My last day In Bundi was probably one of my favorite days in India so far.
I went to an amazing waterfall with the family I was staying with and spend the afternoon swimming and relaxing in the sun. It was the first time that the mother had ever been to this waterfall, even though it was only 35kms away from where she has lived her entire life. She was so excited when I asked her family to join me. She was literally skipping on our short hike to the falls. It was really fun. Later that night I went to visit an Indian friend that I made and she put henna on my hands and cooked me dinner. She is getting married soon and will be moving to a new city, so we talked a lot about how hard it will be for her to leave her family and what she expected her life would be like with her new husband. It was very interesting.
That same night I caught a sleeper bus from Bundi to the city of Udaipur. I use the term "sleeper" very loosely since it was impossible to sleep on this bus. Yes there was a bed, but the road was so bumpy my body was literally hitting the ceiling every few moments. Also, Indians drive like complete maniacs, and the bus seemed to be constantly seconds away from fatally crashing into the dozens of trucks that past us on the road last night. ...very scary.
But I made it to Udaipur in one piece and met up with 3 people I had met briefly in Bundi. We found a lovely guesthouse near the lake and have spent the last 2 days exploring the city together. Last night we rented boats to watch the sunset on the lake and then had dinner at a very expensive hotel by the lake called Udai Koti. It was really a completely different side of India. Our meal cost us well over 3000 rupees ( there were 7 of us...usually I pay less then 40 rupees for a meal) but the food and the atmosphere were incredible (but most likely a one time thing). They even had a rooftop pool.
The city of Udaipur is very beautiful, but very touristy so in a couple days I plan to move on to Jaisalmer which is where I am going to do a camel trek through the Thar desert for a few days.
Will keep you posted.
Colleen