This blog has remained dormant for so long! Not only do I not travel enough but I can't make myself write about the few places I do visit. Call it procrastination or laziness. There's one very significant travelogue blog that's pending; the one on my ILP experience but that has to wait until it's(the ILP training) over (I am superstitious and I feel I might jinx the things I am happy about).
This is my second visit to Udaipur and Chittorgarh. I don't remember much about my previous visit since I was quite young then but the few details that I can recall involve Chittorgarh (why is that so? Read on.).
This is my second visit to Udaipur and Chittorgarh. I don't remember much about my previous visit since I was quite young then but the few details that I can recall involve Chittorgarh (why is that so? Read on.).
We (28 of us) left for Udaipur fron Gandhinagar at 1 a.m on 9th November, 2012 on a bus. Most of the super-energetic people wanted to play games like Antakshari or Dumb-charade on the bus but I was tired , so I slept it off. We reached there at around 7a.m and checked in at an average Hotel called Saheli Palace. To our annoyance, we were given a time-limit of only 1 hour to freshen up (by the self-assigned "higher authorities"-some guys in the group..naturally), after which we would leave for sightseeing.
Our first stop was Fatehsagar Lake..to be precise, the Rana Pratap Singh's statue near Fatehsagar Lake. We had booked one useless tourist guide who rushed through the History of the Rana (and his horse Chetak) and grew super-impatient by our photo-shooting sessions (quite understandably..:P). Then we went to the ruins of a fort-again a good place to take pics (:P), followed by a museum-all within a radius of 2k.m. My opinion is that you can afford to see this place without a guide but you absolutely need one to see the famous City Palace (we didn't get a guide there and had to learn from our mistake). Another advice is, City Palace is so beautiful that you NEED a camera; they will charge extra for it but if you decide to leave it behind or try to outsmart the Security Guards(by taking it with you but not pay for it), you'll regret it.
Our first stop was Fatehsagar Lake..to be precise, the Rana Pratap Singh's statue near Fatehsagar Lake. We had booked one useless tourist guide who rushed through the History of the Rana (and his horse Chetak) and grew super-impatient by our photo-shooting sessions (quite understandably..:P). Then we went to the ruins of a fort-again a good place to take pics (:P), followed by a museum-all within a radius of 2k.m. My opinion is that you can afford to see this place without a guide but you absolutely need one to see the famous City Palace (we didn't get a guide there and had to learn from our mistake). Another advice is, City Palace is so beautiful that you NEED a camera; they will charge extra for it but if you decide to leave it behind or try to outsmart the Security Guards(by taking it with you but not pay for it), you'll regret it.
So, after lunch we went to the City Palace...beautiful place, like I mentioned before. It's the major tourist attraction and once you go there, you'll know why. Countless number of interesting shops (selling bags, ornaments, shoes, etc.) line both the sides of the street that leads to the palace and I got to practice and improve my poor bargaining skills there.
We girls spent so much time shopping (I had to buy something for my family-first_salary_rule- and I learnt how difficult it was to shop for someone else, even when I knew them inside out).
By the time we left City Palace, it was already dark. Our next stop was Saheliyon-ki-bari. We reached there at 8p.m, bought the tickets, went in...........and came out in 5 minutes. It's supposed to be a beautiful place, according to Wikipedia, but we learnt (again from our mistakes) that it's supposed to be visited only during daylight hours.
When we returned back to the hotel, we were so tired! We could hardly walk and it felt like our legs were filled with lead...we were reluctant to go anyplace far for dinner...the idea of ordering in (via the room service) seemed appealing...SUDDENLY, a plan started making waves...One of us non-vegetarians (which f.y.i is a rarity here) proposed the idea of going to a K.F.C(Kentucky Fried Chicken) located a few k.ms away.We should have refused; we weren't in a condition to go anywhere but all of us (five in total) are K.K(Krazy-4-KFC)....so we went, limping and all. It made the whole KFC outing memorable.
Come Day 2 and we were off to Chittorgarh. The reason why I had remembered my first visit there is because of how amazing the place is and how incredible its history is. You can Google up the history part but you have to visit the place to experience its breathtaking beauty. My second visit to Chittorgarh was as memorable as the first one...and I don't mind visiting it (or any part of Rajasthan for that matter)again.
I missed camel-riding during this trip-something that I had done during my last visit to Udaipur(which I had remembered. Obviously). We also missed the famous boating. In the afternoon, it's too hot to go for it and itcloses after dark, so the best time to go for it is in the early evening hours...at around 5p.m. It's a bit expensive (100/person) but I have heard from my friends (who went for boating) that it's totally worth it.
P.S-I completely forgot to mention about the famous Lake Palace...that's probably because we caught only a glimpse of it from the City Palace. The boat-ride takes tourists near the Palace for sightseeing and super-rich people can stay there, since it has been converted to a luxury hotel now (You can "Google and YouTube" further details. It's considered to be the most romantic hotel in India-what is it about "floating hotels" that people find so romantic, I'll never know-and many of the Hollywood and Bollywood movies were shot there).
We girls spent so much time shopping (I had to buy something for my family-first_salary_rule- and I learnt how difficult it was to shop for someone else, even when I knew them inside out).
By the time we left City Palace, it was already dark. Our next stop was Saheliyon-ki-bari. We reached there at 8p.m, bought the tickets, went in...........and came out in 5 minutes. It's supposed to be a beautiful place, according to Wikipedia, but we learnt (again from our mistakes) that it's supposed to be visited only during daylight hours.
When we returned back to the hotel, we were so tired! We could hardly walk and it felt like our legs were filled with lead...we were reluctant to go anyplace far for dinner...the idea of ordering in (via the room service) seemed appealing...SUDDENLY, a plan started making waves...One of us non-vegetarians (which f.y.i is a rarity here) proposed the idea of going to a K.F.C(Kentucky Fried Chicken) located a few k.ms away.We should have refused; we weren't in a condition to go anywhere but all of us (five in total) are K.K(Krazy-4-KFC)....so we went, limping and all. It made the whole KFC outing memorable.
Come Day 2 and we were off to Chittorgarh. The reason why I had remembered my first visit there is because of how amazing the place is and how incredible its history is. You can Google up the history part but you have to visit the place to experience its breathtaking beauty. My second visit to Chittorgarh was as memorable as the first one...and I don't mind visiting it (or any part of Rajasthan for that matter)again.
I missed camel-riding during this trip-something that I had done during my last visit to Udaipur(which I had remembered. Obviously). We also missed the famous boating. In the afternoon, it's too hot to go for it and itcloses after dark, so the best time to go for it is in the early evening hours...at around 5p.m. It's a bit expensive (100/person) but I have heard from my friends (who went for boating) that it's totally worth it.
P.S-I completely forgot to mention about the famous Lake Palace...that's probably because we caught only a glimpse of it from the City Palace. The boat-ride takes tourists near the Palace for sightseeing and super-rich people can stay there, since it has been converted to a luxury hotel now (You can "Google and YouTube" further details. It's considered to be the most romantic hotel in India-what is it about "floating hotels" that people find so romantic, I'll never know-and many of the Hollywood and Bollywood movies were shot there).
