p.one: in which we navigate our way to Udaipur
**cue The Darjeeling Limited Soundtrack** Our Experience of India (in the five days dedicated for this precise thing) was (sadly) not directed by Wes Anderson with beautifully colour-scaped trains, Owen Wilson, or witty, quirky dialogue (actually…) but instead a tumultuous flailing into Rajasthan, complete with laughs, learning experiences and a lot of vomit.
We left campus, bright and excited, at 6:30 am. Our jeep, fashionably late as always, made its way to Mumbai. We found ourselves in the midst of a heap of stationary trucks and the lone chai wallah. We just stayed still for about 2 hours. After some complicated phone calls and unexplained bouts of irritating hold music, we convinced the bus to wait (when finally at the stop Jesse, Marie, and Elizabeth almost missed it having left to scout for bananas and samosas).
The bus bounced for a good 16 hours and speedily sped to Udaipur where we found ourselves early the next morning. Still dark, we made our way towards the lake. We sat down next to a stone temple for several minutes but decided to make new plans after the fourth man undressed and started bathing in front of us. The bus trip had been particularly rough for Elizabeth, who had been throwing up the entire 16 hours, so as soon as they opened, we found a cafe to sit down. I started feeling ill and feverish and a very nice couple from London gave us some homeopathic pills they bought in Varanasi. After Marie and Jesse returned we decided to head to our hostel.
Elizabeth stayed behind as we walked around, walked through the centre of town, through vibrant streets and alleyways. After visiting the Jagdish Temple, intricately carved and ornamented we stopped at the Bagore Ki Haveli Museum, which we had heard rave reviews about. Every room was filled with incredibly creepy wax mannequins, their unfocused painted eyes staring into your soul. It was just super weird. The roof and multiple courtyards, however, were stunning, causing Marie to announce that, when she becomes President of the European Union, she will have at least four courtyards.
We found a cute cafe that served the best coffee I’ve had in India so far. It was heaven. We checked up on Elizabeth, who was surviving softly on mashed bananas and water, before heading to a rooftop restaurant for pizza (with olives!) that looked out over the light-reflecting lake.
After a long long sleep Elizabeth, luckily, was feeling up to some adventuring so we decided on viewing the City Palace. As we were walking up the road (where yesterday a guy had offered to take us to a lake and drive his rickshaw – we had to pull Jesse away) we bumped into some fellow MUWCIans, Sara (Venezuela), Jorge (Spain) and Beste (Turkey) invited us for dinner that night. The Palace was beautiful, probably full of the most tourists I’ve seen so far, and we spent a couple of hours wandering through the rooms and courtyards. We had masala dosa for lunch then, despite Marie’s protestations, headed to the other side of the city to catch a cable-car up to a mountain temple. We reached the top just as the sun dipped below the horizon. The sun reflected off the lakes and we could hear mosques and fireworks below.
After racing to dinner, which was lovely, we raced back to the hostel and then raced to the bus stop. An hour later the bus arrived. I can’t say that this was my fondest experience but we arrived in Jodhpur safe, sound, and a little shaken, but I’ll continue with that soon.
all my love,
anna xx
p.s. apologies for the horrendously tardy time in which this last instalment has been posted. Maybe I’ll get around to writing what has been distracting me…
p.p.s. if my section on Jodhpur (and Bangalore, perhaps) does not appear in the coming week, feel free to call in complaints to my mother.
xx
annaaway 
Fun to read about your adventures in India, Anna. Great blog! Greatings from Jorunn, an ex-UWCer (from Norway, friend of your mum and went to AC with your uncle David 😊)
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