Safari Continued.

Having assessed the weather situation we decided to get on our way as it wasn't warm enough to swim/ sunbathe. We drove through Jaipur , Rajasthan's capital and made a stop here briefly to get some photos of the "Pink City" .

The Hawa Mahal built in 1799 to allow ladies of the royal household to watch life and processions of the city.

Thought I had better take a few shots with all the blue sky behind. Not as impressive Lorraine says when it's a dull day.

This looks more like. France than India to me .

Not sure what this building is but might well be the equivelant of. City Chambers.I will find out when we are here again with Phil.

A floating Palace. I think , Help Lorraine ! Here are a few of the sights from our stop .

The floating bin man ! I really like this photo for some reason.

Absolutely  beautiful displays, too good to eat .

I was asked if I wanted a shot in one of these , now I know I am small but !

Back on  the road again and every  way I looked there was something different to capture.

And this is the Amber Fort. Again we will be back here in a few weeks time . I am told we ride on an elephant up to the fort so  I look forward to that.

He conveniently set himself up by the car as I was taking my photo

Poor thing didn't want to play the game !

So onto our next destination.

A hill fort / cum hotel

A long steep climb to reception and our room .

Our cosy room for 5.

My bed s off to the left and then the double facing you and another on a mezannine floor. There were two bathrooms , one above the other in the turrets .quite quirky .

That's the view from our room ,very high and very pretty.

Alan ,Jacqueline and Hayley did the zip wire  , as you can see it was almost impossible to get a photo..

Strange activity to have in a place like this but good fun.

A gorgeous pool but too cold to swim in.

And by night .

Which leads me onto Sunday morning.

Lorraine likes to see all the places of interest from the guide book and Alan has a real interest in Indian culture , you now have competition Phil McNaull.

So armed with the book and Alan we set off to find the Stepwell or Baoli as they are also called somewhere near by. 

A Stepwell or Baoli is a very early form of water storage , but they also built sleeping areas presumably for travellers to rest after a long journey.

This particular Baoli goes down nine floors to the water table , it is huge.Most were built between

 2 A.D. And 4 AD.So they are pretty old ! I had never heard of them before .

The short route to get there , the camel track had we known it at the time would have taken us 10 mins. But we chose the scenic route through the run down village . We picked up a local man who led us to our destination.

And here is the man himself, but you get the idea of the building . Although there are nine floors depending on the water level there may have only been three or four floors accessible as the rest would have been under water if the monsoon had been good.

Looking across a floor level.

Quite impressive considering it has been sorely neglected . The Indian Govt. Hasn't quite realised that with a bit of tidying and cleaning these places could be a great source of income from tourists. 

Managed to capture this wee chap on camera.

Two perspectives of this huge bee hive , am glad they weren't annoyed .

The well on the outside wall of the Baoli.

That'll be my teeth in a few years time ,

I don't know why , but I find camels so photographable !! He / she has a nose piercing .

I meant to put this in earlier .Is it a Morgan boys ? Well whatever it is it looked so out of place but was being very lovingly cleaned when we passed. When we got back from our walk it way tucked away in its garage again.

The fort was preparing for a wedding so maybe it was to be used for photographs as I don't think it would last 5 mins on these roads.

So that really sums up the story of the weekend . 

We returned to Delhi and "the girls "all went to the Mall for a spot of shopping . What a place that was , and 1 km. long . Lots of interesting shops but I still managed to buy some M&S items , a bit sad but they are for the holiday part of my journey.

Then back to the Bennett's . This is the view from their balcony. What you see is all part of their complex complete with pool , spa ! Golf course. Just what you need after hours of hot dusty travelling .

That evening it was over to the golf club for lovely cocktails and even tastier food.

Quite a contrast to Madurai and a welcomed break with good friends in a different city.