The Colors of Rajasthan-Udaipur (Day 12)

January 25:

The next morning we found out that the City Palace was newly opened again after the royal wedding, so we decided to head there. When we walked in, we saw that they were still taking down the decorations from the wedding and even setting up tables and fabric streamers for an after party for later that night.

Love the 'stache!

After seeing many palaces in Rajasthan on our trip, I can say that the palace itself was just another palace. Crazy to think that I can say that, but when you’ve seen five, you’ve seen them all. Unfortunately by the end of our 2-3 hour long tour, I was hoping for a Café Coffee Day in the gift shop.

Next up, was a cooking class I had signed up for. The hotel we stayed at was offering a cooking class plus lunch for only Rs 600 ($10). Bargain! We learned how to make so many delicious foods. We started our class with making some chai but then learned how to make Malai Kofta (creamed potatoes, fried dumpling kind of dish) and some other north Indian dishes. And the best part? We got all the recipes!

I know you’re all dying to know how, so here’s the masala chai recipe:

Indian Chai (makes 3 cups)

Chai Masala (Tea Spice)

*This can be kept for up to two years in an airtight container

Combine equal amounts of:

Green Cardamom

Black Pepper

Clove

Nutmeg

Mace (flower of nutmeg)

Dry Ginger

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of water (125 ml x 2)
• ½ teaspoon chai masala (tea spice)
• 1 teaspoon tea powder (assam tea)
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 cup milk (skimmed milk)...doesn’t matter if it’s hot or cold

Method:

1. Put bowl on heat and add water
2. When water starts to boil, add chai masala (tea spice)
3. Wait one minute then add tea powder and sugar
4. Wait one minute again. Then add milk
5. Wait for boiling. When it starts to boil, boil it up and down 5-7 times on low and high heat. You can also take it on and off heat.
6. Then take it off the fire and cover it for two minutes
7. After two minutes, strain (filter) it In a cup or pot. It’s ready to drink!

After being stuffed to the brim with all this delicious Indian food, we decided to walk it off by doing some shopping. I’ll warn you now, Udaipur is very dangerous on the wallet. Not for pickpocketers but because of all the amazing finds! By the end of the two days we had in Udaipur, I had an entire tote bag of extra goodies that wouldn’t fit in my suitcase. Good thing I have a bigger suitcase in New Delhi!

We ended our time in Udaipur with a group dinner on the lake. We had a table overlooking the lake, with all the old buildings lit up at night. It was like a beautiful night in Greece or Italy. I never thought I would be a lover of dal (lentils), after all the dal I’ve had during my time in Delhi, but this dal makhani was almost good enough to lick the bowl! I couldn’t have asked for a better ending to Udaipur.

The Colors of Rajasthan-Udaipur (Day 11)

Friday January 24

After leaving Bijapur, we made our way to Udaipur, a large town in Rajasthan. I was pretty excited about these next two days because I had heard from quite a few people that Udaipur was the place to go for shopping….and my credit card hadn’t been swiped in a while. Once we got to Udaipur, I could instantly see why so many people took heart to this town. It was full of winding streets with shop keepers offering their tailor services and restaurant sandwich boards advertising their nightly showing of Octopussy, the James Bond film since it was partially filmed in Udaipur (Side note: I just heard that Richard Gere is coming to Udaipur soon to film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel 2!).

In many ways, it was a quiet reprieve from the city life in India while still having everything you needed there. The whole town was developed along a large lake, so at night all the restaurants and shops were lit up. So pretty!

After dropping our bags off in our rooms, we went to grab some lunch and then took a walking tour around the city, where our tour guide pointed out some good textile shops and jewelry places to visit. That afternoon we were going to take a tour of the City Palace, but it was still closed since they had just had a royal wedding there. So instead, we decided to do some shopping!

That evening, we took a sunset boat ride on the lake where we had some spectacular views of Udaipur.

After having some dinner on a restaurant's rooftop, we heard some chanting going on and decided to see what it was. Right next to the restaurant was a Hindu temple so walked over, took off our shoes and made our way into the temple. We soon saw that all that chanting and music was coming from none other than a boom box! Past and present combined!