Whilst there, we went white water rafting (highly recommended for the phenomenal views you get just floating down the Ganga surrounded by mountains), hiked to Neergarh Waterfall, did many walks along the Ganga (if you cross over the bridge and walk left along the road, you can walk along a relatively quiet road following the river upstream for kilometres and get some beautiful views, crisp air, right up to the next bridge along), plus I had my palms read and did plenty of yoga. You can also walk along the river downstream to Ram Jhula, another small village not too far away.

Probably on account of all the yogis in training, Lakshman Jhula had plentiful vegan options for eating. Also probably on account of it being situated way up in the mountains, the food wasn't as fresh as you'd hope and a few of the cafes we went to were a little underwhelming. However! Some of my favourite, not-underwhelming, tasty cafes were:

Ramana's, a beautiful organic cafe which grows their own produce, making it a safe place to eat a salad and get your greens in! It's attached to an orphanage and school in which the children help out with the cafe and with growing all the produce, and all proceeds are directed back into the school. There's also an amazing organic store called Pundir General Store in the village, which sells so many goodies from rice cakes and gluten free muesli to tahini, fresh almond butter, soy milk and "soy paneer" aka tofu (ha ha). They also have a selection of freshly baked cakes, including vegan doughnuts and cookies. Amazing. Plus they have a cafe above the store which we didn't actually eat at but had many a coconut milk chai and coconut milk banana lassi at. My other cafe recommendation is Cafe Okieri, an absolutely beautiful little cafe run by a Japanese lady which does sushi on Sundays (glory glory!) and Japanese thali plates through out the week. Finally, we found a place called Mocha's Dosa House (random, I know) near the bridge which did some decent and cheap masala dosa and uttapum.

Here are a handful of photos from beautiful Lakshman Jhula!

Sweet, soft, dreamy Udaipur, I would have been perfectly content to swan around your cobblestoned streets for days and days. No photos that I took of this city seemed to do it justice. Udaipur is soft and romantic, nestled amongst layers of mountains, Lake Pichola at its heart. The dreamiest architecture, rooftop restaurants that line the water's edge, smiling locals who take so much pride in their city, fresh food; most definitely a winning combination. Every time we came down to the water's edge and looked out across the lake my heart skipped a little beat; this city is honestly the Venice of the East.

We found an amazing little self-contained apartment on airBnB called Silver Moon Haveli, which was right in the heart of the old city, super close to the City Palace and a short walk down to the lake. Having our own kitchen was the best thing (I've missed cooking so much!) and we made quite a few of our own meals with produce we'd sourced from the most amazingly fresh local markets (which we were told is grown locally without chemicals!). As a result, I don't actually have too many restaurant suggestions for Udaipur. However we did have lunch at a place called Millets of Mewar a couple of times which had such beautiful relaxed vibes, an adorable resident kitten, and completely vegan, fresh, tasty food. We asked them to tone down the oil and they were more than happy to, making our meals that much more fresh. The "thai" green curry, the aloo gobi, the mixed veg curry and the chapatti were all so great. We also ate quite a few times at a random tiny South Indian place super close to the City Palace; when you're facing the City Palace, it's just up a little alley way to the right. The dosa was okay, but we mainly went because his uttapum were so fresh and tasty (and because everywhere we go requires hunting down the nearest South Indian joint).

Whilst in Udaipur we spent most of our time wandering the streets, meandering the amazingly fresh fruit and veggie markets (ask any local, they'll direct you in the right way), climbing up a nearby mountain a couple of times for some killer views out across the city and the lake, visiting the City Palace museum (not really worth the money in my opinion, you're better off just having a wander around the grounds), watching 007 Octopussy at a rooftop restaurant one evening, and, of course, we went on a sunset boat ride around Lake Pichola. We also couldn't leave without a sunset rooftop drink at a divine hotel called Lake Pichola Hotel, although there are so many beautiful luxury hotels along the water's edge you're really spoiled for choice. It was all so relaxed and I felt so comfortable within the city so quickly; real talk, if you only have time to go one city in Rajasthan, make it Udaipur.