Palaces, pretenders and puking: Part 2

Trying to lose the bad taste the Jaipur boys had left us with, we made a bee line for Jodhpur, the famous Blue city, with its closely packed houses, narrow streets and wonderfully preserved fort looking over the city. Rajasthan’s history is its main attraction and we thoroughly enjoyed looking around the fort’s incredible collections of Moghul and Raj-era palanquins, elephant seats, weapons and beautiful miniature Rajasthani paintings.

Our last stop in Rajasthan was Udaipur, the White City, and touted as India’s most romantic place; home to the famous 18th century Lake Palace, which looks as though it floats on the surface of the water and whose biggest claim to fame was housing James Bond’s harem in the film Octopussy. The Lake Palace is now a top hotel, and although our travellers budget wouldn’t stretch to staying there, we had a beautiful room overlooking the lake from the other side of town.

The city surrounds India’s largest artificial lake,

recently refilled after a dry spell by the heavy monsoon rains of last summer, and is a wonderfully relaxed place to explore, occasionally stopping for a mango lassie or to wander into one of the many artisan’s shops or artist’s workshops. We rented bicycles and cycled around the outskirts, ending up at Sunset Point, where the view over Udaipur was gorgeous but was almost eclipsed by the ‘musical fountain’, complete with a DJ playing Britney Spears and simultaneously operating dozens of water spouts and coloured disco lights.

On our last day in Udaipur, we did a cookery course, which involved less cooking and more observing our teacher (a nutritionist from the local hospital) pouring copious amounts of oil and ghee into a vegetable curry, inexplicably served without the vegetables. When we asked if this was authentic home cooking, she replied, with no hint of irony, “No, this is a hotel curry. I wouldn’t eat this – its far too fattening.” On our way back to the hotel, I began to feel quite sick, which was very annoying, as we’d planned to go out for dinner at one of the lovely Havelis (colonial mansions) surrounding the lake. I struggled on and a few hours and a short nap later I thought I’d be ok. Jonny had booked somewhere and I didn’t know where, so I just got into a rickshaw and allowed myself to be led.

When we ended up at the dock by the lake, I still hadn’t guessed that Jonny had in fact booked us into the famous Lake Palace Hotel of Octopussy fame. When he finally told me, I was so excited I almost forgot how sick I’d been feeling, but half way down the causeway I stopped and projectile vomited over the wall and into the lake. This was the third time I’d thrown up either just before or just after eating an extremely expensive meal, and Jonny’s face was incredulous: not again! He asked if I wanted to pull out, but I wasn’t about to forgo my chance to see one of India’s most beautiful attractions.

When we got there, it was indeed absolutely stunning, with three different restaurants, an interior garden with twinkling lights, lily ponds and terraces overlooking the lake. Although Udaipur’s winter temperatures drop sharply at night, I chose to eat on the terrace as the menu looked good and it was an amazing view. Nobody else was up there – only mad dogs and Englishmen would choose to eat somewhere which needed a hot coal bucket to help warm their feet! But my choice paid off… 20 minutes after we started our meal, to my surprise and delight Jonny got down on one knee and asked me to marry him, producing a ring which he’d carried around for four and a half months, just waiting for the right moment.

So, despite me puking up, and Jonny’s crestfallen face as he thought the whole thing might have to be called off, it was a magical night for both of us.