Udaipur - Delwara

November 09, 2019

Udaipur - Delwara

It's taken a while to write this blog, as we have had my Mum visiting and we have just been too busy - what a great position to be in !!

While Mum was visiting I thought it would be nice to visit our favourite Indian state of Rajasthan and take her to the lovely city of Udaipur. I have done a fair bit of travelling in my years but in no other country have I had a flight that ‘bounces’ and this is not the first time. Our flight from Bangalore flew to Mumbai, where half the passengers including us, left the plane while many remained seated to continue the flight on to Chandigarh. Its always interesting watching people try and understand what they should be doing...... sit, stand, stay, go, move seats, get bags……. Boarding Passes need to be shown to 'exit' the plane to confirm everyone is in the right place .....it goes on and on! You have no idea how confusing this process is but always good for a laugh. Anyway, we managed the chaos in our stride and safely made it to Udaipur, as did everyone else by the look of it, as it was Diwali weekend.

Options for hotels are abundant in this part of India, from guest house, haveli, hostel, luxury hotel, and this time we went boutique hotel. The hotel, Raas Devigarh, is an 18th century renovated palace in the Aravalli Hills of Rajasthan about 30 minutes outside of Udaipur. The hotel sits majestically above the small village of Delwara and has a long history of being the fort of the region. We have actually stayed at one of their other properties in Jodhpur, and it is one of our favourite memories of our time in India.

The renovation of the hotel has taken over 15 years to complete and much of the work was done by local people, giving the area a much needed economic boost. This was very obvious in the village, as it was one of the best maintained and clean villages I have come across in India. The pride and pleasure the locals have was very obvious, and they all benefit from jobs created by the hotel being opened. An example of that was the hotel was involved in cleaning and upgrading the local step well that is a key part of village life - it went from a rundown 'hole' to a beautiful 'not so clean while we were there' well that the children play in and the locals congregate around.

The hotel can arrange for local guides to walk you through the village, to show you all it has to offer and to learn the history of the region. This is one aspect of Indian village life that I love. The laid back feeling and joy of seeing children playing and dancing and enjoying the simple things in life. Cows wandering in the streets, people meeting and drinking chai - it is just so peaceful. The rural Indian life is such a beautiful and welcomed sight after the chaos and hectic traffic of the big cities like Bangalore.

The hotel was number one with service and attention to detail making us feel like royalty throughout our stay. They remembered our very complex drink orders - Gin and Tonic with ice is not hard to remember…… The facilities, restaurants and spa were brilliant and the staff remembered us wherever we went. Mum is always up for something new and the Indian spa visit was definitely a memory she will not forget !!

We managed to drag ourselves away from the peaceful village for a day trip in to Udaipur to visit Udaipur Palace and amaze at its grandeur. We also managed to get some shopping done at one of the artefact shops there - never too early to start planning what will fit in the container back to Australia. Some lovely garden pots will now have pride of place in our home in Sydney.

I love sharing these sorts of experiences with family and the beauty of Rajasthan and the local people constantly draws me back.