Maharaja Yogi, forgotten passports and Octopussy

02.06.09 Friday

One of the other optional activities at Hotel Palace Bijapur was to do morning yoga on the fourth floor with the King. I had not done yoga in over a year, but watching the sun rise over the Rajasthani hills while a king helped me do a headstand was the exact thing I was looking to do.

We soon departed the castle to head to the next city, Udaipur. After about 30 minutes we stopped unexpectedly because Canadian Jay, in the other SUV, had forgotten his passport at the palace (note--he also had not had a visa to get into India initially and had to go back to Hong Kong to get one). This left too much opportunity for Maria and I to NOT write a song about it. Lyrics HERE to the tune of jungle bells (note that Jay likes to drop the F-bomb).

In Udaipur we went to a small artist collective where they specialize in Indian miniature painting. The artists showed us the process and painted a design on our fingernails--my smooth operator painter noted, “A peacock for you: a symbol of beauty for a beauty.“ Oh those Indian men, they try so hard.

Maria gets her nail painted.

Mike asked for a beer, but got a Brown Bear.

Later, we headed to the City Palace which was beautiful and highly entertaining as Jay was again mobbed by youngsters wanting pics with he and his mega-biceps.

Jay and his fans

Also, a man asked me to pose with his baby not one, not two, but three times (all on different levels of the Palace). The baby cried when I tried to hold her (each time) so she just used Senor as a teething toy instead.

Speaking of Senor, in the red light @ the City Palace of Udaipur

I was also informed by our guide that peacocks do not “have the sex like you and me” because the male spreads its seed during certain times of the year and the females then get impregnated. (Note, we were in a peacock hall at the time, thus the line of conversation).

Some employees enjoy the view

Later that night we were also able to see a traditional Indian dance performance, which involved puppets, fire, and a woman dancing with like 8 pots on her head. Really, what more can you ask for? (Well, we hoped for a snake to jump out of the pots but that was, indeed, too much to ask for).

Ladies with sass at the City Palace

Udaipur is a beautiful city where we came across my favorite rooftop hangout. It is surrounded with hills/small mountains, palaces that appear to be floating, and it’s where the James Bond film “Octopussy” was filmed. In case you are curious, there were multiple places to view it any night you desired.