were so gentle, they would come up and take it out of your hand. One mama monkey had a baby. We kept trying to feed the baby, but the mom would always take the peanuts. Then we saw the baby nursing and realized it doesn’t eat peanuts yet. There were many monkeys, small and large, well trained to politely take the handouts though they would squabble amongst themselves. Feeding these adorable creatures was the highlight of the day!

Feeding the mama and baby

Natalie feeding monkeys

Me feeding monkeys

Straining the masala milk tea

On the way back to our hotel, we saw an elephant walking down the street on its way to a wedding (no, not as a guest, it would be working transporting the groom and bride). We pulled over and it stopped to take pictures with us. We declined to ride it as my Thailand training has impressed on me the importance of not riding elephants anymore. We also got some delicious street food, kulche, which are oval shaped soft breads that are served with a delicious stir fried mixtures of garbanzo beans, onions, tomatoes, and spices. Like all street food I’ve tried in India, it was fabulous! Our driver also took us to the best tea booth in the city, Robin’s, who makes the best masala milk tea!

Drinking our delicious masala milk tea

Our driver took us to the best tea shop in Jaipur

Elephant walking down the street on its way to a wedding

Buying streetfood

Delicious Streetfood in Jaipur

Our refreshing drinks at the Hilton Executive Lounge

Once we got back to the hotel, we enjoyed the diamond member happy hour, where we got a drink and appetizers. They were so good I devoured them before I even thought to take a picture! The next morning we flew back to New Delhi and from there to Udaipur, the city of lakes with multiple man made lakes and palaces in the middle of some. We stayed at Hotel Janak Vilas, which was a nice little hotel very near the City Palace.

Non alcoholic blue welcome drinks at Janak Vilas Hotel

Toilet in Udaipur with hose attachment

Room in Udaipur

Another view of room in Udaipur with air conditioner

bathroom in Udaipur

Palace in the middle of Lake Pichola

Our first adventure was to take the ferry ride out onto Lake Pichola where we cruised by the Lake Palace before landing at the Jagmandir, another old palace on the lake. Four marble elephants greet you by the dock (see pics). Covid has taken a toll on the tourism here and impacted the upkeep, so the once lush gardens were looking a bit bare though we did spot a tiny chipmunk running across the lawn. The real treat of the cruise was seeing all the fruit bats cooling off in the hot May afternoon by flying over the lake and touchingthe water briefly before flying off again. We returned back to land at sunset where we saw a mother bat with baby hanging onto one of her wings making it hard for her to fly (see video below). We also then saw many bats hanging in the trees where earlier they seemed like part of the tree.

Fruit bat taking off in Udaipur

This aqua thing is not a diaper pin its a dragonfly

Chipmunk on Jag Mandir in Lake Pichola in Udaipur

Guards at the City Palace grounds

View of City Palace from the lake

Jagmandir

Four marble elephants that greet visitors to Jagmandir island

Inside the gates of Jagmandir

View of the City Palace from Jagmandir

These trees on Jagmandir totally looked fake to me but they are real

Fruit bats in the trees

Mom bat with baby picture

Bats in the sky over Lake Pichola

Sunset over the Water Palace

Jagmandir at night with fruit bats above

Part of the City Palace now a hotel at night

Monkeys hanging out on the streets of Udaipur

We had dinner that night on the rooftop of the hotel. It was excellent once they made the sauce more mild for me! We had a wonderful view of the City Palace and also of a nearby outdoor wedding reception that was being recorded by drone that would go in close then whisk high into the sky for a wide view of the city. Also on the rooftop was a giant TV screen, both of which seemed so incongruous with the old palace and city streets. The next day we continued our exploration with a tour of the City Palace followed by a tuk tuk ride to Saheliyon Ki Bari, which is a park with fountains and gardens. We saw families taking pictures in front of fountains and picnicking.

View of the City Palace at night from my hotel in Udaipur

Restaurant and bar on the roof of Janak Vilas hotel

Natalie and I in the City Palace

Doorways in the City Palace are very short so that hiding defenders can cut the heads off intruders as they duck through the doorway

Where the king would come speak to people

Old game that involves dice which are the long rectangular sticks in the bottom left

Model 1 of City Palace original

Model 2 of City Palace

Model 3 of City Palace

Model 4 of City Palace current times

Tiny foot wide stingray in aquarium

After that we went to the aquarium, which our hotel manager had recommended. The aquatium was pretty cool. It had many different fish in it, and also a number of nifty attractions like a virtual world experience with goggles, a 3-D picture room, and a fish pedicure. We had heard the 3-D pictures were fun so we did those. You can see a few of our favorites below. I had also been wantihg to try a fish pedicure where you put your feet into a tank of fish and they eat all the dead skin off your feet. It tickles a bit and is pretty cool. I recommend trying it if you get a chance. Our feet came out looking and feeling much better! Then we headed back to the hotel for lunch, which was delicious just as dinner was last night.

small stingray bottom view

Strange looking goldfish

Me in the aquarium

Nat with flamingo

Me with dolphin

Natalie with ball and dolphin

Me with crocodile

Natalie getting a fish pedicure

Giant fountain at Saheliyon Ki Bari

Fountain at Saheliyon Ki Bari

Families come to enjoy the fountains and picnic in the gardens

Natalie and I having lunch on cushions

Marvelous lasagne for lunch at Janak Vilas

Waiting for the ropeway which is cable not really rope

Our final trip before we headed to the airport was to check out the “ropeway” which is an aerial tramway that goes up to the highest point in the city. Luckily for us, it is not actually made out of rope but instead is a strong metal cable “rope” with 3 compartments that each hold up to 6 people. At the top we had a great view of the city. Also up there, I was again asked to take selfies with people. Earlier at the palace, two different people had requested selfies, then another one in the city, and finally two more at the ropeway. I first thought we were such obvious foreigners, we were just interesting.

Random guy who asked to take a selfie with me

View of the Lakes of Udaipur from the top of the ropeway

Heading down the ropeway while another is coming up

Two girls who also wanted selfies with me

However, the last time there were two girls and they looked right at me then one said something to her mother who smiled, then they asked to take selfies with me. I removed my mask and took pictures with them now more curious then ever why everyone in the city seemed to want a selfie with me. With my mask on did I look like someone famous? I saw the girls later and chatted with them a bit but couldn’t get up the courage to ask them as I didn’t want to put them on the spot. Finally, I did a Google lens search on a picture of me in my safari hat with my mask on and you’ll never guess who it came up with as a match…Robert Downey Jr. I’m fairly certain no one mistook me for him so it seems I will never know why.

Me as Robert Downey Jr

More cake from Doubletree

We flew back to New Delhi getting in quite late (after 10pm). On arrival at my favorite hotel, Doubletree Baani Square, I was thrilled to see my favorite reception person there, Divya. She had a family event earlier so was working the night shift and she happily told me they had upgraded me to a one bedroom suite! It was wonderful! It had 1.5 bathrooms, a living room, and a bedroom. I was very sad that we got in so late and I didn’t have more time to enjoy it as we were leaving at 3am for an early morning flight. However I made the most of it as I stayed up all night working out details for my trip while I had a solid wifi signal. I also took my last Covid home test as I had encountered someone a week ago who had tested positive, but I was thankfully still negative (I tested negative a week ago as well).

Covid test when I got back to New Delhi was negative!

Fine Foods at the Udaipur airport apparently includes Pringles of every flavor

Living room in Doubletree suite

Bedroom in Doubletree suite

Main bathroom in Doubletree suite

Shower in Doubletree suite