You may have read into Billie’s not so subtle hints that in Udaipur we fell victim to the dreaded Delhi Belly, or Udaipoorly Tummy as I now like to call it. Well, let me tell you, it was really rather bad. We both got hit hard by fevers and I hallucinated in bed for a good full day.

It’s a shame because Udaipur is undeniably beautiful and romantic, unlike food poisoning. We arrived in the night and from our homestay’s rooftop balcony, the lights glistened over Udaipur’s famous Pichola Lake, with the floating Summer Palace an example of the audacious exuberance the royals here used constructing their palaces.

The streets and alleys wound around up and down in quintessentially Indian form, just like I had imagined it in my minds eye. We were sceptical of what Rajasthan’s cities might offer us (being nature lovers), but were immediately taken in by Udaipur. As I said, a shame we fell ill…

Day 33 – Write off

Day 34 – City Palace, Udaipur

We slept off the worst of our fevers and were itching to get out and see the famous City Palace so we staggered out, nervously holding in our farts, to the premier attraction in Udaipur.

Look beyond our smiles and see the pain behind the veneer

City Palace is pretty large, immediately impressive and opulent within. We, against our normal style, opted for a guide who gave us a good low-down of the historical elements of the place while throwing in some classic gender-based relationship jokes for cheap laughs. We really appreciated the beautiful detail the various Kings / architects / designers had put into the Palace, from paintings and murals on the walls, to glasswork, impressive courtyards and colourful rooms. Everything was done with a huge amount of ambition and with no expense spared – it’s got wow factor for sure!

The view of Udaipur from the top was alone worth the entry fee.

Day 35 – Udaipur

In an unprecedented double whammy, Billie suddenly fell further ill after seemingly recovered. We decided to go for a walk around Udaipur’s second biggest lake, Fateh Sagar, to get away from the shopkeeper harassment, horn blowing and nearly getting run over.

It was blissfully serene, but alas midway through Billie started to feel feverish again, and at an alarming rate. We raced her back to our room to rest it out, and I spent the rest of the day doting on her like any good husband would!

Day 36 – Kumbhalgarh Fort & Ranakpur Temple

This was our travel day from Udaipur to Chandelao, a rural town near Jodhpur. I’d decided, back in the UK, that there was this Fort and a Jain Temple close by to each other, on the route up there, that we simply had to see. I figured they’d be off the beaten track cultural experiences; clearly astounding marvels in their own right but far enough in the middle of nowhere to be untapped. So we had a driver take us to them on the way to our destination.

So it turns out astounding cultural marvels don’t just go unnoticed, and there were plenty of other tourists visiting, driven out like us specifically for the purpose. Regardless, both Kumbhalgarh Fort and Ranakpur Jain Temple were brilliant stops.

Billie was feeling poorly in the car but like an absolute trooper pulled herself out and, in the case of Kumbhalgarh Fort, climbed up a massive hill to enjoy the sights.

Kumbhalgarh Fort was built as part of the Mewar Kingdom in 16th Century, was never conquered and is the highest fort in India. It’s biggest claim to fame is that it’s wall is the 2nd biggest after The Great Wall of China – and somewhat resembles it. It’s very impressive and the views from the top were worth the climb.

Ranakpur Temple is like nothing else I’ve ever seen. Amazing white sculptured columns (I think over a thousand of them?), hardly any walls, beautiful intricate ceilings and all of it incredibly in tact with not even a whisper of the destruction / weathering that maligned Hampi / Elephants Caves etc. The whole thing was a visual feast. Here’s an unnecessary amount of photos – I couldn’t pick between them!

To conclude, Udaipur didn’t get the chance it deserved to really wow us, but nevertheless did manage to – an impressive feat. I will say we found the constant calls to “come into my shop, just for a second – you don’t have to buy anything. Sir… Sir!!” and “tuk tuk sir?” from literally every person we passed eventually grated on us, but I think being ill makes you less resilient to such things. Kerala / Goa had much more relaxed vibes towards those things and we really appreciate that, having now experienced the full Rajasthani sense explosion.

Our next stop is Chandelao near Jodhpur. We mostly spent it fully recovering from illness, but… get excited readers… the third ‘ambient nature video’ is coming to a screen near you soon – see you then!