Wednesday 22 October 2008

After testing how many we could fit in a tuc-tuc to go to dinner - the answer is eight (actually usually three) - we had a long drive to Bhenswara where we stayed in a wonderful hotel - a former Rajput warrior's home - now a heritage hotel - with a small pool and wonderfully huge rooms! We chickened out of the leopard safari by jeep (they didn't see any) and sat around sipping Indian merlot (expensive but good) and listened to two Indians performing local music until the others arrived back for dinner. We are a group of eight (3 Aussies, I Kiwi and 2 Swiss)and get on well together... Next day we drove to Ranakpur and another lovely hotel with even better pool. Visited the Jain temple complex - amazing marble carvings. Introduced the two Swiss girls to Boggle this evening! Tuesday saw us driving to Kumbalhgarth fort with the allegedly next longest wall to the Great Wall of China. This is a large area filled with temples, a fort and palaces - all now disused but fascinating to wander around. We could have done with longer but there you are .. We are now in Udaipur - staying at a hotel without pool this time - on the banks of the lake. Went to a folk song and dance performance last night - very colourful - including a desert dance by a woman carrying nine pots on her head! Today we visited a Hindu temple and the palace and gardens full of fountains fed from the lake.. we have taken lots of photos but we promise to only show the edited version! Udaipur is a mini version of Delhi and when we go out we tend to be mobbed by friendly children wanting to know our names, where we come from and strangely they seem to want autographs - can't think why!! We are getting used to the heat and although I had a cough for a few days that seems to be settling. The noise and bustle are amazing but our hotel room is on the quiet side of the hotel! That's all for now, folks....hope to update again in a few days..lots of love to all Ann and Iain

1 comment:

willial said...

Was that a leopard safari, or a leotard safari? Keep it going, Love Alan