🌅 Morning ritual: watching the sunrise on the rooftop of the hotel
As an early riser, I woke up at around 5 a.m. and had packed my luggage by 6:30 a.m., deciding to experience the morning atmosphere of the city again before leaving.
The morning light that day was particularly soft. I stood on the bridge by the lake to watch the sunrise, and found that this city had its own BGM! The speakers next to the bridge were playing romantic Indian music, and as the sun slowly rose and the lake was sparkling with golden light, the scene really looked like a movie scene. This was my last morning in Udaipur and I wanted to imprint this beautiful scene in my mind.
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🎨 Art on the hands: Mehndi painting experience
During this visit to Udaipur, I met a German mother and daughter who introduced me to a great Mehndi artist who could come to the hotel to paint patterns for guests.
I made an appointment with her to help me paint at 8 o'clock in the morning. At the beginning, I chose a peacock pattern, which was full of details. After the painting was completed, it was so beautiful that even she liked it! In order to record this process, I used another mobile phone to take time-lapse photos for her. She was very touched and said that no customer had ever taken photos for her like this before.
After she finished the painting, she asked me if I wanted to paint the other hand as well, but I said my budget was limited. I didn’t expect her to paint it for me for free! The reason is that Mehndi is traditionally most beautiful when both hands are symmetrical, and she really likes the video I recorded for her, so this is her small reward. So, I painted a peacock on my left hand and an elephant on my right hand. Both hands were full of Mehndi. I really like it!
• Artist information: Yasheen Mehandi Arts
• Her prices are more expensive than those on the street, starting at 1,000 rupees (they might cost 500 rupees on the street), but her details are really exquisite and her customer base is very stable. She started painting at 5:30 this morning, and we secretly calculated for her that she paints at least 10 customers a day. After the calculation, we found that our salary is really too low, hahaha.
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🍛 Lunch: Authentic Thali Experience
After checking out, we randomly found a restaurant, Yummy Yoga Rooftop Restaurant, to have lunch.
We ordered Thali (a traditional Indian platter meal), which is usually a large round plate filled with curry, bean paste, stew, yogurt, rice, Indian flatbread, etc. It is rich and cheap, and such a meal is really satisfying!
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🎭 Art and shopping time
After lunch, we started exploring the nearby art shops.
🖼️ Art World
The works in this art shop are extremely exquisite. The owner is very nice and even took us to visit his studio and introduced his creative process. But as expected, high-quality artworks have relatively high prices.
💎 Koshà Earrings Shop
In the same alley, there is an exquisite earring shop Koshà, which has great designs but is more expensive. There is another earring shop opposite, the prices are much more affordable and you can buy nice styles for 100-300 rupees. Although this store doesn’t have any Google reviews, it’s really worth a visit.
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☕ Hot afternoon: coffee and kombucha
🏡 Nothing Before Coffee
This is a chain coffee shop with air conditioning. In such a high temperature of 40 degrees, air conditioning is really more important than anything else! We went in, ordered coffee, and sat for a while before we were willing to leave.
🫖 Emjay Brewery
I thought this was a place that brewed beer, but it turned out to be a place that specializes in Kombucha! Their kombucha is really delicious, and many restaurants sell this brand of drinks. It is a well-known brand in Udaipur.
We also chatted with the boss, and after he knew we were from Taiwan, he specifically mentioned that his good friend used to study at National Cheng Kung University. It really is a small world!
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🚤 Tips for cheap boat rides
Locals recommended that we go to Boat Boarding Point to take a boat, the ticket price is cheaper than City Palace!
• Ticket price for locals: Rs. 180
• Foreigner ticket price: Rs 360 (cheaper than City Palace’s Rs 600)
Although City Palace's boat can take you to the island, we felt that this side was more cost-effective, so we decided to take it from here.
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🍕 Dinner: A mysterious pizza shop opened by an Italian
We went to a very mysterious pizza shop, Jaadoo Pizza Project, which was recommended by the owner who drank kombucha in the afternoon.
This shop is hidden in a super secret alley. When I got there, I was doubting my life until I realized that the restaurant was up the stairs. The environment in the store is super cozy, the pizza crust is super thin and crispy, and all three flavors are delicious! The menu is written on a blackboard. There are no fixed items, but they all look like they will be good.
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🚆 The highlight of the night: First experience of Indian sleeper train
After dinner, we headed to the railway station to experience the India 1AC first class sleeper.
The train ticket didn't have the carriage number written on it, we only knew it was carriage EA, so I went straight to the uncle who made the bed to help confirm the carriage location. The old man was very enthusiastic and helped us find the person in charge to confirm and find our seats smoothly.
This 1AC sleeper is super comfortable, with fixed upper and lower bunks and stairs to climb up, so there is no need to worry about falling. When we arrived at the station, the uncle who made the beds came to wake us up and took away the used sheets, so we didn’t have to worry about oversleeping at all. The service was very thoughtful!
This train ride was truly an amazing experience and a perfect end to our trip to Udaipur!
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