Day 253- Savage Garden - Bagore Ki Haveli Museum - Cultural Dance Show
Sunday, March 17, 2019.
Today we decided to go eat to in of those touristy restaurants called Jasmine, not because of the food but because of the nice view of Lake Pichola and the fact that no 2-wheelers could bother us here. We had walked by previously and saw mostly Westerners, plus it said recommended by Lonely Planet. [Gregory's note: 2 red flags! Stay away! Far away!] (Daniel's note: we passed by it confused why there was Hebrew and Korean writing outside. Turns out they supposedly had Isreali and Korean food.)
The Indian food was OK but it was like we had tried in other places. Sunshine made the observation that the food hasn't been as good as in Rishikesh or Delhi. In any case, we had a good time just chatting and enjoying our second to last day in Udaipur. [Gregory's note: the recommendation by Lonely Planet is a guarantee that the food will be substandard and overpriced. This place was exactly that. In fact, it was the only place where my stomach bothered me afterward, proving once again, to stay away from restaurants recommended by guide books!]
Afterward, we walked to the Bagore Ki Haveli castle which is a museum. Of course, no one wanted to go in but me. Gregory and the kids went for a walk while I visited the inside of the castle. It was beautiful and it looked a lot like the hostel/castle that we are staying in, except this one has been nicely remodeled. Looking at it gave me a better idea of how much potential our hostel has. [Gregory's note: if I had a dollar for every time Lili has talked about the potential in the places we've seen, we could buy and restore a castle ourselves!]
The paintings on the bottom of the walls were restored and you could see majarahas riding elephants and horses, dogs chasing rabbits, and much more.
The entrances to the rooms were beautifully ornamented. Some of the fancy floors were all marble and each room had clear explanations of what it was used for. I particularly like the entertainment room where there were pillows and tables where you could play chess (which was invented in India) and other tabletop games.
The patio courtyard was really nice. It had a huge tree in the center and that's where I decided to wait for the others to come pick me up. At 5:00pm they were waiting for me outside. The guard was very friendly and let Gregory take some pictures that he didn't let anyone else take.
Gregory took me to a tailor shop where he wanted to show me the material he had chosen for a vest. I wasn't thrilled but he was so excited, (which is not often when it comes to clothing) that I helped him chose a different material. [Gregory's note: read that again, please, and you will understand how things work here.] The tailor promised his vest would be done tomorrow. I had my doubts but I didn't say anything. By the way, the tailor was upscale and famous, and he had pictures with famous people he had made coats for like Judy Dench.
After that we went to a rooftop restaurant also owned by the tailor called Savage Garden. It was pricey but with an amazing view. By pricey I mean a couple of dollars more than in a street-level restaurant without the view, so yes, worth it! I could not resist and had a slice of crumble apple pie. I should have stuck with the chai, because it was just OK. I think the advice for everyone is that when you travel to a country, stick with their local food. Every time we have tried "foreign" food, we have been disappointed.
When I looked at my watch, it was 6:20pm. I calculated that we were not going to have time to walk the kids back to the hostel and come back to the palace for the dance show so I told the kids they had to come with us. Daniel was not happy but I'm glad we made them come because the dance show was well worth it! I'm also glad I followed the guard's advice to come earlier to get the tickets because by the time I arrived there was a big line. The show started at 7:00pm. They had us sit on the floor that was covered with flat pillows and everyone took off their shoes. Normally, I would have complained, but I had no choice but to take off my shoes. I was uncomfortable seeing everyone barefoot. I imagined all the fungus and I tried not to think about it. [Gregory's note: Lili has always had a phobia about feet. I don't get it. Childhood trauma, maybe? Did her father show her a photo of an infected foot in a medical textbook?]
The show started and men and women did dances from different regions of Rajasthan. Many times, the women were carrying things on their heads and would spin around. There was also a puppeteer who made his puppet do all sorts of tricks. They closed the show with an old lady who danced, sat, and walked up and down stairs with pots on top of her head. She started with 1, then 3, then 7, then 11! It was very impressive and when she finished, the announcer let us know that she was 72 years old! Wow! I'm glad we made it!
Getting out was hard because so many tuk-tuks were trying to get in to pick up tourists and all the Indians had parked their motorbikes in front of the exit. There were so many motorcycles and people but we took a side street and managed to get off the chaotic road and walked back to our palace.
