Travel
with the Wine Skinny:
Mildly Bewildered but Totally Enchanted
in India
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 It
was really difficult to pick a favorite
hotel from the trip - all of them qualified
as some of the most impressive we had ever
seen. But I have to say that the Taj
Lake Palace Hotel (right) in Udaipur
was probably the most memorable.
Once a royal island retreat, it is now
a wonderful hotel that seems to float in
the middle of manmade Lake Pichola. Gorgeous
sunrise and sunset photo opps at every turn,
a lovely mustachioed and costumed doorman,
extremely gracious service, palatial guestrooms
with lake views, and manicured gardens and
lily ponds make this place a destination
in itself.
Udaipur was founded in 1599 as an eleven-gated,
fortified city, and a great deal of those
ancient bastions and structures are still
in evidence. One of the main attractions
is the City Palace, a blindingly
white hillside palace that includes lovely
courtyards, elephant parking spaces, hanging
gardens, and room after room of exquisite
furnishings and art.
 It
was also in Udaipur that we met up with
Rakesh, our favorite SITA guide of
the trip. Young, charming, hip and funny,
he was as well informed on the dozens (hundreds?)
of miniature paintings of the City Palace
as he was on the last season of Sex &
the City.
At the end of our afternoon city tour,
Rakesh took us to Jagdish Temple,
the largest Hindu temple in the city. Steep,
slick marble steps (right) lead to one of
the happiest sights I've ever seen - a roomful
of brightly-sari'ed women seated and singing
and clapping in the middle of the afternoon,
while a line of locals and a few tourists
queued their way to pay a visit to Vishnu.
All churches should offer as much hope and
inspiration…
Dinner at the Neel Kamal restaurant
at the Lake Palace featured one of the best
dishes of the trip - a cherry tomato "kabab"
filled with a delicious mixture of mint,
grains and spices and topped with chili
oil.
If you ever find yourself in Delhi and
only have time to visit one nearby city,
you could hardly do better than Udaipur.
(And call Rakesh...)
It seems like every other sight in India
is a "must-see" with jaw-dropping
architecture, color, people and history,
but the Jain temple at Ranakpur surely
ranks near the top of the list.
 Set
in a remote valley between Udaipur and Jodhpur,
the temple is a walled forest of white marble
columns - some 1500 carved pillars (right),
no two of which are alike, including a few
plain pillars and one that is slightly crooked
(with stories connected to each and every
one). Covering nearly 4500 square yards,
the sprawling temple is remarkable not only
for its architecture but for the way the
pillars filter and reflect the sun's rays
- seemingly changing from morning's gold
to twilight's pale blue.
After touring the Jain temple, we continued
on the road to Jodhpur with our driver
Jasbir, who had met us at the airport
in Udaipur and would stay with us - and
look after us - for the rest of our trip.
He was a sweetheart, and we were in safe
hands the whole time - even on those crazy
Indian roads!
Jodhpur is a desert city, presided over
by the impressive Mehrangarh Fort,
which can be seen from virtually every point
in the city, including our nearly equally
impressive hotel, the Umaid
Bhawan Palace.
 Surrounded
by a six-mile-long wall, the 16th century
Fort offers spectacular panoramic vistas
of the city below. Opposite the Fort on
another mountainous road is the Jaswant
Thada, the royal crematorium of the
Jodhpur rulers. Peering over the sidewall
to see a pile of ashes is a startling connect-the-dots
moment, with past and present colliding.
The is a riot of color and movement,
combining market stalls, all manner of creatures
and more stuff than you can imagine. We
bought perfumed oils, a boatload of spices
and teas, and enough textiles to open our
own shop back home.
 However
you do it, be sure to visit a textile shop
called Maharani Art Exporters (tel:
2627607 / 2653152/2620898) in the Tambacoo
Bazar. The presentation of textiles was
outstanding - we hung on every word and
felt like buyers for some chic designer
as we picked out stacks of favorites.
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