Days 8 to 13 (2 days on a train)

Spent a couple of days in Gokarna, soaking up the rays and swimming in the warm water.  The village was about a twenty minute walk over the hill, it's a very holi village with loads of temples.  There were only a few that we were, as tourists, allowed to go into as apparently there had been some incidents involving tourists in the past and they decided not to allow anymore in.  There seemed to be a lot of French in Gokarna, it wasn't very busy but the locals that we spoke to told us that it would get busier over the next few weeks and then very busy over Christmas and new year.  After a couple of relaxing days we paid some boys who worked at our guest house to carry our bags up the horrendous path ( they carried the bags on their heads which was very impressive) and caught a train back to Mumbai.  The train only left an hour late which seems to be good going for the trains here.  It took just under twelve hours to reach Mumbai but because we left at 7.30pm you actually sleep through most of it.  We had time to have some breakfast, pick up our next tickets and head for the next train to Udaipur.  18hrs and a pretty crappy sleep later, we arrived in Udaipur.  

This has to be by far the nicest place we've been so far and made us realise what a dump Mumbai was.  We checked in to a nice guesthouse for only Rs400 a night, had some (hot!) showers and decided to make the most of the day since we only have a few days here.  The city palace is only a short walk from our accommodation and is a big complex which is now three hotels.  One of the palaces is out on the huge man made lake, we took a lovely boat ride out onto the lake and around the palace.  They dropped us off at the 'garden palace' which is out on the lake so we could have a walk around.  It seemed like they were setting up for a wedding, which by the looks of it was going to cost a fortune! An absolute stunning setting for a wedding though.  We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the town trying to get our bearings.  We came back to the accommodation and met some nice people who were staying here also, there is a common area where everyone seems to hang out.  We met a Belgian guy who had bought a motor cycle and was riding around India.  He had found a beautiful stray puppy in the last place he was and decided to take it with him.  He has since managed to get it microchipped and is waiting for some papers so that he can eventually take it home with him.  He just carries it his jacket when he is riding and it just sleeps.  We went for a nice dinner with a couple who were staying here to a roof top restaurant where we caught some amazing views of the last of the sunset.  

We had arranged with our tuk tuk driver who took us from the train station to do a tour with him today around Udaipur.  For only Rs600 we were taken to a big fruit and veg market where we took some photos and bought some nice bananas.  We visited the place where all the royals from the area were buried in huge ornate crypts.  We took a boat ride out onto the lake to see a beautiful floating garden and a few other sights.  We then went for an all you can eat thali which was delish and well worth the £1.20 it cost! The last part of the trip is to go to up to sunset point by cable car.  This obviously needs to be done at sunset and because me and Kay went round the other sights quickly we asked him to just drop us at the guesthouse and pick us up later (5pm), just before we got out Kay asked how much henna was here as we've seen a lot of people doing it and it's much nicer that other places we've been.  Our guide advised it would be roughly Rs100-150 and then said that his sister did it so if we liked he would take us to her.  We agreed and currently Kay is sitting with henna on both hands, front and back, waiting for it to dry (4hrs)....she isn't able to even scratch her nose far less do anything else.