Udaipur

I was psyched to visit Udaipur even before I knew much about it's beauty. As you might know from reading this, I'm a lover of all things Bond. And if you happen to have seen Octopussy, you'll know that Udaipur's Lake Palace was quite famously featured in the film. Naively, I thought I could work a bit of magic by emailing the Palace, now a very exclusive hotel, in advance to arrange a visit for a cocktail (shaken, not stirred) at their bar. This type of magic email has worked for me in the past, but this time I was denied, albeit, in the most polite manner. No big deal. I still managed to get close to the stunning white hotel, which is completely surrounded by a lake, on a sunset boat ride. And although I was wearing an awkward, orange life-jacket instead of some glamorous Bond Girl ensemble, it was still pretty cool and an amazing thing to see.

Udaipur is very, very beautiful. Watching the sun set on Lake Pichola is like stepping into some expressionist painting - wild purples and blues streak the sky and reflect off the shimmering lake. A view so pretty you'd think it was photoshopped. 

My time in Udaipur was extremely chill. Our group attended a cultural show featuring musicians and dancers which was followed up by a fun dinner on a rooftop. We met another group of travellers and there was an impromptu chile pepper eating contest, and lots of glasses of rum. When there was still no winner after two dozen or so chiles were eaten, it was called as a draw.

Our second day was spent visiting the City Palace - a beautiful historical site , high up on a hill in the heart of Udaipur. It was a stunning site to see with beautiful views of the lake, colourful mosaics and glass windows. One favourite part was the charming "elephant parking spaces" next to the palace.

Afterwards, I relaxed back at the hotel with a massage and had my hands and feet painted with henna. The Henna artist came to my hotel room to apply the die - a bit of a shady set up but I was really happy to have the beautiful designs on my hands and tops of feet. Dinner that night was on a very cool outdoor restaurant patio where we ordered up an apple flavoured hookah after our meal. Definitely one of my favourite meals of the trip.