7-28-2011 A morning at the Udaivilas

After waking at the Udaivilas, we took a dip in our adjoining pool overlooking the lake and city. We had the cold breakfast which consisted of wonderful fruits and a number of different yogurts and fresh pastries and juices. The manager, a Swiss fellow, checked on us. The previous day, he had provided us with free drinks at the bar. Later we walked the grounds and talked to Mr. Roop Singh Ji at the animal preserve. Then Troy went into town to turn in his phone to his NGO coordinator and to pick up DVDs that he ordered the prior day. He later told us how when he got to the guy's shop he found out that the the DVDs were at some guy's house so he hopped on the back of a motorcycle and rode to the house and to the DVDs. Meanwhile, Fariba and I hung out at the hotel, getting a tour and seeing an amazing pool and gardens that we had not seen before.
          Troy was about 15 minutes late getting back and Fariba and I started to worry. It is amazing to think that he was there for two months and we hardly worried but after having been there for a few days, we worried when he was 15 mins late. Having experienced Udaipur in all of its chaotic beauty, we started to think, what if something happened to him? We really had no way to find him or contact him, etc. We worried and told the hotel staff to let us know as soon as he got to the security gate. Thankfully he made it back safely and the staff put us all on a golf cart down to the boat dock. 
      By this time, the Udaivilas had already delivered our belongings by boat to the Lake Palace. We went through the very formal check out process at the reception desk and then the hostess walked us to a golf cart for a ride to the boat landing. At the boat landing, a waiter prepared fresh rosewater tea and we got on board the ornate Udaivilas boat for a tour of Lake Pichola. It was just me, Fariba and Troy and our hostess and our captain in this quaint wooden motorboat.
      We saw children swimming and women washing clothes in the lake. We saw workers in the old city building a new hotel. We rode past the lake palace and onward to the Lake Palace dock on the shore.