2024 Dec-India Sun 29. Udaipur.

Over 800 photos! A busy day indeed. It was only a handful of places visited but so much to see and take pictures of.

The places visited today were:

1) City Palace.

2) Sajjangarh Palace (Monsoon Palace).

3) Saheliyon Ki Bari (garden).

4) Fetah Sagar Lake.

Being first into the City Palace helped with limiting the number of people blocking the picture taking opportunity. However, it didn't take too long for the whole place to be filled with tourist. Most tourists were the Indian domestic tourists. 

The palace was nice. The higher levels had great vantage points over the city. The mirrored rooms were a little strange, but it appears to be a 'thing' for historical Indian royalty. It just reminds me of a glorified adult film set...

Once I had finished with the City Palace (which took me close to 2hrs visitation). It was time to head over to the Sajjangarh Palace.

The tour guide had recommended that the during this busy holiday period, that the return journey to the Sajjangarh Palace would be around ₹1,000. In reality, it was a maximum ₹200 each way. This just shows how out of touch the tour guide was. It is easy for the tour guide to splash the tourist ₹ around.

When I arrived at the ticket gate for Sajjangarh, it was in the process of closing! This was because it had gotten so busy up there. As soon as the counter for the Palace was closed most people left the line. An Indian tourist told me that they would reopen in an hour. I thus waited with the handful of others that decided to stay in the line...as we knew it would get crazy busy later.

Sajjangarh has two tourist parts; the Park and the Palace. The Park remainded open.

Indian tourists from Gujarat were helpful in the translation. In fact all the Indian tourists were helpful. We were all in the same boat.

Just before the counter reopened, it was good to see some organisation of the queue. A staff member would tell those wanting to push-in to step back, and any hanger-ons would either be in the line or told to step back. It does stop the 'image' of a free-for-all.

You would buy the ticket first at the counter. Then walked through to the area where you pay for a fixed price ₹120 return taxi ride to the Palace. This was very unorganised! You would show your taxi ticket to somebody holding a book, who would then assign you to a vehicle (mine was #24). No lines, no structure. Even some Indians didn't know what was happening. It should be be a queue where first in first served. It would simplify the whole process.

The Sajjangarh had amazing views over the entire region, inclusive of Udaipur. The palace itself was not grandiose. The surrounds was much more inviting and I stayed here for 1.5hrs.

I wasn't planning on doing much more besides the tour-orgaised Lake Pichola dusk boat ride.

I researched and then took a tuk tuk over to Saheliyon Ki Bari for ₹200. This was the nicest piece of greenery I have seen for a while. It was definitely busy. It was nice to see some Indian Palm Squirrels again.

Since I was over this side of the city I decided to walk over to Fetah Sagar Lake. I walked over a dam wall. A lot of people here as well. It was around 4:30pm when the tour group chat said the Lake Pichola boat ride was wat 5pm. This was not advised by the tour leader but one of the other tour members answering a question. There was no way I would make it back in time. I was pissed that I would miss it*.

The tour guide is very poor at providing advance notice for timings. That is his primary duty. At this rate this tour guide will only get a slap from me as a 'tip'.

Since I was missing the boat ride, *which apparently was a 20 minute ride on the water with no stops (lucky I missed it), I walked back to the hotel via some side streets. It was nice to see how some people live who are not crammed into the old city. It was good to do some walking...I wouldn't call it exercise as I didn't even crack a sweat.

I finished off the day by having a decent Masala Dhosa (Butter) for dinner. One of my favourite Indian foods. Very tasty and very light. Perfect portioning. Indian food is oily and heavy. You add on the weight if you are not careful.

I walked the streets for the last time with a drumstick icecream on one hand and the mobile snapping pictures on the other.