Octopussey

I have left the city of burning bodies and am now in a place called Udaipur, after a quick stop over at the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal was very pretty, but kind of makes you wonder why someone would waste all the time, energy, and money on a palace that nobody can live in.

Anyway, Udaipur is most famous for being the location where the James Bond film "Octopussey" was filmed. It has a lake in the middle with these 2 gorgeous palaces, except right now the lake is not very full so you can actually walk to the palace. It is a very romantic city (at night, when you can't see all the trash). Last night, I sat on a rooftop courtyard and watched "octopussey" while I ate my dinner. It was the first Bond film I had seen staring Roger Moore. I must say it was quite a good movie except the DVD quality was bad so it kept pausing. This was a bit annoying, but not really much you can do about it. Today I went on a tour of another palace. It was a dizzying place and I can't imagine living there. You could see out the window a spot you wanted to get to, but then you had to take this maze of narrow staircases up and then down and around the corner only to come out at a different place. It would have been impossible to find someone else living in the house without a cell phone or a homing pigeon. Tonight I went on a "boat ride" out to another palace that was absolutely breathtaking. There had been a wedding there the day before and tourist could not go to the island. I don't even want to know how much it would cost to rent out this place (secretly: I totally want to know). It is a shame I can't post the pics (too large). This is all pretty tame compared to the other night. . .
The day started out by taking a local bus from Pushkar to Ajmer, which is about a 30 minute ride. Of course, this was in the hottest time of the day about 45 C (113 F) and the bus seats 36 but there are 50 people on it including a man dressed like a monkey (complete with tail) eating a banana. I then take an autorickshaw (motorcycle with cab attached) to the train station and take a train from Amjer to Udaipur. This takes about 6.5 hours. I then take another autorickshaw to a hotel and drop off my stuff. It is now 9:30 pm. I leave my hotel in search of dinner. I find a rooftop restaurant and order dinner. In the meantime, I meet an aussie, a french woman, and a german man. we all end up having dinner. it is then decided that we should go back to their hotel and play texas hold em poker. Not for money, we just play for matches. Little did we know how competitive we all were, over MATCHES. We played for four hours, until just me and the aussie were left with our matches. At this time it is 3 am, I tell them all good night and I go to leave the hotel. Only problem is that I can't get out of the hotel. The doors are all shut. I am in the bottom floor of the hotel looking for someone who works there when the biggest rats I have ever seen come out of hiding. (Note: I say hotel, but it is really like a small apartment building. In the bottom floor is where they store all the construction materials and motorcycles during the night.) I can't find anyone so I head back upstairs and tell the others. We then go and search for the best room in the hotel. (Note: In Indian hotels you have to supply your own lock so all of the rooms are open.) We find a lovely room with A/C which is nicer than anything that I have stayed in during my travels. I slept in beautiful comfort for a couple of hours until the others had to catch their train and then I simply snuck out the front door and waked the 50 m to my own (not as nice) hotel.
This has given me an idea of how to make India even cheaper. I will simply befriend other travelers, go to their hotel, "accidentally" get locked in, and then stay in nice free rooms. I wonder if they will be suspicious if I am carrying my luggage. . .