Rajastan (more) and the Golden Triangle with Harriet's parents

Here are a few more pics from our travels round Rajasthan... we went faster than usual, saw a lot, but didn't get much time for sitting around. So we're off for another holiday now!


In Jaisalmer we got a bit closer to the camels we'd been seeing around - they're larger than you might think and do a lot of ruminating. On our way back to Jaipur we saw loads running around on the edge of the Thar desert, these three looked more like giraffes.

The Jaisalmer fort is very beautiful, rising out of the desert and with 'proper' fort-like fortifications. We found a roof top restaurant facing the fort and spent every evening marvelling at the stars (you can see sooo many there!) and eating delicious Rajasthan food.

In Jaipur, searching for nice hotels for Mum and Dad, we saw what it might be like to be here in the monsoon... the road turned into a river within about 15 minutes of the rains starting and we'd have waded all the way home if the lovely woman in the internet cafe hadn't taken pity on us and given us a lift. So nice!

Mum and Dad's luxury tour in India strated in style with Emirates fancy pick-up at the airport... and continued in slightly less comfort in three wheelers! We got the train to Jaipur though and visited the sights...

The Palace of the Winds... with the audio guide.

The Jantar Mantar observatory..

with a massive sundial that told the time to within 2 seconds!

We were woken by peacocks crying and met up with Barbara, my friend from LSE days for a lovely meal in the garden.

And visited a little workshop making traditional Jaipur blue pottery - beautifully painted, if we could have carried more, we'd have really treated ourselves!

Amber Fort was enormous, perched on the top of a hill with chains of elephants marching up and down carrying tourists perched on their backs. We were able to get lost in the corridors of the palace, saw the beautiful glass palace and gardens.

The old town of Amber was studded with temples - this one was empty but for the priest and his son and peaceful.

From Jaipur to Agra, again on the train..and stretching our legs in the nature garden down the road from the Taj Mahal.

Seeing the Taj from the riverside at sunset was lovely and the bells and chants of the temple there added to the 'oh we're in India' feeling. The temple also 'discarded' some broken statues of gods on the river bank, giving quite a unique photo opportunity of thye Taj.

We got up early the next day and made the most of the rising sun and relatively empty gardens. We could hear birds as we walked up to look more closely at the Taj, surprisingly big and small at the same time as there's nothing around it to give you an idea of size.

Once we'd taken enough pictures of the building, we admired the other tourists and took pictures of them!

There was a lot of 'holding the top of the Taj', a bit like the holding up the tower of Pisa.

From Agra we travelled to the intense heat of Orchha for a brief visit. It is a beautiful little village on the Betwa river - full of temples and with the old fort and palace on a green hilly island. The palaces are full of paintings and the remains of stunning decorative tiles in blues and greens. Here's a taste, we can bore you with more on request!

Then it was back to Delhi for the museums, rickshaws and relative cool before Mum and Dad left to return to the pristine, rickshaw and cow-free, wind-chilled highways of Wimbledon! Sniff....