Royal Rajastan

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The day after our arrival in India we explored Delhi with the help of Hoshiar the hotel driver. The highlights included the Red Fort in the middle of Old Delhi, visited by rickshaw, and with each gate overlooking the hustle and bustle of the old narrow streets and bazaars below. Jama Masjid was impressive, living up to it's renown, as the most splendid mosque in India. The gardens housing the memorial to Mahatma Ghandi offered a pleasant interlude before a vist to Humayan's tomb, a very beautiful monument set in water gardens.

The next day we tried to link trains to our onward flight to Jaipur to no avail. So we decided to change our plans and tour Rajastan by car with Hoshiar who became minder, fixer and confidente!

It's a shame that the computers here do not have the software to download photos to illustrate the amazing sights and to describe them all would be too wordy so here is a selection. If we do find software we will send photos.

Jaipur is known as the pink city, and by law all the buildings in the old town have to be painted pink. The old town is surrounded by a large city which surprised us. The Amber Fort is a few kilometres away on top of a hill but the main attraction in Jaipur. Pushkar is a smaller, holy city made up of 50 ghats (temples lining the lakeside) which is clean and looked after but beyond that spot it is particularly squalid. Jodphur, famed for it's blue Brahmin homes, has one of the most impressive forts and the stunning Mehrengarh Palace. We visited forts, temples and palaces in Ranakpur, Kumbhalgarh, Bundi and Fatehpur Sakri but our favourite city was Udaipur. Our hotel was built onto the lake at Lal Ghat where we could take a boat around the lake taking in the fantastic palace and mountain views. Lunch was a real treat in a recommended restaurant on the lake side. An evening jaunt took us to the local museum and a roof top dance and puppet spectacular. One difficult aspect has been the very cold nights after beautifully sunny days. No provision is made for heating and most restaurants are in the open air, rooms are cold and without heaters so we had to pile on the blankets!

Ranthambore national park provided the opportunity for an early morning tiger safari. The weather being particularly chilled at night the hour's journey in an open jeep nearly put paid to us both!! But the safari made it worthwhile despite the lack of tigers!!

The icing on the cake was the Taj Mahal. We had seen so many interesting sights already that we were almost prepared for disappointment. However it truly exceeded our expectations and we were lucky to arrive early morning in beautiful sunshine and blue skies, not always the case in winter. The cherry on top of the cake was our visit the next day to the Golden Temple, after a flght to Amritsar.

We have experienced a hectic schedule and are now awaiting a flight to Kochi, Kerala where we hope to relax and soak up the sun whilst strolling along the beaches or sailing the waterways.

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