1. View from the Jagat Newas Palace - now a restaurant (at least in part), where we had lunch after our tour of the City Palace. The food was so so, but the views and ambiance were special.
2. Hard working donkeys making their way through the bazaar surrounding the City Palace in Udaipur.
3, 4 - the farms around the Royal Retreat, where we stayed in some style, like maharanis in holiday- may have looked a tad mediaeval, but were all really neat and well cared for. The sight of women carrying big loads on their heads became fairly commonplace after a while.
5. I put this one in for Ian Marsh - fancy a job at the Comfert Motors?? Actually relatively flash ... most mechanics worked on the roadside servicing the thousands of motorbikes, not in any premises, comfy or otherwise.
6, 7, 8 - The Purple People Eater departs - a sad day. Did I mention the mythical container? Well, it would have the bus in it, and Indur the driver, and his off sider .... One of them always seemed to be there to make sure we were safe. By the end of the tour the Purple People Eater had definitely acquired Indian bling!!
9. Nirav Panchal - our guide from Dasada on. He is a member of the Ahmedabad Old City Historical Committee and his tour of the old city was fascinating. Here, he is explaining that this is a sculpture of a grandfather and children are encouraged to sit on his lap.
10, 11 - Diwali, Festival of Lights - and our last dinner at the Royal Retreat. We began with a few clues about one of the group members and had to work out who it was. At this dinner we presented a package of small appropriate gifts to our partner and said good bye to some members of the group.
12. Lounge at the Royal Retreat - waiting for our taxi to the airport. Well - note those chairs, the ones with the toothy lions head arms - they would definitely be in the container.
The container may not exist - but I have sent home a couple of packages in advance - and one of the things to look forward to when I get home will be unpacking it all to see just what I did manage to bring home. And as well as the tangible bits and pieces, I will be bringing home a little bit of India in my heart. I am so pleased I started with Kachchh. I would be way too soft to ever lead the life of the people in the rural villages and camps we visited but they are proud upright people and I can absolutely admire them and wonder at the beauty and colour that emerges from such a hard landscape. And then again, there are the complications, and idiosyncrasies and gorgeous rich culture of India which would take more than a life time to understand ... and the food ....did I mention the food?? I was not sure what impact Kachchh would have on me, and it may take a while to pack down - but I loved it.
Hoped to send the Mandvi pics tonight but will save for a postscript. There is the little matter of a plane to catch early in the morning!!
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