India Day Five: Travel To Udaipur, The City Of Lakes, A Sunset Cruise And An Exhilarating Tuk Tuk Drive.

We were up early again Tuesday morning in New Delhi , my  second day on my two week  tour of India. We were traveling by plane to Udaipur,  the City of the Lakes in Rajasthan in northwest India. It is the largest state in India. After another delicious breakfast buffet  at the Eros Hotel in Delhi , where I tried all of the Indian food , and an American omelet, we were off to the Delhi Airport.

Once again our we learned more about the history and culture of India from our guide Aparna,  as we made our way through  the busy streets New Delhi. However, we were lucky, beating  the rush hour traffic and got to airport early.

We were at the modern  domestic terminal, which wasn’t crowded but some of the members of our group, especially the women, had some difficulty getting through security.It was a modern airport.

I had a cup of coffee before boarding our one hour flight to Udaipur. I didn’t have a widow seat on the short hour flight. I love to look our windows on airplanes. It was a nice flight with mostly Indians traveling for the Diwali celebrations.

The fight was   quick and we were soon off of the plane, retrieving our luggage,  and driving on our bus to Udaipur, about a 1/2 hour drive from the airport.

As always I enjoyed the scenery on the drive to the city.  We drove through  rural areas at first, with hills that reminded me of my home in  Northastern Pennsylvania.

We soon entered the city limits of Udaipur ,

and rode along one of the beautiful  lakes, Lake Pichola .

Aparna, provided the group with a history of Rajastan  and Udaipur. We learned Udaipur was founded in 1559, by Maharana Udai Singh II  when decided to move his capital city here .  It was a fascinating history of  a leader who brought his family and subjects to the forest to protect them from invaders. He had the lakes created to protect his palace. This palace others  palaces the royal family built can be seen along Lake Pichola. We drove through the motor vehicle traffic, and seen the common site of cows roaming along the streets. They are sacred to the Hindu religion and roam the streets like our dogs and cats do here in the United States.

We arrived at the  splended Trident Hotel around 1 p.m. It was a magnificent hotel , one of two on a large resort on the royal lake . It’s is  famous for the elaborate wedding ceremonies held  here, some lasting  five days. .

After checking into my room we were told  our group would meet  at 4: 30 for a sunset lake cruise.  We had some free time and  I was soon outside exploring the beautiful gardens of the hotel , looking for birds and others wildlife.

And it didn’t take long to find it  onmy walk.  Almost immediately I saw  this beautiful coppersmith barbet,

and this greater coucal near rhe hotel . I also saw many common myna birds and jungle babblers I saw in New Delhi.. I was surprised to see so many birds active in the mid day heat.

I walked through the well maintained grounds seein many beautiful wildflowers including these yellow creeping daisies,

canna lillies,

and Chinese hibiscus flowers.

I walked the tree lined sidewalk to the a little boat dock along Lake Pichola,

where I admired the spectacular royal palace across the lake.

The lake was beautiful as well as the surrounding gardens.

There was a lot of preparation going on for  the wedding ceremonies that evening.

I walked through the gardens and past a  lily pond with beautiful water lillies in bloom.

I continued to see  many new species of birds including a beautiful purple sunbird,

these Asian bee eaters,

an Indian silverbill

 a spot breasted fantail and few  other species of birds. Here is a link to a gallery on my blog website with some more photos  of the birds I  my afternoon hike in the hotel gardens. India Day Five. hotel gardens birds  October 14 2025.

As I walked back to the hotel and encountered this unusual scene this luxurious car and this camel decorated for wedding ceremonies. I asked to take photos and the welcomed me.

When I asled to take a photo, they  not only agreed to let me take photos of them,

but gave me one of their turbans and took photos of me. They seemed just as excited to see me as I did them.  It was another wonderful experience with the local folks  in India.

I continued back to my room seeing these beautiful Cario morning glory flowers,

a  lemon pansy butterfly and

a scarlet  skimmer dragonfly.

I also saw these folks dressed for a wedding ceremnoy and glad to let me get a photo. I returned to my room just in time to shower  and get to the  bus for our ride to the lake for our boat ride.  Here is a link to a gallery on my blog website with some more photos from my afternoon hike in the hotel gardens . India Day Five. Trident hotel gardens  October 14 2025.

 

We drove through the streets of Udaipur again ,

 I watched the busy traffic, street vendors and shops along the way.

We saw a few monkeys,

and pretty young ladies who wanted their photo taken.

We soon reached the lake Pichola and boarded a boat to

We watched a beautiful sun set over the hills as we crossed the lake.

We landed on the Palace  island . The construction of the Place began in the late 16th century by  Maharana Amar Singhand

We were given some time to explore the ancient palace on our own.

I walked under the old palm trees listening to the large flocks of  rose ring parrots squwaking  in the evening twilight.

The place was illuminated as dusk fell over the lake.

It was a beautiful evening,

but it was not over, we took the boat back to the city and boared a tuk tuk, basicly a three wheeled auto rickshaw. Here is a link to a video of another exhilrating ride, this time through the street of Udiaopur. This is a link to a video of the ride on my Youtube Channel. https://youtube.com/shorts/4JB9Ql7cfhc?si=zMnIsgtcFF_14M6B We were driven to  a roof top restaurant, the Upre by 1559 A.D with a magificant view of the City Of Lakes provided by our  guide Aparna.  I had a delicious   mushroom appetizer,

and a spicy fish dish, not one of my favorite meal so far, but it was still very good. It was a beautful evening and a perfect ending to a busy but wonderful day in India.

Here is a link to a gallery on my blog website with some more photos from my boat ride and evening in Udaipur . India Day Five Udaipur evening  October 14 2025.

“Waking up in India is like waking up to life itself.” – Reymond Page