Kankarwa Haveli

"Havelis" are large homes common to Rajasthan and some other parts of
India. Many in towns like Udaipur have been wisely turned into
guesthouses and hotels. The Kankarwa has a lovely lakeside location
where we could gaze out our window at the lights around the lake all
night. The rooms wind around a main courtyard via narrow staircases.
This place was beautiful in it's simplicity and the staff couldn't
have been nicer. There was one young man that Broch would say
"Namaskar" (a more formal, poetic, respectufl form of "Namaste") to
whenever with saw him. The young man would get a huge smile on his
face than then call Broch "sir" and be very attentive.

The rooms was simple, but very clean with it's own big bathroom. Our
door lock was especially cool - a giant key locked it up when we left.
Up another flight of stairs from our room was the rooftop restaurant.
In the morning we would wake to the "whap, whap, whap" sound of women
pounding their laundry on the "ghat" at the riverside. We'd head up
the stairs and get our breakfast - included in the price of the room.
Omelet, toast or chocolate pancakes with juice, fruit and coffee. At
lunch and dinner, Broch could get pasta and butterscotch ice cream
while I always opted for the "thali" for 200Rs (about $4). A thali is
a round metal tray with little bowls of various veggy dishes, rice,
some type of flat-bread and a dessert item. At Kanarwa, the food
served in the thalis is the same that is prepared fr the family and
staff, so it was always fresh and a little different. My first on had
a spinach dish and pumpkin curry that were both good. Each evening
were there we met other travelers at neighboring tables that were
friendly and interesting

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Udaipur Lake Tour

A one hour flight from Delhi took Broch and I to Udaipur in the Indian
state of Rajasthan. Rajasthan means the Land of Kings and it has more
individual kingdoms within it than any other Indian state. Maharana
Udai Singh founded the city ("Pur" meaning "city of") in 1559 when he
chose to move his court from Chittoragarh to escape the encroachment
of the Mughal emperor Akbar. This city and kingdom was never taken by
the Mughals - quite a feat in those days. It's really quite
picturesque, and our guide made sure we knew that it had won Travel
and Leisure's award for best city for 2009.

We arrived late in the afternoon, just in time for the departure of a
boat tour of Lake Pichola in Udaipur. Like us in central Texas, they
have had a few years of drought, but the lake was back up to more than
half it's normal level. In the lake are 3 structures, at least one of
which is believed to have been built before the dam was put in to
create the lake. Before that it was a marshy low-land. The largest of
the structures is now owned by the Taj Hotels group and is a posh,
high-end hotel with a great reputation for it's romantic restaurant.
The second largest structure is the Jagmandir, once an entertainment
palace where the Maharana could host guests and throw musical affairs.
It can now be rented out for weddings, etc. and is a beautiful tourist
stop mid-boat tour for a glass of wine or milkshake. The 3rd is a
small structure that has yet to be renovated and looks to have been an
open garden setting now overgrown with grasses and weeds.

We got to see the sunset from the Jagmandir, and were the last people
to leave along with a young Indian couple on their honeymoon (as
evidenced by her henna'ed hands, and confirmed by our guide who took
pictures of them with their camera).

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