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The rest of the tour took us accross Rajasthan. Rajasthan is the largest state in India renowned for its desert plains and princely cities with royal forts and palaces. We started in Jaipur and finished in Jaisalmer visiting Udaipur and Jodhpur on the way and were quite forted out by the end!
Jaipur is otherwise known as the pink city, and is the capital of Rajasthan. We visited Hawa Mahal made of red and pink sandstone, and Amber Fort where we took an elephant ride to the fort at the top. In the afternoon we saw the City Palace and the Jantar Mantar astronomical instruments built by Maharaja Jai Singh II and still in use today. In the evening we went on a hairy rickshaw ride (expertely negotiated by Vijay whilst Claire was hidden away) to Chowki Dhani for a Rajasthani 'cultural experience' including various side shows and traditional thali. Claire became a tourist attraction sitting amongst all the Indians when a big man with a beard and yellow turban came over to take photos of her eating her thali!
In Udaipur where Octop**** was shot - all restaurants showed it on a loop in the evenings! - there were very beautiful lakes and gardens. In the evening we sat by Lake Pichola enjoying a beautiful sunset as some men washed themselves and their clothes in the lake whilst simultaneously selling a city tour to Nishal - thats multitasking! Later, we had 2 dinners after Claire was unable to stomach the peach pizza at the first place! Also beer came up as juice or tea on our bills! The next day we visited the City Palace which contained intricate displays and carvings, and had stunning views of the surrounding hills and lake (the island palace in the lake is now a luxury hotel).
Jodhpur is referred to as the blue city because of the blue painted houses. These were thought to mark brahmin houses but were actually painted such to ward off termites. We visited the Mehrangarh fort which had a very good audio guide and great views over the city, and the Jaswant Thada cenotaph.
The final stop was Jaisalmer. The view of the walled city at sunset from the hotel a little way out of town was beautiful. We went into the walled city for dinner and bumped into Naomi and co. from Cardiff when getting out of our rickshaw! We had dinner on an alcove overhanging the wall. The next day we visited a Jain temple and enjoyed walking around the maze of streets and alleys inside the fort (half the population still live within the fort walls). From the top of the wall we could see Pakistan and met a group of Indian guys taking a chance to eye up the enemy! In the afternoon we drove to the Sam desert camp.
Our tent was fully kitted out with beds, armchairs, coffee table and en-suite bathroom! After relaxing a while we went on a camel ride into the desert at sunset. It was slightly spoilt for Nishal by the camel man's pestering for tips! In fact they were so persuasive that even Vijay was bullied into having a camel ride whilst he was waiting for us to come back! We returned to the camp for dinner and entertainment. There was live music and dancing. We were both dragged up to boogey and Vijay had one too many whiskeys!
We woke up very early the next morning and set off with a policeman hitchhiker to get the plane back to Delhi.
Finally on 14th October having travelled through China, Tibet, Nepal and India our elective was over and we flew home! Awesome!!!
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