I am in love with Udaipur.  I really wish I could spend all day walking around and taking in its beauty.  But work calls and without it, I wouldn’t be here at all.

Last night I got trapped “at” work until 8 pm, which was about 5:30 am my time? India time is off by 30 minutes in addition to the hour difference so I can’t keep track of time.

I went out on my balcony to smoke before sleep. I heard a very low hum that sounded like a call to prayer was about to start. Can’t tell you if I was right because the dogs started going off immediately. Aw.

The video sucks for visual, but it is the audio you want.

I slept for a whopping five hours. Just like yesterday, I didn’t want to go out but once I did, I did not want to come back inside.  The weather outside is actually cool today, it feels great.  It is also incredibly windy out, which makes it feel even cooler.

I made a mistake with my choice of restaurant for breakfast. The restaurant was hot inside and very not well ventilated.  I got pretty sweaty sitting there and could not recover from it, even with the cool winds blowing outside.

The food was also mediocre. Although to be fair, all I had was toast so I have no right to review the food.  But the toast was very stale, and the butter was weird.  It just wasn’t good.

I am not going to post the name of a photo of the restaurant because it is not fair for “toast and iced coffee lady” to criticize your food when she only tried…bread.

I walked around looking for Jagdish Temple and when Google said I was there, I could not find it.   I even walked a block away in each direction.   Well you know what I didn’t do?  I didn’t look UP.   There it is!  At the top of a staircase that leads to it.  The staircase I stood at while asking Google if it was sure I have arrived at my destination.

If I were a good travel blogger, I would tell you the history of this temple.  I would tell you that I stumbled in upon a prayer session with singing and here is what the prayers are for.  But I am not a good travel blogger so the best I could do is “THAT’S THE DESIGN ON MY ELEPHANT PANTS!!!”

Because yes, I will wear elephant pants even though doing so would make every seasoned traveler hate everything about me upon first sight.  Asshole tourist in elephant pants.  Yes?  You summoned me?  Hello?  How may I help you?

But back to Jagdish Temple.  Here is what the sign at the entrance says:

Leaving the temple, I managed to find an ATM that gave me cash.  SCORE!  I now have a nice stockpile of rupees.

After the temple, I walked to Lal Ghat. The view from my balcony is nicer than the front row view.

I took a photo of this hotel for myself to remember far into the future when I am retired and traveling without restrictions.  I may want to come back here and stay in a hotel with an elevator.  Although unless my retirement happens earlier than I plan due to a lottery win, I probably would not be able to afford it.

Walking back to my hotel, I need to get all the water in the world and toilet paper. I am so out of practice with travel. I used to always be prepared. You start a bit before you leave home. When you near the end of a roll of toilet paper, you pull out the cardboard thingy and flatten the remains and viola! Travel packs of toilet paper.

But not this time because it has been yearsssss since I took a trip like this and I just forgot.

When walking down a random street searching for toilet paper, I tried to pet a dog. One of his friends went completely nutso and began running at greyhound speed while screaming. Next thing I knew, I almost got bowled over by a pack of dogs bolting around the corner, barking like lunatics.

I followed them and found a woman getting out of a tuk tuk with a huge bag of rice to feed them. The dogs knew her and loved her.

One dog managed to get the entire bag and ran away with it. The woman had to chase the dog while laughing.

One of the beautiful babies came over and nudged me so I pet her. She chose my pets over a meal. Then suddenly I was the pied piper and many dogs came over for pets.

The woman came over and told me all the dogs’ names and relationships. Who is mom, who is daughter and son.  She gave me her card.  She runs Support Strays Udaipur.  You should check out their website if you love dogs: www.supportstraysudaipur.org

Here is what the busy street a tiny bit from my hotel looks like:

The street my hotel is actually on is incredibly quiet.

I came back to my hotel and fed my dogs some crackers.  It always hurts my soul when a stray dog asks for pets and when you start to move your hand out to oblige them, they wince a bit as if they are about to be hit.  No babies.  I would never hurt you.  I love you.

When I got back to my hotel, I showered and tried to nap.  I could not fall asleep at all.  I couldn’t yesterday either.  But yesterday I had more sleep than I did last night and I know I will not survive the day so I forced myself to lay there and rest until the alarm went off.

I don’t think it is the iced coffee that is keeping me from napping, I think it is the Diet Coke chaser I have been having so I will try cutting that out tomorrow.

Today I need to rebook my hotel for Jaipur.  I have a travel wifi thingy that I paid about $200 for but it is just not working as well as described.  I am having issues with work calls.  My mobile hot spot works better, but it suddenly cut off last night for seemingly no reason.

So I am cancelling the beautiful haveli I have booked, right next to the Hawa Mahal.  And checking into a… Hilton.  That’s somehow even worse than being toast and iced coffee lady.

I am trying to console myself (oh no, I am staying at a Hilton, life is so hard!) by reminding myself I only have 4 days in Jaipur and 2 of them I have tours booked so it isn’t like I would be walking to the Hawa Mahal every day anyway right?  Except I would be, to look at it.  Because I will be in complete awe to be seeing it with my own eyes.

I don’t want to go back home.  Now, or ever.  The ending of this trip is so far away. It ends in October and it is still August.  But I am already filled with dread that it will eventually be here.