India: Udaipur

After a long and bumpy overnight bus journey (where, despite my whole body continuously getting slammed into the bus ceiling for eight hours straight, I somehow managed to sleep in my little bed-like compartment), I arrived in Udaipur early Wednesday morning. I checked into the Lal Ghat Guesthouse and immediately slept until around noon. Upon awakening, I had breakfast before heading to a nearby internet shop to catch up on e-mails and my blog. I do not know how I did it, but the excitement of fast internet allowed me to manage to sit in front of a computer for four hours, thus foiling my plans for some sightseeing around Udaipur.

Once I roused myself away from the computer screen, I went to a nearby hotel for dinner and to watch a nightly screening of James Bond's "Octopussy". Despite the fact that Roger Moore is the absolute worst James Bond ever, I watched as much of the film as I could, since it was mostly filmed right here in Udaipur. It was interesting to see the various Udaipur sights in the film while seeing them at the same time, in person, from the rooftop cafe. However, I could not handle the entire film, and went back to my guesthouse before it finished.

At this point, I was trying to cope with the worst headache of my life...I began feeling the pains on Monday, and with every minute it got worse. By the time of kick-off for the Portugal-France World Cup match, I thought my eyeballs were going to pop out of my head, but I toughed it out to see France win.

Thursday morning I awoke with a serious head-pounding. I had breakfast, picked up some medicine from the pharmacy, then slept the entire day. My headache was unbearable, I had a high fever, body aches, and chills. I finally awoke around 6:00pm in a pool of sweat. Wanting to diagnose myself, I turned to the Health section in my trusty Lonely Planet book, and my symptoms completely coincide with Dengue Fever, a disease acquired from mosquito bites with no cure other than taking paracetamol for the pain. I am hoping that that is all it is!

I managed to sleep that night, and Friday morning awoke determined for some sightseeing. After breakfast, I went to the beautiful city palace for a wander around and to take in the magnificent views of the city. Udaipur is well-known as India's most romantic city, and it is very true. The city is built around a large, man-made lake, and few islands dreamily float within the lake. One island boasts the immaculate Palace Hotel, which is a mainstay in "Octopussy". Off in the distance, resting atop a mountain, lies the massive Monsoon Palace. At night is Udaipur's most beautiful time, as the dazzling lights of the buildings around the lake, as well as the occasional colorful fireworks, twinkle, sparkle, and shimmer on the surface of the water.

My time at the palace was short, as my head was still throbbing and my legs ached too much to carry me around for long. I had a short lunch, then had my legs waxed...better my legs hurt than my head! Last night, after getting waxed, I had a romantic candlelight dinner with an American girl I met. I tried to get to bed early, but the tea I had with dinner, along with a band of hopeful Indian musicians in the guesthouse courtyard, kept me awake all night.

This morning I struggled to get out of bed, checked out of the hotel, and spent a long time reading my book, Shantaram. I am so happy that I am almost finished reading it...well, almost finished...I ONLY have two-hundred pages left, but that is nothing in a nearly 1,000 page book! Soon I will board a bus that will take me to Mumbai/Bombay to reunite with Chris. We will spend a couple days in the city before heading to Nasik, home of our yoga course. I hear Bombay is completely flooded right now, thanks to the monsoon, but hopefully the rains will chill out just for a day or two while we are there so we do not wash away!