Good morning Vagabuddies.
Welcome back day two in Udaipur.
Our adventure across Rajasthan continues.
Lots of VR stuff to do; lots of videos to shoot; and tons of adventures to be had.
What are we up to today, bro?
We don't really know.
I mean there's a lot of cool stuff to see in Udaipur.
Yesterday we hit the City Palace and some of the major sites,
but there's a lot of really cool back streets
and some really cool bazaars.
So I think we're going to go to the spice market and start things off
and then see where the day takes us. Let's go.
One of the most exciting ways to do travel in India and transport is the rickshaw.
It's ubiquitous with India
Tuk tuk/ rickshaw same thing, different name.
It's basically a motorcycle engine, small motorcycle engine, lawnmower engine on a three wheeler.
They're usually covered. They have seats in the back, and it's the local form of transportation and taxi.
Super fun way to get around.
Interesting way to kind of take in the city too
because there's really no barrier between
you and the outside world.
Just taking a ride and
watching people do their their daily chores and work
is one of the coolest things about traveling here.
So we just got to the spice market.
In Hindi masala means spice; bazaar means market.
The first place we've been pulled into is the tobacco merchant.
He's showing us some Indian cigarettes.
They're called beedis.
You might see them. They're basically a leaf of tobacco with a little bit inside,
and he's showing us what they smoke here.
It's kind of funny.
Well, I would have to say that in all of my travels
India has to be the most
photogenic country I've ever been to.
There's just a million stories unfolding around you at all times,
and there's just the most incredible photo ops,
especially if you're into portrait photography, like I am.
There's just a photo literally everywhere you look, happening at all times.
So it's kind of overwhelming,
especially trying to capture it all.
We're going through memory sticks and
batteries like nobody's business,
but having so much fun doing it.
What I really love though is these beams of light right here.
When you're walking through the buildings, you just get these sharp beams of light and shadow,
and they make for super dramatic, awesome photos.
Whoa, what is this you guys?
That's sugar.
Back in the day when I used to work in India, I worked in a sugar company,
basically helping sugar farmers get access to credit.
But I ate a lot of this.
Here in India the sugar is basically taken from the sugar cane, which is grown to the south of India.
It's pressed into a juice and then it's dried into these big clumps like this and then sold.
Sugar is used all throughout Indian cooking.
Indians have the highest sugar consumption in total in the world
because they use it in everything from tea to curries.
And yeah, it's just bought and sold here in the market like this. It's pretty tasty.
Mark, what are these little guys right here?
They kind of look like a meringue or something.
Yeah, these are like....
They grind sugar; they mix it with water, and they make these kinds of things.
These are called batoche. Is that a dessert?
Kind of dessert. They generally use it when they are doing puja or something
or generally in marriages. So that's when they use it.
You want to try it?.
Yeah, so puja for those of you who don't know is when
in the Hindu religion they make offerings to different gods and spirits, and they do that by giving food
Into these little shrines like either at their house or on the street,
So I guess the gods like these little sugar treats.
Yep. What are these things called again? Batoche.
So we've been in search of a water bottle around here,
and this kind gentleman has brought some water.
Mark is actually going to drink that.
He's sterilizing it with a SteriPEN.
So it should be good in theory,
but I'm happy with not pooping my pants for the next two weeks here in India
So I'm not going to drink it.
It's very rude to refuse gifts from your host.
And I think it's rude to just blatantly put like a chemical
light cleaner inside it right in front of them, you know.
We explained.
Either drink it immediately and be courteous or just courteous say no.
You don't take it and then clean it because it's too dirty.
We explained to him that we have very weak stomachs in the West,
and therefore we have to sanitize it.
You've got to drink it, Mark.
All right.
Drink all of it.
It tastes good.
Okay. Your turn.
Pass.
Here in Rajasthan, we are in a desert,
but in the south of India,
especially Tamil Nadu, there is so much rain from the monsoon.
It's one of the most fertile places in the world.
So much that they get three harvests of rice a year,
which you know if you know anything about farming is a lot.
It's incredibly fertile, and that is why India for centuries
millennia really has just been a breadbasket of the world.
What always fascinates me is the origins of common ingredients
that we take for granted these days in cooking around the world.
India has exported tons of things like I said all these spices from common pepper all the way up to coriander.
They've also imported stuff in recent centuries like potatoes,
an integral part of Indian cooking as are chilis
But as we learned last time in the last series from Peru,
both those two ingredients come from the Andes and were brought here by the
Spanish and Portuguese traders back in the day.
They've integrated themselves into Indian cooking and now modern Indian cuisine is a global cuisine,
which continues to influence and be influenced from other cuisines around the world.
All right well we were down here in the spice market, and we met some new friends.
New Vagabuddies checking out our video from Dublin.
Awesome.
Well we have continued our exploration of Udaipur.
We hopped in a rickshaw; we drove across the bridge to the other part of the city.
It's like a little peninsula here.
Looks like they're running
ferries and taxis and stuff
but just a beautiful view of the City Palace over there and the Lake Palace over there.
We're going to explore. There're some docks over here.
There's an entirely new section of the city that we haven't been in,
and we're going to do a bit of location scouting
and see where the afternoon takes us.
This building right here is a historic haveli.
Haveli is a Hindi word for basically a mansion.
It's like where the, not necessarily the royal families, but wealthy elites would live,
and a lot of them have been converted into hotels.
This one's a beautiful place.
It has a nice pool right here,
some fountains, and obviously an
unparalleled view of the Lake Palace and City Palace.
So I think it's time for some lunch.
We've been recommended a place down the street
from our friends we met on the train.
So let's go eat some food.
How's the food look, guys?
Food's amazing. Sorry. The view.
We just got our last last VR shot of the day, and the last VR shot here of Udaipur.
It's going to be a great video.
If you haven't seen our last video from Peru in 360 Machu Picchu tour,
you should go check that by clicking the card right up here.
Either way, I'm going to be sad leaving Udaipur.
It's an awesome spot.
Truly is the Venice of India.
Me, Marco Polo, I love Venice,
We'll be coming back here soon.
Got to love places like this where
old and new just blend together so well,
and where you have incredible views
and incredible stories unfolding all around you at all times.
But the sunset's pretty amazing right now,
so we're just going to sit down and take it in.
Alright ladies and gentlemen another amazing day in Udaipur has come to a close.
We're back up here at the Natural View Restaurant
taking in the scenery and enjoying ourselves.
Tomorrow we go to Jodhpur. That's the Blue City.
You're going to love it.
It's awesome. So stay tuned for the rest of our trip through Rajasthan.
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In the meantime remember to stay curious, keep exploring,
and we will see all of you on the road.
Peace. Namaste.