We had heard a lot about Udaipur from tourists – they told us the city was a 'not to miss' in Rajasthan, and because of Carrie’s tight schedule, we had to chose between the sparkling city of lakes, Udaipur, or the Jewel of the Desert – Jasilneer. In Jasilneer we could take a camel safari – two, three days into the desert, sleeping under the stars…..sounded lovely and I do have a particular love of camels, but……we had also suffered through a number of cold nights and cold mornings and that was with blankets and concrete walls in hotels so we wimped out and headed for Udaipur. In hindsight, I think we chose wrong. Jasilmeer is quite far to the east – almost at the Pakistan border so it is not too easy to access, unless of course you are signing up for service on the border.

We hired a car and driver for 4 days to do the Jodhpur – Udaipur – Pushkar route because of time constraints and the distances between the three. India is huge. Carrie brought with her a gigantic duffle bag, thinking we would continue to be Princesses with Princes for her whole time in India so bus or train transport would have been a considerable hassle. The car/driver rates are so low it makes sense for two. We paid our guy a daily rate of $40 and that included him at our beck and call 24 hours a day, all fuel (and it is very expensive), tolls – also frequent and expensive ,and he paid his own accommodation. Other than the crazy driving – and I mean crazy, scary - it is really the most economical and convenient way to travel for two or more. Stop where you want, when you want.

Our plan was to leave Jodhpur at a decent time, stop at a few big forts and temples on the way to Udaipur and get into Udaipur before nightfall. Yeah right. What was supposed to be just a quick stop at the market in Jodhpur on the way out turned into a multihour buying extravaganza. By the time we pulled out of Jodhpur the car was completely stuffed with clothes, fabrics and Indian window toppers that seemed like a good idea at the time even though I don’t even own one window anymore.   We both figured we had the car so we should take advantage of the wheels and it is probable I will acquire one or more windows sometime.

Within the first 100 kms we got a flat tire in the middle of the desert and dusk fell as we got to the first temple in the mountains – we stopped and it had just closed. The rest of the way, up and over the mountains to Udaipur, was done in the dark. Not much fun for any of us especially the driver. Cows and monkeys are everywhere and in the dark, coupled with the gigantic overloaded transport trucks, the interstate buses and all round crazy overtaking, we really wished we had cut some of the market time a little shorter.