The Trip - Jodhpur - Hotel

OK, in the last post I left of with day 3.

Day 3 took us to Jodhpur to the Umaid Bhavan Palace. The hotel that runs inside the palace is the Taj hotel. There is still the royal family that lives in the other side of the hotel. This Taj property is what they call their 'luxury' service, and let me tell you.... it was ALL THAT.... AND MORE!!!

The best was having our own butler, Sikander. He was at our service... I can not say enough about the great things that he did for us... from bringing us coffee and tea in the morning, to running the bath for the kids, to packing us a lunch box for the road trips, to just being around when we needed him... it was GREAT!!!

So, this post is dedicated to Umaid Bhavan Hotel and Sikander.

Umaid Bhavan Palace is high above the desert capital of Jodhpur, Umaid Bhavan Palace is the last of the great palaces of India and one of the largest residents in the world, on 26 acres. Umaid Bhavan was built between 1928 and 1942 for H. H. Maharaja Umaid Singh, the grandfather of the present Maharaja of Jodhpur. It was constructed by to replace the Mehrangarh Fort, give people of that period employment during the great drought and famine. The palace is built with influence of Hindu and Buddhist architecture, exterior inspired by the holy temple of Angkor Wat and Borobudur; whilst the interior followed the layout of an Indian palace, with the ‘mardana’ – Gentlemen’s wing to the North and the ‘zenana’ – the private Ladies wing, to the South.

The room that we had was 1100 sq ft!! Yes... !!! It was HUGE!!! It apparently was previously the room of the king before the royal family moved to the other side of the palace....

As soon as we left, the kids kept asking when we were coming back... this is definitely one place they want to come back too!!

So, Sikander really made a lasting impression on the kids.... Milan proposed to the family that he would now become our butler. He started opening doors for us and opening our napkins on our laps when we sat for our meals (very cute!!). He also said, 'When I grow up, I want to be a Butler!'

The Taj explained to us, that in the days of the Maharaja, these things were taken for granted, and for them at the Umaid Bhavan Palace they still believe ‘Atithi devo Bhava’ – The Guest Is GOD. Cut a long story short…..it was our time to live an episode experience of ‘Fresh Prince of Bell Air’. Can you guess who was who in which role?

As we were leaving the hotel, the full staff came to see us off as we entered the car and made sure that we were OK. It really was touching, in just 2 nights, we got really attached to the Sikander and the rest of the staff

So check out the pics and you will see the place that definitely has made a lasting impression!!!

The welcome at the Umaid Bhavan Hotel

The unforgettable Sikander

The Maharani Suite - Bedroom

The sitting area

Sikander at our service!!

A full view of our hotel

Back of the Hotel

The hotel gardens

Hotel courtyard

Peacocks that joined us for breakfast

Sikander running the bath for the kids!!

Awwww

A view of our hotel (the Palace) from the Fort

Dancers in the Hotel Lobby

A Special Post from Mira - City Palace Tour - Udaipur

This is a post from Mira on her thoughts of the City Palace tour.....

The City Palace tour guide, Ravi took us on all 4-5 levels of the palace as he explained to us the history of the palace. Outside, the horse stable is now used by the drivers that bring the people to see the palace. Also the entrance had some weird slopes in the walk way. These were for the elephants to rest on, how smart!!! The main entrance door to the palace was huge. It had spikes on it so that any bad people on elephants could not break it down. The spikes would poke the elephant. The entrance door also had a arch a wooden rail. This was for when a person gets married the groom would ride on an elephant and had to touch the arch to get married. Second floor we saw all the significant areas were the king performed parties like birthdays & holi celebrations. The king would celebrate Holi with the people of his town outside the place, then inside with his brothers, sons and guests and a private area were he would play holi with his many wives! The king also had a room full of mirrors, so that when he lit a oil lamp the whole room would be lit. In the old days there was no electricity so the king had this brilliant idea! This was the most informative palace I have been to so since Warwick Castle in England. It was weird that our tour guide could speak Spanish; I never knew a Rajasthan person could do that. Others speak French. Weird.

The TRIP!!!!

