We stopped at the Palace of the Winds for a quick photo this morning on our way to Amber to see the fort. Elephant ride up the hill - great fun for the kids, but Mel and I were a little subdued due to treatment of the animals - not a nice life, going up and down with tourists all day. Amber fort was great - very impressive.
We then had probably the most difficult 4-5 hours of the trip - a four hour bus drive to Mandawa, in the Shekhawati region of Rajasthan. This area is famous for the painted havelis (houses), but is in the arse end of nowhere, so we were really leaving some civilisation behind, and quite anxious about it. Mel has been dreading this part of the tour since we booked it, and lets just say her gut instinct was spot on..
The first problem was a toilet break on the way - uh oh. We stopped at a "hotel" to use the facilities. I'm not going to go into detail, but lets just say Mel exchanged some words with Ved...
We stopped at a "restaurant" for lunch (I was still not eating) and then made our way to a town to see some examples of Havelis. Not a highlight of the tour so far - very uninteresting, especially for the kids, the walk throught the streets with open sewers was particularly unpleasant..
We arrived at the Castle Mandawa hotel very nervous about what we had let ourselves in for, but the hotel is actually delightful. A converted castle, very easy to get lost in, with a decent pool which we managed to use for an hour at the end of the day. Ved redeemed himself after the aftenoon, as he had arranged for us to have inter-connecting rooms - a four-poster for me & Mel and 2 doubles for the kids (& the bathrooms were new!) - hooray!!
Ved invited us all to his room that evening before dinner for a gin & tonic, as we discussed plans for the next day. Basically 2 of the 3 families opting for the day by the pool, while the other family driving 1.5 hours to see some more havelis - nutters.
We then had probably the most difficult 4-5 hours of the trip - a four hour bus drive to Mandawa, in the Shekhawati region of Rajasthan. This area is famous for the painted havelis (houses), but is in the arse end of nowhere, so we were really leaving some civilisation behind, and quite anxious about it. Mel has been dreading this part of the tour since we booked it, and lets just say her gut instinct was spot on..
The first problem was a toilet break on the way - uh oh. We stopped at a "hotel" to use the facilities. I'm not going to go into detail, but lets just say Mel exchanged some words with Ved...
We stopped at a "restaurant" for lunch (I was still not eating) and then made our way to a town to see some examples of Havelis. Not a highlight of the tour so far - very uninteresting, especially for the kids, the walk throught the streets with open sewers was particularly unpleasant..
We arrived at the Castle Mandawa hotel very nervous about what we had let ourselves in for, but the hotel is actually delightful. A converted castle, very easy to get lost in, with a decent pool which we managed to use for an hour at the end of the day. Ved redeemed himself after the aftenoon, as he had arranged for us to have inter-connecting rooms - a four-poster for me & Mel and 2 doubles for the kids (& the bathrooms were new!) - hooray!!
Ved invited us all to his room that evening before dinner for a gin & tonic, as we discussed plans for the next day. Basically 2 of the 3 families opting for the day by the pool, while the other family driving 1.5 hours to see some more havelis - nutters.
No comments:
Post a Comment