I hear the sound of drums

The last few days in Udaipur have been quite relaxing. I have wandered the streets and shorelines and visited many little shops and stalls without any of the hassle from vendors I would expect in other towns and cities. I have been a model tourist and marvelled at the Elephants walking the roadways, laughed at the Cows which appear to own the city streets and watched amused but slightly confused as Men (or Unuchs) dressed as ladies danced and cavorted in the streets.

Yesterday I took up some Tabla lessons with a delightfully enthusiastic music shop owner called Rajesh. Having only 2 days to teach me, we tore through the basics and he got me to a level where I could accompany him on his Sitar. The excersises were a little boring I have to say but the resulting accompaniment was quite rewarding. OK, so I'm still no good, but at least I have an appreciation of the techniques now, so hopefully I can make some use of my own Tabla when I return.

My stomach has been a bit on edge these last few days (must be something I ate!) so I've been keeping things simple and not venturing too far from my hotel or suitable bathroom facilities. However, I decided I couldn't leave Udaipur without visiting the Monsoon Palace up on that distant hill, so I hired a rikshaw and off we went at full tilt. What had been a nice day decended into greyness and by the time we had reached the summit we were in a full blown storm. Soaked to the bone in a second, I decided (to apease the disapointment in my mind) that the only time to visit the Monsoon Palace was in Monsoon conditions. As I looked out over the highly talked about landscape I saw only fog and driving rain, but I was happy.

On the back steps of the palace I met some college students who were hiding from the weather and at their request began to explain the differences between our two countries, as I saw it. We had coffee as we chatted and after some time the fog began to disperse and a hint of the wonderful panoramic hidden behind came into view. I decided however that I had best get back into town before I missed my train, and sure enough upon arriving at the station my train was sitting there waiting for me. I had plenty of time to settle into my bunk before the whistle blew and the engine hauled it's human cargo eastward, toward Jaipur.