Tour of India, Part 3

We arrived at the Udaipur airport in the evening and were picked up by the hotel's driver. Note: when traveling in India always pre-arrange someone to pick you up wherever you arrive. You do not want to deal with taxi drivers on the street. 

We drove into an old town with narrow streets and bridges that looked very tourist-friendly. Our hotel was small inn with a comfortable bed but a bathroom with a shower that had no separate stall. But we got a good price for it. We had a small snack at the rooftop restaurant and the breeze was a little chilly.

Friday morning we walked in to the main tourist area, checking out hotels along the way. There is a city palace museum and long streets of bazaars with stalls selling clothes, fabric, fruits, spices, jewelry, you name it. We spent a good portion of the day sitting in cafes: lunch, afternoon tea watching the sun set over the lake, and dinner on the edge of the lake viewing the lights of island hotels.

Click for photos from Udaipur.

Saturday we were up early for a flight to Cochin via Mumbai. We scheduled a long layover in Mumbai so that we could drive in to town. Ms S was very excited to visit Mumbai. It had a very big-city feel about it, especially in the area we visited. We walked past a university, museums, some big parks where people were playing cricket. Of course there were many restaurants and shops. We walked to the Taj hotel. This is the hotel which was famously bombed in 2008. The hotel was luxurious and beautiful. We had lunch in a restaurant overlooking the sea.

Photos from Mumbai.

After a few hours exploring Mubai we were back to the airport to fly to Cochin. This is in the south west of India, on the sea and surrounded by backwaters. The airport is about two hours from Fort Cochin where we stayed. Again we stayed at a lovely local inn with very personal attention from the staff. They arranged for us to be picked up Sunday morning, driven about 2 hours south of town, and taken out on a houseboat to tour the backwaters for the afternoon. The boat was a real houseboat with sitting and dining area on the covered deck, plus two bedrooms/two bathrooms and a kitchen. We sat on the deck and just looked at the lush greenery and people living their lives along the shores of the river. The boat docked when we were served a good Indian meal for lunch. Towards the end of our trip it rained a nice steady rain. After our drive back to the hotel we were hustled off to a small local museum which hosted a show of traditional Kerala dance. 

Monday was a day for strolling and shopping in antique shops in Cochin. We had traditional Indian massages and walked out all oiled up to find a cafe for lunch. Fort Cochin was a pleasant, small, walkable area that made a nice visit.

Photos from Cochin, including our amazing day on the backwaters.

After our day in Cochin we were off to Chennai. Mr R and our driver picked us up; it was nice to see their friendly faces waiting for us at the airport. We spent a few days showing Ms S our favorite shopping and dining spots in Chennai. Of course we had the daily stop for filter coffee, a South Indian specialty made with very strong coffee, warm frothy milk and lots of sugar. We spent Thanksgiving Day in the pool and had dinner at "our" hotel. It was good, but the pumpkin was cheesecake not pie. 

We were sorry to send Ms S back to the US but had a good time and hope to vacation with her next year.