Udaipur - November 24th

I am still feeling the effects of the Delhi Belly this morning, but it appears to be receding.  After a plain breakfast of omelette and toast we return to the city palace to do some more sightseeing.  However on the way we stop for a Diet Coke and coffee at a nice coffee shop, and we get talking to an English lady who has lived here for 22 years.  We learn 3 things, first the electricity outage will be from 11:00 until 14:00 today, second there was a riot in the centre of town two days previously (right where we had been doing some shopping earlier) and third, where to get the best thalis in town.

Incorporating this last piece of information into our plans we walk through the city palace grounds (being carefully stewarded by attendants around the luxury hotels – we are riff raff in comparison) to see the Maharaja’s classic car collection.  It does take a bit of finding, the walk is not well signposted, but as we know most tourists either get a tuk-tuk here or are chauffeured in their private jeeps/buses.  The collection itself is not brilliant, but it does have a few classics, including one that was used in Octopussy.

After this we go to the restaurant for the thali.  A thali is basically an Indian all you can eat with many different dishes.  This one is very good, but as we are in a place only Indians usually venture, it is also very hot.  Still we eat a fair amount, and it is very good value.

However almost immediately we get back to our hotel we begin to feel the effects of the thali.  While it may be good for the locals and 22 year expats, for us it is a bit too much, and so we are confined to bed again.  In total we have spent a high proportion of our time in Udaipur in bed (or on the toilet) but to be honest after the previous week and a half of travel and sightseeing, having a few days rest is not necessarily a bad thing.