Wandering In Udaipur

I spent most of the day just wandering around. It seems that I saw most of what Udaipur had to offer in the first day. I tried to find this place called Sahilyon Ki Bari but never did. So I walked for a while near Fateh Sagar Lake and back towards the Gangore Ghat were I was yesterday. On my way there was a couple guys on a motorcycle who spoke pretty good English that asked me where I was going and then told me to hop on the bike. We rode for a little ways and then we stopped at his store and had some Chai while they acted like they weren't trying to sell me stuff. This kind of thing happened to me several times throughout the day. Young looking, well dressed men that spoke good English would befriend you and then try to get you to come and get fitted for a suit. The lines that many of them would use were so similar I thought they had to be a part of the same company. There weren't really pushy though so I enjoyed chatting with them (usually getting a little something for myself like directions or opinions about museums) and then went on my way. I went out onto a little peninsula where there was a hotel and I got pretty close to the Lake Palace. There was a French couple (I think) that spoke good English so I chatted with them for a bit and recommended to them that they go for dinner at the Jagat Niwas Restaurant because the sunset was beautiful. Next I went down to the Gangore Ghat to hang out near some elephants. It is impossible to sit anywhere without attracting a gathering of people. I spoke with a couple little boys that were "collecting coins" and they would pull out various foreign coins that people had given them and ask me how much they were worth. A little while later a older boy came and took all there coins. One boy had a nasty looking wound on his foot probably from and old blister. I had some tape with me for the blisters on my foot so I wrapped his up and told him to wash it with soap as soon as he could. People saw this and I then had several more people sticking dirty feet with blisters out for me to wrap up. I wish I would have had my first aid kit though.

At one point today I walked near a school and there were many school children walking by. Besides loving the fact that they could say hello to me they would ask me for rupees. These were well off children asking me for rupees. I don't know if foreigners just throw out rupees (and pens) here because all children ask for it.

Then I went to the Bangore museum next to the Gangore Ghat. I am glad that I didn't pay more than 25 Rs to get in though, it wasn't that spectacular. They did have one cool display with many different styles of turbans. Apparently you can tell where someone is from because of the way they wrap their turban.

Tomorrow morning I get on an airplane and fly to Mumbai. From there I will try to make my way to Pune by bus and should be getting there in the afternoon to meet Dr. Neela Onawale and the rest of Deep Griha. I don't really know what to expect but I am looking forward to it!