Udaipur, Jaisalmer and Jodhpur- Rajasthan's colourful cities

Udaipur was a welcome surprise. It's billed as India's most romantic city and it was clear to see why.

Udaipur is set around Lake Pichola, which as far as lakes go (especially Indian Lakes) isn't that much to write home about, however, the 2 beautiful floating Palaces that sit serenely on its surface and the regal City Palace which remains the residence of the current royal family, do indeed give the place a lot of charm. Plus, throw in the cute little back-streets which are more like a maze of ancient passageways and the beautiful, crumbling Rajasthani arcitecture that's visible at every turn, and you have yourself a very cool little city with lots going for it. We certainly enjoyed our couple of days in the 'White City'.

First up, was the Palace where we opted for the services of a guide to show us around, and learned a thing or two about the history of the city and its Royal Family. Half of the Palace is still ocupied by said Royal Family (still going strong after umpteenth generations-one of the oldest in the world I believe) and on the day we visited, it happened to be the Prince's birthday so the Sq outside the gates was busier than usual- with ceremonial horses and elephants parading around and police everywhere you looked.

We also managed to squeeze in some shopping around the many local bazaars, as well as a few other attractions like Bangore-ki-Havelli and Shahelion-ki-Bari. Our hotel room at Pmorama Guest House was great value and we decided that instead of a noisy, often unbearably sticky, smelly and crampt 4-6hr bus ride, we'd book a car and driver through the hotel to get us to Jodhpur, our next stop in Rajasthan. As you'd imagine, it was much more comfortable and we took in the amazing and ancient Jain temples of Ranakpur along the way. The intricate carvings are among some of the finest in the world and the entire temple is made of marble. It was also built on a system where nearly everything was based on the number 72 (in Sq feet, number of pillars etc etc.)

Our first impressions of Jodhpur weren't so positive. The place also had a plethora of tiny passageways and bazaars but lacked the ambience and romance of Udaipur. Plus the tiny arteries were chock-full of auto-rickshaws, motorbikes, mopeds and people (as well as an obligatory cow every couple of metres). To walk around without gasping for some form of clean air was nigh on impossible. And this is also where after nearly 5 weeks of evading the dreaded 'Delhi belly' it managed to catch up with me. Needless to say that the most I saw of Jodhpur after the first night was the bathroom in our guesthouse. Knowing that we were going to return to Jodhpur after our last stop in Rajasthan made leaving it that much easier, so we hopped on a bus (our last bus ride in India- or so we'd promised ourselves) and 6 hrs later were depoisited in the centre of the desert city of Jaisalmer.

Jaisalmer was really nice. The 800 year old fort stood in the centre of the city looking down upon the sprawling streets, houses and passageways, and all the buildings were constructed from a soft, yellow sandstone which saw fit to earn the place its nick name; the 'Golden City'. It was a overrun with a perhaps a few too many tourists but after our experiences in other states, it was nice to not stand out so much. The shopping was great with lots of leather goods for sale as well as the usual tat, so this kept us busy during daylight. It was also great exploring the fort which unlike others, is still inhabited. We whiled away a good few hours getting lost along its endless meandering corridors. On our final night we even stayed in an amazing family guesthouse within the fort. The place was amazing value at around 8 pounds per night for a room that was hundreds of years old and it afforded us spectacular views from its roof, down onto the city below.

We also tried some bhang during our stay as this was one of the only places in the country that had a legitimate 'governement authorised' outlet that sold it in the form cookies and drinks. For those that aren't aware of bhang, it's derived from the Marijuana plant, and before some of you begin to pass judgement, get on your high horse or preapre a stern lecture for us from across the globe, it turns out that my mother and father both tried it in their youth (so that's my trump card!) We asked for 'medium' strength but even this was seriously potent stuff. An hour after consumption of my bhang-laced banana lassi, my head was spinning like that of a drunk man, I had to rerally concentrate to string a sentence together and an attempt to supress my fits of schoolgirl giggles was like trying to hold in a fart after eating a curry. The effect it had on Kelly on the other hand, was to make her even more officious and she decided it was good a time as any to unpack and repack her entire bag while also attempting to eat everything in sight- the munchies were hard for her to control. It goes without saying that it was one of the funniest, strangest and surreal evenings we'd had in our whole 12 months away!

We followed this strange experience with the perfect remedy- the only sure fire way to bring us back down to earth; a camel safari across the desert! Kelly's was a disobedient camel named 'Michael Jackson', whereas my camel was a little more subdued. I forgot his Indian name instantly so decided to call him Clive. The trekking was ok- they were pretty uncomfortable to ride, but the best bit about the whole escapade was the camping in the desert and sleeping under the stars. Our guide 'Sexy Shaban' cooked us a full Indian meal from scratch (no mean feat when you only have a few pots and pans and have to build your own fire) as we lay on our rug and looked up at the starry night above us. And when it was bed time we slept really well in the superb 'swags' that were provided, the only anoyance being that Michael Jackson had sniffed out some female camels nearby and escaped his bindings a number of times during the night in a gurgling frenzy.

A very comfortable train ride took us back to Jodhpur where we made up for lost time and immediately visited the Palace/Fort of Mehrangarh (which me missed last time on account of me being sick). The audio tour was superb as was the Palace itself and the views of the 'Blue City' below. This was our last destination in Rajasthan, a state that was as historically rich as it was culturally exuberant. We'd really enjoyed the place, Udaipur and Jaisalmer standing out for us. But with no time to lose we hailed an auto-rickshaw to take us to the domestic airport in order to catch a flight to the capital city, Delhi.

Stay tuned.

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