30th in Udaipur

Just got back from six days in Udaipur which was a fantastic way to see in my 30^th Birthday.  Udaipur is a beautiful and relaxing (by Indian standards) city, with loads to see and do – so if your planning a trip out here it comes highly recommended! Below is a view of lake Pichola with the Lake Palace to the left.

Helen organised some great surprises along the way to make it a birthday to remember…  A few highlights of the trip included:

Dinner at the Taj Lake Palace. Helen pulled a few strings to get a reservation at this restaurant, which she surprised me with! The nicest restaurant I have been to hands down.

A 30^th birthday cake made from that well known cake mixture, bread… This was made without Helen’s knowledge and was surprisingly nice!

Dinner in Ranakpur where we had 11 chefs cooking exclusively for us (unintended - they were not very busy!). They all came out to sing happy birthday, which was quite difficult for some of them as they had limited English. Very funny!

Here are a few more photos of some of the things we saw/did during the week.

Mewar festival - a welcome to spring, this festival is a visual feast with Rajasthani songs, dances, processions, devotional music and firework displays

Kumbhalgarh fort – A massive Mewar fortress in Rajsathan which has walls that cover 36 kilometers – very impressive views from the top!

Close encounters with monkeys on our wildlife tour in Ranakpur

Cooking classes at the spice box in Udaipur

Ranakpur Jain temple -  said to be the most spectacular of the Jain temples

Best friends...