India Day 4: Udaipur

India Day 3: The Train

India is massive. Last night we boarded an overnight train on our way to Udaipur. It was late, but Mumbai was bustling with the drop in mercury. In fact, there was a wedding celebration just outside of our hotel. We were keyed into this fact by the seal-bomb-like-explosions on the street dispersed intermittently between drumming and singing. Of course (like my sister before me) when I heard explosions I stepped out to see what was going on, and was immediately engulfed in a crowd of dancing Indians, with an elaborately dressed couple in the center being blessed from above their heads by various crowd members. The air was filled with joy and dancing from all ages. Young persons setting off fireworks as if they were going out of style and in the crowded street no less.  We made our winding way through Mumbai one last time as we headed for the train terminal. Ben booked us on a sleeper train

for the 15 hour ride to Udaipur (A/C, thank god Ben planned ahead!!). It was late, so we slept most of the way. However I enjoyed a true Indian moment this morning; I sat next to my window watching the countryside roll by with a great book in one hand and a hot chai in the other, it felt surreal. 

We finally arrived in Udaipur, India's most romantic city, and it's title is well deserved. Now, I am used to sleeping in some questionable places while traveling super cheap, but this time I am traveling with employed peoples who have chosen (and paid for) a spectacular hotel

that overlooks a magnificent lake. Words cannot express how incredible our hotel is, not to mention that we are the only occupants. After getting settled we walked around this cute little lakeside town and found ourselves on a peninsula sporting a plain temple. There were many locals swimming, bathing, doing laundry, etc in the steps leading into the lake from the temple. While we stood there admiring the spectacle the temple keeper came up to us and chatted about the city, where to go, how much to pay, and even gave us a private tour, which included walking around on the roof with great views! After watching all of the kids swimming I came up with a crazy idea that Ben and I should dive in and swim to our hotel. Ben was a little reluctant to say the least (perhaps because of swimming in contaminated water or the crocodiles the guide books warned us about). Needless to say I talked him into it. I mean, come on, swimming in India!! So we stripped down to our skivvies (much to the chagrin of the locals) and dove in. The water felt warm and amazing. We swam, heads up of course, across the little lagoon to our hotel where we met up with Miche who had carried our clothes back around. Next we retired to our hotel's restaurant for miche's 40th birthday dinner

. As we watched the beautiful sunset the lake became inundated with large birds, which upon closer inspection turned out to be giant bats!! Hundreds of them! Incredible! We ate and drank to our hearts content sharing stories and setting new bucket lists. Miche seemed to be very contented with his birthday. What a day!!