Leaving Northern India (Udaipur) and a ‘taste of’ Southern India (Goa)

Well this blog update details of our final two locations visited in India, one in Northern india and one in Southern India..

In Udaipur (Northern India), we spent our time visiting Lake Pinichola, and the old city. The city is located on the banks of Lake Pichola, which is the city’s own artificial lake. This city has been a playground for wealthy Indian vacationers, with Udaipur’s City Palace being its top attraction. This grand Palace took over 400 years to complete and it draws in thousands of visitors per year thanks to its well-curated art and artifact collections – it is also the only attraction where Indians and Foreigners pay the same amount 300 Rupees (NZ$6) each. It is set with beautiful views of the city and lakes. The facade of the palace is 244 metres long and 30.4 metres high, and the complex includes 11 smaller palaces. It has a maze of courtyards, pavilions, terraces, corridors, rooms and hanging gardens.

Of course, on 26 August Helena had a special day and received a ‘birthday cake’ and some chocolate to celebrate this special day.

One of the best ways to view Udaipur City was to eat dinner at one of the many rooftop restaurant!, which are very common. Not only did we find one with great views of the lakes and their shores, but it also served meat (so Helena could eat her favourite Chicken Tikka and Chapati’S) – so we went back 3 times!!.

To finish our time in India, we decided that our final stop would be a complete change, so we flew down to Goa to spend some time away from the crowds and we headed to Southern India; and what an amazing contrast. We flew from Udaipur to Goa (Dabolim) airport and jumped in the taxi for the 18 km drive to our accomodation at Majorda (Perola Marinha Guesthouse). This accommodation cost us just NZ$25 a nights for a lovely double, ensuite, including a balcony. We spent 11 amazing days with no crowds, no hassle, seeing very few people, shopping at local shops (with no tourist prices) – but best of all a beautiful clean beach, although there was no swimming allowed due to it still being the ‘monsoon season’.

At the end of our stay it was Alan’s birthday on 12 September and Helena surprised him with a bottle (750ml) of local Port for 100 Rupees (NZ$2). Due to the price, we’ve also taken a couple of bottles of Port (plastic bottlesof course) and we found some Vodka for (250 Rupees or NZ$5) to Nepal.

This update is our final blog post for India as we are now heading to spend 2/3 months in Nepal.

To conclude, I don’t think we can say that India has been our favourite country so far – but saying that, we would never have taken it off our list of places to visit.

Please note that if you are thinking of going to Northern India we have prepared a supplementary post entitled ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’’ https://kiwiscanfly.net/northern-india-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly. This will give you some idea on what actual travelling is like and what to expect – please note that the commentary does not relate to Southern or Western India.