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Saturday, January 25th – Ranakpur to Udaipur, 17,021 km
The ride to Udaipur begins at 9:30, after Frank and I have finished with breakfast. Our quiet route south is Hwy 32, which climbs and falls through small, isolated valleys in the rocky Aravalli Mountains. There are a few climbs but mostly, after the first hour, the road begins to drop as we leave the mountains.
This is real rural India without any tourists. We pass through a few small villages or hamlets, none of which are identified on my map. The locals are farmers, eeking out a existence. We see women carrying loads of straw and at one place where we stop for a break we watch a team of oxen being used to pump water out of a well to irrigate a small field. We never see men working here, only women. That would drive me crazy because I like to work, but the culture here is very different.
The land is quite dry in the hills, though there are always some trees and grass. The lower we drop the warmer it gets and the more vegetation we see. In some places at the higher levels the road is dirt, but not for extended periods. Frank and I are both enjoying this day with its hazy sunshine and comfortable temperature. Hwy 32 takes us half of the way through the day and the traffic remains quite light it entire length.
Around noon we merge with Hwy 76 and the story changes. This route takes us the final 45 km into the city of Udaipur, still dropping much of the way. It is increasingly busy with trucks and buses the closer we come to the city. I cross the 17,000 km mark of my trip less than half an hour before we arrive at the edge of the city.
There are some wonderful views of the city as we drop into it in the late afternoon sun. They are swallowed up by the narrow, congested city streets a few minutes later, but not before we realize we are arriving into a very special setting.
Udaipur is built on hills around a small lake named Pichola, which sounds strangely Italian. It is the commercial of south Rajasthan, just as Jaipur is the centre of northern Rajasthan. It is a city of palaces, a seat of government for local maharajas for a couple hundred years. There is a huge complex of palaces called City Palace, which were added on to again and again by successive maharajas. It looks like a giant fortress. It is very high and must have an impressive view over the lake. I capture a shot of it in the afternoon sun.
A couple of palaces have been turned into hotels. Udaipur has two of India’s five-star hotels, which is impressive considering the city only has about 150,000 people. I like it better than Jaipur because it is smaller, greener and less dusty. It is not as flat either, which makes it more scenic.
Udaipur is the end point of our Rajasthan trip. From here, to get to Mumbai, there is only one direct and very busy route south to Ahmedabad, a huge city almost the size of Delhi, and from there down the west coast of India to Mumbai. It would take two weeks to reach there and it would not likely be pleasant cycling with all the traffic. We will catch a bus to Mumbai tomorrow, which will probably take a full day. From there we will try to arrange transport to Goa, before returning to Mumbai. There won’t be much cycling left before I fly home to Canada.
We first spend half an hour of valuable time as the day is waning, searching for the international youth hostel. We eventually find it on the outskirts of town, but it is full. But our search has not been a total waste of time. We meet another cyclist staying there, a rather glum fellow named Edward, who has a tear in his front tire. He has inner tube patches but has not been able to find any patches strong enough to patch a tire at the bike store in town. I have tire patches so I give him two. Now that I am near the end of my trip I don’t think I will need them. He is thrilled and gives Frank the address of the bike store where he can check out why his rear spokes keep breaking.
There’s not much light left so we check the Lonely Planet Guide to find a cheap hotel. We chose the Lakeside Hotel, right in the city, on a sloping street close to but not right on the lakeside as it suggests. The prices have risen significantly since it was listed in the guide, but the management is friendly, the rooms are not dorms, it has room for our bikes and it is central to everything, which the youth hostel at the top of the hill definitely was not.
We find a restaurant a few doors away from our hotel and enjoy a great meal while we discuss tomorrow’s plans. At the hotel, there is a brochure about the motor launch that takes visitors to Lake Palace, the five-star hotel situated on an island in the lake. It has a breakfast buffet with 230 different food items for the equivalent of $30. We muse over whether we want to do this to celebrate the end of our Rajasthan adventure, but a day’s worth of food generally costs us no more than $2. Neither of us like hanging around the type of high-end tourists that would attract.
We also discuss touring the sprawling City Palace, which would take at least a couple hours. We may not have enough time. In the morning we will check out the bus schedules for Mumbai to figure out what we can do here. Neither of us want to leave before tomorrow afternoon. We want to have time to check out the city sights, at least briefly. Frank wants to find the bike store and I want to find a pharmacy where I can buy some hair bleach.
PHOTO 1: hills south of Ranakpur
PHOTO 2: oxen used to pump water
PHOTO 3: woman carrying straw
PHOTO 4: local transport
PHOTO 5: coming into Udaipur
PHOTO 6: City Palace, Udaipur
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