Udaipur, India : all the sweetness of the world

 

Udaïpur is not a secret city ignored by everyone. In fact, it is a very touristy city. Why then such a flattering portrait?

I arrived in Udaïpur one day, the city was on my way south. I left it, of course, but on my trip to India I returned there three times. At that point in my journey, I moved forward without looking back. In Udaïpur, for the first time in 11 months of travelling in Asia, I really put my backpack down.

To visit Udaïpur, you can definitely do the tourist circuit: palaces, walk on the lake, palaces and palaces. It will take two days at most. But like many other cities, Udaïpur deserves that you take the time to get to know it better away from the tourist noise.

 

 

The architecture is typically Indian. Despite development, the city has retained this inimitable mix of sculpted arches, jagged doorways, magnificent buildings reflected in Lake Pichola and the indescribable clutter of working-class neighbourhoods. In 2012, the streets were still made of dusty earth with ruts where the tuk-tuks twisted their wheels. Back then, there were only a few very nice, very good tourist restaurants on terraces overlooking the lake.

 

 

There is always something to see in Udaïpur. The washerwomen with their colourful saris washing their clothes in the lake, the musicians on the bridge, the winding alleys where, if you’re lucky, you might come across an elephant.

That’s what it was like. The dust of the streets that powdered the city with gold and mist when evening came, the lights on the lake at nightfall, the colourful lanterns, the garlands, the bars that plugged in the loudspeakers to attract customers.  

The bars, the banks of the lake where colourful fishermen fly nimbly, the temples ringing their bells into the falling evening.

In Udaïpur, there is nothing to do but stay in Raju’s magnificent guesthouse, work on the terrace over a coffee, write or draw, and then go on a raid without really knowing where, as if on a treasure hunt of chance.