Welcome to the hotel in Udaipur

View from the hotel

View from the Monsoon Palace from the Hotel

A view of our hotel from the Moon Palace

Udaipur City Palace

Doing laundry on the banks of the Lake Pichola

Lake Palace

Laundry!!

Jagamandir - the Mother of the Taj Mahal

City Palace

Jagdish Temple

A view from the Monsoon Palace

A view from the City Palace

Music program at the hotel

Dancer at the hotel

Typical Rajasthani

The trip began on Friday morning. We were off to a bit of a slow start since our flight out of Bangalore was delayed. Our lay over in Mumbai was 2 hours, but that was quickly whittled away by the flight delay and the 'bus-transfer' from the plane to the terminal. We got to the terminal, then we realized that we had to 'walk' to the other terminal. Then we had to make sure that our bags got 'transferred'..... phwew.... we finally made it.....

Arrived in Udaipur and made the quick trip from the airport to our hotel - Fateh Garh. It is a beautiful hotel nestled in the hills of Udaipur. The hotel was actually used in some 'Bollywood' shows. There was one similar to the Bachelorette that was shot at the same hotel... hey... kind of cool, eh??

Fateh Garh our hotel is situated a little out of the main town crested on mountain edge. We were welcomed by the traditional singing of women upon our arrival, RED CARPET AFFAIR with petals sprinkled before our feet as we walked to the entrance. The views from the hotel are stunning…. Views of the full city of Udaipur. It is really breathtaking! Feteh Garh, is also a Royal Family owned property, a 150 year old crumbling palace transposed stone for stone to its current location.

Udaipur, the city of lakes was founded by Maharana Udsi Singh in 1559 and was named after him. The City is surrounded by Aravalli hills. Udipur was the capital of Mewar after the death of Maharana Pratap in 1597. The city was attacked by Marathas, Mughals & British, however it has never been defeated because of its location. The city has a larger number of temples, heritage palaces, havelis, fort and lakes.

Once situated in the hotel we were off to Lake Pichola. On this lake we saw some of the top hotels of Udaipur. The Taj is situated on the middle of the Lake, while Leela and Oberoi are on the perimeter. The Tag is the most famous , also known as the ‘Floating Palace’ , specially made famous by the Roger Moore 007 movie – Octopusy.

We also visited Jagamandir Palace which is also in the middle of the lake. The story goes that Shah Jahan, the man behind the Taj Mahal was inspired by the Jagamandir Palace. He supposedly used some of the design elements in the creation of the Taj…. On a much larger scale of course!!
Our evening was capped with a magnificent evening of traditional folk dance and song performed by the locals, only the pictures speak for themselves……

All of this in Day 1!!

Day 2 (Saturday) was more touring of the city. We toured the City Palce, the Jagdish Temple (a Vishnu temple), and the Monsoon Palace....

After viewing the spectacular views of the City Palace from Pichola Lake, we toured the interior. It is Rajasthans largest palace built by many Maharana’s over a period of 300 years, beginning was started Maharana Udai Singh II. Its architecture is amazing considering the views of the Lake, rooms to grace sun rise / sun set as well as a room to be graced by the Moon Light through stained glass winds as one sits and feels the evening warm breeze.

It was a great day of touring and the kids did great!! They were really interetsed in the tours and learning about all the history... we were very proud of them.

Day 3 (Sunday) was a road trip from Udaipur to Jodhpur. 6 Hours.... We survived.... The hotel in Jodhpur is FABULOUS!!! We are staying at the Umed Bhavan Palace which is operated by the Taj. Yes, the King and Queen actualy live here! We have our own Butler (Sikandar). Sikandar also is the 'fill-in' butler for the Royal Family. So yes, we are being treated like Royalty!! He makes sure that we have everything that we need. As part of his services he can even run the bath for us.... YES!! Run the bath!! We are loving this luxury. The hotel room is HUGE!!! 2 TV's and plenty of space! This morning Sikandar brought us Tea and Coffee to our room and perpared it for us.... Ahhh.... this is the life!!

Will post pictures with the next post. Along with details of Day 4 (Monday) - the Jodhpur tour.