Christmas in Udaipur

Pictures from Udaipur

Mike – Sometimes referred to as the “Lake City”, other times as the “White City”, immortalized by the famous king and his horse who fought off the formidable army of Akbar the Great; Udaipur was a city rich with intrigue and beauty. We were lucky to score a newly renovated haveli with a suite overlooking Lake Pichola; views of the Lake Palace on the right, and the City Palace on the left. What a great way to spend Christmas (or Christmas Eve, as it turned out).

Teg and I have long agreed that I am the realist of the relationship, and she the idealist - sometimes easily substituted for the pessimist and the optimist. That was definitely our stance when it came to finding a Christmas dinner. She was of the mind that there would be a “Christmas Miracle” this year, and I tried to stress the simple fact that “this is India”.

It wasn’t long until Teg had half the hotel staff, and what felt like a quarter of Udaipur, searching for a turkey dinner. Things were starting to look quite promising… And, eventually, she found one: Christmas dinner at the City Palace, black tie event, hosted by the King of Udaipur himself, and for a modest sum of 5,000 rupees. Damn, was it ever tempting. Durbar Hall. Turkey. Dancing. Wait. Do we have to buy a whole new outfit? And, what would we do with a cocktail dress and a tuxedo after the dinner? Carry it in our backpacks across the Thar Desert? There were many complications… Eventually, we took the more prudent course, and swallowed our fate: A turkey-less Christmas.

I tell ya. I felt the urge to bag a royal peacock as a turkey substitute and cook it ourselves. But, it wasn’t meant to be.

Christmas was as good as it could’ve been, otherwise, considering the circumstances. Christmas Eve was spent touring around Udaipur, which culminated in a relaxing day at Tiger Lake, soaking up the rays, and getting the holiday drank on. But, it wasn’t Christmas, and deep inside we knew it wouldn’t be. But, instead of feeling sorry for ourselves, we pulled up stake, and bee-lined it for Jaisalmer on Christmas morning.

On Christmas Day, year zero, three wise men were walking through the desert. On Christmas Day, 2010, a bearded wise man and his fellow Mary began a journey into the desert. What will they find?…

Teg- OKAY, firstly, Mike has a slightly different opinion of how Christmas day went down. We woke up to it in Udaipur yes, but we were out of our hotel, catching a bus at 8 in the morning with no hope of having a breakfast of any kind. Unless we wanted some Lays chips that is! All those mornings I’d had all over in India thus far, where sunny-side up came out scrambled, was now all I craved lol!

We arrived in Jodhpur two hours later than expected, 4pm that day, (yep, 8 hours on a bus) and so we had a few hours to find a restaurant to eat at and internet to skype at, before heading over to the train station for 10pm so we could catch our train to Jaisalmer. Dinner was okay, we ate close to the train station; both having the ‘chicken dish’. The rice, potatoes and veggies were all lovely but the chicken was unfortunately over-done. Instead of carrying a conversation, we spent more of our mealtime savagely chewing, concentrating on not choking.

But let me backup. Before Christmas morning, our times in Udaipur were AMAZING!! Let me repeat, AMAZING!! I absolutely loved this city! It was just so friendly and every street had its own stories to tell and enticing shops to enter. It was hard to resist not just spending hours wondering from shop to shop!

Mike and I decided to split-up for a few hours the day before Christmas Eve so that we could search for gifts for each other. I had already worked my magic and gotten him his, so instead of shopping I went on a hunt for a turkey dinner. It didn’t take long before I realized that, one, Christmas Eve was celebrated more so than Christmas day (Happy Birthday MuMMA!) and two, it was taking place only at the finest of hotels, I mean, palaces. I had the option of either buying tickets to the Shiv Niwas/Fateh Prakash Palaces’ dinner (5000Rps) or the Lake Palace’s dinner (7500Rps). I would have bought the tickets then and there but I knew I had better run it past Mike, considering half would have to come out of his own pocket eventually. When we met up later that day I enticed him into coming over to the palace to see for himself how amazing it would be.

Mike definitely was amazed by the place, and a chance to meet royalty was a great selling point. Yet in the end, it was the idea of buying some formal wear that really weighed against him and it was hard to convince him once he realized this. We ended up just eating at our hotel, which nevertheless, was actually really good!! I guess it made sense though because our hotel was wonderful and we had (no doubt) the best room there, for roughly $22 a night (which, in India, is considered “splurging” – cmon, it’s Christmas!). Corner-top room with balcony and great views of the fireworks going off on the night of Christmas Eve, it was really was beautiful!! Hotel Udai Niwas was great. The staff were so friendly and helpful (they were in on the turkey search with me! haha).

Though Christmas wasn’t the same as what I’ve been used to, it was great to experience it from another light. You realize it’s not what you have but who you’re with. This was an easy realization. It was Mike and my first together, and though not the proto-typical, I know it will UNDOUBTEBLY be a great memory, one hard to forget!