Trespassing on Royal Grounds

JULY 6, 2017 - MONSOON PALACE, UDAIPUR

This was the second to last morning in which the garbage man will serve as my alarm clock. Every morning around 8, the truck would drive down the road and collect bins from hotels and street vendors, alike. Like an ice cream truck, his would play a jungle, some Hindi song about how to properly sort your rubbish. 

We finally ventured out of town today, up the hill to the monsoon palace. Unlike the City Palace, which has been restored to its former splendor, and the summer palace, which has been repurposed as a hotel, and the haveli (mansion) which has been given a facelift, the monsoon palace has received no attention.

Photo cred to soylentgreen32 and Google.

Admittedly, it was a disappointment to pay three times the price of the City Palace to see a dilapidated (but once grand) building, but it was interesting to see what time will do to an untended building of marble. 

After we’d seen all there was to see (so, after about 5 minutes) we did some snooping around and managed to find an alternative entrance to a closed-off part of the palace….which was inhabited by squatters (they can’t have been overseeing the palace because it wasn’t doing well). Needless to say, we got kicked out when the people living there came downstairs and yelled at us for poking our noses (and our cameras) where they weren't supposed to be. Whoops!