Hot Toddies recharged on Udaipur’s positive energy.

The charm,romance and a bottle of wine can be found in Udaipur, abeautiful white city surrounded by 7 lakes. Tranquility. It’s the only city we randomly chosen to visit in the state of Rajastan. Not knowing much about Udaipur we followed our instinct and allowed the energies to attract.

—YES!— I was positive. We have found the jewel and tranquility of India. We recharged while strolling down colorful narrow streets, eating local healthy grains and chatted with the local characters. Udaipur is all about the people and the pure aroma of its colors. In one week, we learned to love and live India. We met many amazing people who smiled and charmed us — Yes positivity does exists in India.

—I had good business yesterday, but I lost it all, when one of the French ladies stole one of my bracelets.— said Prerana, the owner of Gem Handicrafts, one of many silver jewelry shops in Udaipur. — I don’t get these people, they come, look and they have the money, yet they steal. People always leave things in my shop.— she continued. — One time a woman left her entire bag in my store, with Euros, Rupees souvenirs, camera and all her documents. Few days passed and I saw her husband on the street, called him over to ask if the bag belong to his wife. He was so happy to get all the things back. It made me happy that he was so excited and relieved. — This is not the first time, people always leave things behind in her shop

We visited Prerana couple more times in the week. We sat on her plastic chairs and chatted about life while browsing through her silver collection. — These are nice — and I put them aside.

We stayed in Genesha Guest House, in the Lat Ghat area an old part of Udaipur. From the roof we had an amazing view of the city best at sunset. The guesthouse was cheap, cheap $250 Ruppes cheap. The room was in better shape then some of the others we have stayed in and paid a double price. The gorilla, coconut juice owner was full of shit, always saying — no problem, no problem, ooo la la, no problem— when there was actually a problem. Blasting Bob Marley from 9am to 9pm (which is not the problem) but he kept trying to sell his life away, one of those characters that just wants to make some $$. Especially when he arranged a taxi for us to visit Kunbhalgarh, a beautiful fort 80 km north of Udaipur. We know that he spiked up the price and his commission was probably half the price of what the driver really wanted. —No problem, no problem, the driver will take you anywhere you like.— he insisted. However the driver had a different plan.

Aside from our guesthouse the rest of the people we met were super cool. Krishna a handsome character who owns Fabric Radha Krishna always had a smile. His colorful fabric store contains the best designs for bed sheets, table clothes, pashminas, unique dresses and all other fabric related things that you can’t find anywhere else. You can have some tea and brows through random things. The store might feel intimidating at first but Krishna himself is an awesome calm guy who won’t push anything on you and let you choose your style. Not to mention that you will be entertained and in good vibes all the time.

Couple of nights we spent hanging out with Krishna and his boys at the Hanumanghat Restaurant over looking the lake, with some Old Monk (whisky). Lots of smiles, flirts and we finally saw some Bollywood moves. The attraction was born.

— Siema — we heard a local guys shout from Papa Juices. What? Did we just hear Siema? It’s a Polish way of saying What’s up. We smiled and allowed him to sell us his pure, no water or sugar added juice. It was the best pineapple pomegranate juice I had since I can remember. His smile instantly made us addicts.

Did I mention earlier that we fed on local grains? Well, let me elaborate deeper; you see traveling in India and eating the local cuisine is GREAT. It tastes so so so so so good, but one thing that no one really tells you is the after effect. We have lunch and we are not hungry till late night. In a light simple way, Indian food is freaking heavy! — If I have to eat one more curry my belly is going to pop!— Randomly we bumped into another smiling positively persona who invited us to eat at Millets of Mevar. Here my friends is where we have found the treasure of Indian food, typical style Indian with the use of organic and healthy grains. These guys create unique dishes with only the good grains, less oil yet smooth like butter. The lemon, pomegranate rice was a hit additional to the coconut, banana and date shake. Yum.

Oh, the list can go on with the wonderful people we have met, the conversations we exchanged and the reflection in the lake made our stay in Udaipur a gem.

As the week was coming to an end, and not being able to extend our stay as we had the tickets to Mumbai, it was time to say goodbye. One by one, we closed up the opened conversations and saved the best for last. We visited our favorite jewelry friend, Prerana. Chatting away, browsing through more silver jewelry we agreed to take her energy in the form of her creations. Two rings, two pair of earrings and a Shanty necklace are what we got. More talking, more pictures, more laughs and before we knew it was time to boogie.

On the overnight train to Mumbai — Iza, I can’t find the bag with pair of earrings from Prerana. Do you have it? — we searched and found nothing. Replaying the circumstance, we couldn’t remember.

— Hey, Prerana?!?! Hi, this is Aga, calling from Mumbai.

— Hi, Agnieszka, I was trying to contact you, you have left your earrings in my shop. No worries, when you come back, in three months, 1 year, 2 years or 3 years they will be right here, waiting for you.

I will be back in 3 months.