Jagmandir Island, Cooking Classes, Horse Riding

These past couple of days have been some of the best in India. Udaipur is such a great city and there's a ton to do. Yesterday we took a boat around the lake and visited Jagmandir Island Palace - a gorgeous complex with quaint little courtyards and amazing views over the lake. We even got to look around the spa area (like we could EVER afford to go there!). We loved just sitting on white patio chairs watching the boats coming and going - such a beautiful place to journal as well! Then, last night we went to Shashi's cooking class below the Sunrise rooftop restaurant in Lal Ghat. If you are ever in Udiapur, you HAVE to go here - it was a 5 1/2 hour class filled with fun and we learnt over twenty new recipes, including most of the basics for Indian cooking. Think parantha (stuffed, butter, coconut), naan, aloo tomato masala, mango chutney, coriander chutney, pakoras (veg, paneer, onion, potato), vegetable biryani... and so much more! We took the class with a couple from the French West Indes, who are studying in Paris and India, and a Kiwi who is living in Kolkata/Calcutta working for an NGO which works with people in the slums. Talk about an interesting night! And then, of course, there's Shashi - a lovely lady who started the business after she was widowed at 32 and felt held back by her caste's rules. You'll have to take a class to find out the rest of her story, but she is truely amazing. We returned to our hostel at 11pm, exhausted, covered in flour, with a bag of sweet parantha for this morning! Today we have been on a hack/horse riding safari in the Udaipur countryside for 4 1/2 hours and are very sore as a result! We went with two German girls, a guy from Finland, another girl from Spain and our guide. We stopped for chai masala in the rural villages and there was this gorgeous little girl with no clothes and absolutely WILD hair! It was very funny. We stopped by a lotus pool for a break, and came back to the hostel at 2pm very sore, but very happy. Tonight we might try and find the cinema in Udaipur - which, according to the Spaniard, is no easy feat. There's a new Bollywood film out, however, and we can't wait to see it!
(pictures will come later!)