16th Jan, 2016 (continued)

Sadly (this is a matter of opinion) we did not have time to visit one of the most unusual temples in India (according to my guidebook), the Karni Mata temple in Deshnok. For any of you who might think to follow in our footsteps and take a similar itinerary, you may want to divert here. Apparently you step inside the Italian marble arched doorway and “within seconds you’ll be accosted by teeming hordes of free-roaming holy rodents, known as kabas, who, devotees believe, are reincarnated souls saved from the wrath of Yama, the god of death. For newlyweds, the sick and other pilgrims, it’s customary to eat prasad or blessed food from the main shrine after it has been nibbled by the kabas and many spend hours hunting on their hands and knees for a glimpse of the auspicious white rat. It’s also considered a blessing for a rat to run over your feet, but whatever you do, don’t step on one or you’ll have to donate a gold model of a rat to placate the deity.”

Well, we didn’t go and Monu seemed very unwilling to take us there. I must add here that Val seemed to have a mental block about his name and usually called him Manu, which she says is Malayalam for ‘son’. As Monu seemed to take great pride in looking after Val as he would his mother, it ended up as a wonderful relationship – but one where he was definitely not going to take ‘Mama’ to a rat temple!

Now, Mandawa. Our last stop in Rajasthan – and that largely to break the journey from Bikaner to Delhi. And we were so glad that we did  as it gave us the opportunity to stop over in Mandawa Castle, our last and possibly most spectacular hotel in Rajasthan. I will let the photos do the talking. First up, our room (suite?)…

And now, the Castle – during the day…

And at night (there was a wedding reception)…

In between all this we were given a tour of the town of Mandawa by a really nice young lad called Ali who is a student who does a bit of part-time guiding on the side. Mandawa is part of an area north of Jaipur called Shekhawati, the easternmost part of the Thar Desert and it lay on the trade route from Delhi to Sind (now in Pakistan). The local merchants, the Marwari, vied with each other to build ever more fanciful and elaborate havelis (after the Persian word for ‘enclosed space’) and all the towns in the area can boast a wide assortment of these magnificent mansions. Sadly many of them are in a very poor state of repair, though some have been restored to their former beauty. Over all, though, a vast quantity are going to disappear altogether unless some pretty drastic measures are put in place.

This is what Mandawa looks like…

17th Jan, 2016

Not much to report other than we had the usual exciting drive to Delhi (about 5 to 6 hours) and nearly got stuck in a traffic jam a mile from our hotel because there was a wedding going on on the side of the motorway and everyone stooped to look!

Holiday Inn, New Delhi Airport was much as you would expect, so no photo this time!

18th Jan, 2016

We were really sad to say goodbye to Monu who picked us up at 6.00 am and drove us the short distance to the airport. He was superb throughout the trip and was one of the nicest guys you could meet. So two final photos from India…

Next stop – THAILAND!!!!!!