'Out in the Sticks'

Today we travelled by coach to Abhaneri and visited the Chand Baoli step well. Quite magnificent and you have to wonder 'why' its incredibly ornate for a simple well??

Some photos:

Then on to Geejgarh where we stayed in simple lodges in a really beautiful rural setting. Rustic is an understatement – hot water on for 2 hours each morning and each evening so showers had to be carefully timed, then the electric supply kept cutting out – but it was a lovely place and probably the high point of our visit so far. The lodges/hotel was along a track that our coach couldn't travel on so we were taken by tractor carts in small groups!

Our Lodge:

Rustic - note the tented ceiling:

On arrival, just as David was unlocking our door a peacock flew out of the neighbouring tree and over our lodge. I managed to get a 'quick and nasty' photo – hopefully I can improve this slightly with Photoshop back home but I was chuffed to catch it in flight.

Such a beautiful setting and very restful after the constant noise of the larger towns .... but we did get woken each morning by howling jackals

We had a trip into the nearby village on camel drawn carts … quite an experience. This is the view I had:

and boy, was our camel windy … didn't stop f**ting the whole way!

We passed lots of these en route to the village - cowpats drying in the sun.   The pats are used for fuel.    The ashes from the fuel/fires is then used to scour cooking utensils.   After that the residue is scattered back on the land as fertiliser .... Nothing gets wasted!

A local family gave us a cookery demonstration and tasting session – we had millet bread and vegetable curry.

This was the lady who cooked for us:

Her Father:

The local village children (and there were hundreds of them it seems) all came to stare at us and then they gave little recitals and songs. Some of the kids: 

We bought the family a mango tree which was ceremoniously planted and then back we went to our lodges where we were plied with food and drink – barbecued snacks again. We had the most delicious masala peanuts and I must look out for a recipe.

We were entertained by Indian musicians and a couple of lady dancers. The senior dancer excelled at balancing a number of pots on her head whilst spinning round at great speed, and also dancing on top of silver tankards (looked painful to me).

Some pics:

Our Guide has kept us entertained with stories, facts and myths whilst we've whiled away the long hours on the coach between towns/villages. I guess most of them are true, but he is a self-confessed fan of Indian Rum …. and he shared a couple of bottles with us whilst the entertainment was taking place. Indian Rum is dark rum and is sweet and spicy – a bit like Morgans Spiced Rum

back home. But it slipped down very well and we all had a great evening.

OK    as usual, I'm downloading and resizing pics, then writing the blogs offline and adding text/pics whenever we get internet connection.   So I'm several days behind but its very difficult to keep up to date.      

Next Blog should be about our visit to Agra and the Taj Mahal, then back to Delhi for our belated rickshaw ride around the bustling streets/bazaars - quite amazing but no time left now.

Then David will add his views on the joys of taking connecting flights in India!!