Fly to Udaipur

9th September 2018

Our India Tour proper commences in Udaipur, and we are scheduled to fly there this afternoon. it is only around a 1 hour flight. There is no need to get up early, but we need to check out by 11.30am, when our tour operator will collect us to take us to the airport.

At checkout, we had a pleasant surprise. Yesterday we received a call from the duty manager apologising for the delay in checking in, and offered to upgrade us to a harbour view room. We were settled and only there for a night so thanked him and declined. Half an hour later he called back and offered us a suite overlooking the harbour, which we also declined, not wanting to repack and move for one night. When I went to pay our account at the cashier, the same duty manager turned up, and said that as we hadn't taken up the offer of the suite, he would remove all of our restaurant bills from the bill, with the exception of drinks, so we ended up getting a credit for around A$120.

The driver turned up on time to take us to the airport and we left soon after 11.30am. It is Sunday so the traffic is not bad. A unique section of over the ocean road that has been built to bypass the dense metropolitan areas is also saves time.

Once we are out of the wealthier parts of Mumbai, it becomes apparent that poverty is still a serious issue here, with slums in alongside new high rise buildings.

We arrived at the airport well in time for our 2.35pm departure, and are very pleasantly surprised at the new Mumbai International Airport, a stunning building and immaculately fitted out. Check in was very smooth and security extremely thorough, more so than anywhere else we have been on this trip.

Once inside, we had a walk around and had lunch. The airport is massive and very tastefully done. Our flight left ahead of time and as we taxied down the runway, having come from this magnificent building, slums are built right up to the airport boundaries.

It is a smooth flight to Udaipur where we landed on time. It is a tiny, but modern airport with two aero bridges. We were the only plane there when we arrived so deplaning and baggage collection was 

pretty quick. Our tour operator was waiting and before long we were in our car and on our way to our hotel. The drive is about 40 minutes through a lot of little rural villages. The landscape here is pretty green, and it is a major corn growing area. The main industry is Zinc Smelting, and Hindustan Zinc have a large smelter that uses hydroelectric power generated from a nearby lake. Mining of Silver, Lead and Zinc also occurs in the region.

Typical Streetscapes

Cows wander through the streets and are pretty street smart, others just lie around by the roadside. 

Soon we arrive in Udaipur city which has a population of around 0.5 million. Our hotel is up on a hill overlooking Fateh Sagar Lake. The Lalit Laxmi Vilas Palace Hotel according to their literature is "Reminiscent of the late 1950s, when the hotel was the palace residence of His Highness Maharana Bhupal Singh". Our guide told us the building is 107 years old and it is in excellent condition.

Main Entrance

There are expensive lawns terraced down on 3 levels towards the lake

One of the restaurants closed for tonights function

 It has a real Old World feel

View from the 2nd Floor Terrace where the King would address his subjects from

There is a billiard room

Our room is very spacious

A private function is being held tonight on the terrace just below the main hotel level. As we arrived final adjustments were being made to the "marquee"

There is not much you can't do with bamboo

By 7pm it was all up and running ready for the arrival of guests

We dined in their main restaurant, Padmini, which has a multi cuisine menu, but we opted for the buffet and very much enjoyed some good local food.