For pictures please https://photos.app.goo.gl/y1uTuhHK2E88HUPx8click here
https://photos.app.goo.gl/y1uTuhHK2E88HUPx8
Today we decided to go eat to in of those touristy restaurants called Jasmine, not because of the food but because of the nice view of Lake Pichola and the fact that no 2-wheelers could bother us here. We had walked by previously and saw mostly Westerners, plus it said recommended by Lonely Planet. [Gregory's note: 2 red flags! Stay away! Far away!] (Daniel's note: we passed by it confused why there was Hebrew and Korean writing outside. Turns out they supposedly had Isreali and Korean food.)
The Indian food was OK but it was like we had tried in other places. Sunshine made the observation that the food hasn't been as good as in Rishikesh or Delhi. In any case, we had a good time just chatting and enjoying our second to last day in Udaipur. [Gregory's note: the recommendation by Lonely Planet is a guarantee that the food will be substandard and overpriced. This place was exactly that. In fact, it was the only place where my stomach bothered me afterward, proving once again, to stay away from restaurants recommended by guide books!]
Afterward, we walked to the Bagore Ki Haveli castle which is a museum. Of course, no one wanted to go in but me. Gregory and the kids went for a walk while I visited the inside of the castle. It was beautiful and it looked a lot like the hostel/castle that we are staying in, except this one has been nicely remodeled. Looking at it gave me a better idea of how much potential our hostel has. [Gregory's note: if I had a dollar for every time Lili has talked about the potential in the places we've seen, we could buy and restore a castle ourselves!]
The paintings on the bottom of the walls were restored and you could see majarahas riding elephants and horses, dogs chasing rabbits, and much more.
The entrances to the rooms were beautifully ornamented. Some of the fancy floors were all marble and each room had clear explanations of what it was used for. I particularly like the entertainment room where there were pillows and tables where you could play chess (which was invented in India) and other tabletop games.
The patio courtyard was really nice. It had a huge tree in the center and that's where I decided to wait for the others to come pick me up. At 5:00pm they were waiting for me outside. The guard was very friendly and let Gregory take some pictures that he didn't let anyone else take.
Gregory took me to a tailor shop where he wanted to show me the material he had chosen for a vest. I wasn't thrilled but he was so excited, (which is not often when it comes to clothing) that I helped him chose a different material. [Gregory's note: read that again, please, and you will understand how things work here.] The tailor promised his vest would be done tomorrow. I had my doubts but I didn't say anything. By the way, the tailor was upscale and famous, and he had pictures with famous people he had made coats for like Judy Dench.
After that we went to a rooftop restaurant also owned by the tailor called Savage Garden. It was pricey but with an amazing view. By pricey I mean a couple of dollars more than in a street-level restaurant without the view, so yes, worth it! I could not resist and had a slice of crumble apple pie. I should have stuck with the chai, because it was just OK. I think the advice for everyone is that when you travel to a country, stick with their local food. Every time we have tried "foreign" food, we have been disappointed.
When I looked at my watch, it was 6:20pm. I calculated that we were not going to have time to walk the kids back to the hostel and come back to the palace for the dance show so I told the kids they had to come with us. Daniel was not happy but I'm glad we made them come because the dance show was well worth it! I'm also glad I followed the guard's advice to come earlier to get the tickets because by the time I arrived there was a big line. The show started at 7:00pm. They had us sit on the floor that was covered with flat pillows and everyone took off their shoes. Normally, I would have complained, but I had no choice but to take off my shoes. I was uncomfortable seeing everyone barefoot. I imagined all the fungus and I tried not to think about it. [Gregory's note: Lili has always had a phobia about feet. I don't get it. Childhood trauma, maybe? Did her father show her a photo of an infected foot in a medical textbook?]
The show started and men and women did dances from different regions of Rajasthan. Many times, the women were carrying things on their heads and would spin around. There was also a puppeteer who made his puppet do all sorts of tricks. They closed the show with an old lady who danced, sat, and walked up and down stairs with pots on top of her head. She started with 1, then 3, then 7, then 11! It was very impressive and when she finished, the announcer let us know that she was 72 years old! Wow! I'm glad we made it!
Getting out was hard because so many tuk-tuks were trying to get in to pick up tourists and all the Indians had parked their motorbikes in front of the exit. There were so many motorcycles and people but we took a side street and managed to get off the chaotic road and walked back to our palace.
For pictures please https://photos.app.goo.gl/y1uTuhHK2E88HUPx8click here
https://photos.app.goo.gl/y1uTuhHK2E88HUPx8
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