We got up early in Karauli and with the aid of daylight went for a pre-breakfast stroll around the Maharaja’s property (still not keen on calling it a palace we’re afraid). It was interesting to see the cows getting milked, the chooks carrying on and to see some of the most beautiful and well-cared for horses in India. The highlight of our morning jaunt, once we’d scared up a staff member to open the garages, was the vintage vehicle collection. The maharaja’s garages are like a museum collection - simply awaiting a dust, a polish, a tidy up and a few more signs and photos. We say vehicles and not cars because we were going back aways before cars, that’s for sure. There were a couple of palanquins - single person sitting carriages (boxes?) designed to be carried by 2-4 men, there were elephant ‘saddles’ or carriages designed for both adults and children, there was a machine gun designed to be fitted onto a camel’s back, and, to be fair, a couple of massive American cars from the 1950s - a car restorers dream. Once we’d finished with the vehicles we had our handy staff member open up the swimming pool enclosure - though empty now, the pool would probably look amazing when it was up and running.

We finished our explorations and trundled off to the canteen hall for breakfast - again very average unfortunately - and then piled into the coach for another long drive - this time 5+ hours to Jaipur. Lunch along the way broke up the tedium - once more a hotel with palace in the name but it could well have changed it’s name to Fawlty Towers. Not a buffet this time, service seemed to be taxing the staff beyond belief to a) take a la carte orders, b) bring the orders to the person who ordered them and c) finally, marry up the orders with the bills, with the people. Had it not been so tiresome it would have been hilarious. It wasn’t hilarious.

We eventually arrived in Jaipur, the Pink City, mid-afternoon and immediately hit the sightseeing trail instead of having a much need rest. The Holi Festival (of Colours) was due to start the next day which meant government run monuments would be closed until at least 2 pm, so we had to knock over the visits in short order today. First stop was a place we probably would not have visited had it not been included in the tour, but luckily it was as it was fascinating. On first sight, Jantar Mantar resembles nothing more or less than a sculpture park. It is in fact an observatory of astronomy built by Jai Singh II in 1728. He had five Jantar Mantars or ‘Calculation Instruments’ built in India between 1724 and 1735 and the others are in Delhi, Varanasi, UjjainIt and Mathura. The Jantar Mantar in Jaipur features the world’s largest stone sundial which stands 27 metres tall and can tell the time accurately within 2 seconds. There are 18 other architectural astronomical instruments designed to compile astronomical tables and tell the time and movements of the sun, moon and planets, even predict eclipses with incredible accuracy. There were a few clouds in the sky when we visited which meant running to each instrument as soon as the sun appeared to see the computation in action.

The City Palace of Jaipur was conveniently next door and what a contrast to our private tour of the Karauli City Palace. Once more, there is still apparently a maharaja in residence and as the flag was flying here was there the day we visited. There was however nothing private about this visit - 1000s of people were visiting just like us. We saw some Jaipur dancing and drumming, visited the textile museum within the palace showcasing the rulers costumes and wedding clothes from over the years and also visited the artisans gallery (craftspeople patronised by the Maharaja himself). This was one of the few opportunities for shopping but as always there was a bit much time pressure - one of the downsides of group travel. Pursie stayed in pocket and that’s not altogether a bad thing.

We finally departed the palace and made it to our hotel for the two night Jaipur stay. It took a while to wind down, freshen up and eventually we made our way to the dining room for a spot of dinner and a catchup. Just for a change of pace we had an early night as the alarm was due to sound at 4 am the next day. Hmmm... that could only mean one thing... a hot air balloon ride was on the agenda!

Early. Very early. Just too early. We know 4 o’clock reliably happens twice a day, but we’re never keen on witnessing the first one. Nevertheless we do love our ballooning and were at the front door ready to be picked up at 4.50 am - raring to go. As balloon rides go, it’s not one we’d recommend if it were to be your ‘one and only’. It was a well run operation with nice cookies and such beforehand and we were in their smallest balloon, an 8 person basket, with their best pilot, Arturo from Spain. It was great to lift off and scale the heights of a massive mountain in front of us, before drifting over old forts and palaces. The air was very hazy due to pollution from the various brickworks scattering the country side, but the sunrise was still enjoyable and the landing was the highlight of the trip. Balloons and winds are notoriously hard to predict and as we were in a rural area the pilot had to be exceedingly careful not to land on a crop... newly planted, ready to harvest or otherwise. We finally dropped into a seemingly accessible field, but the ground crew weren’t going to be able to drop the balloon safely - too many trees around - so we took off again (first time we’ve done that) and landed again a few fields over whilst tethered to the ground on a very long leash and being chased by the ground crew - fun times indeed. It was disappointing to not enjoy the traditional Champagne and nibbles on landing - however given the poverty into which we landed, understandable. It must have been an auspicious sight indeed, on the morning of Holi, to have an enormous, colourful, fire-breathing balloon land in the backyard and people came running from all around to see the spectacle, shyly shake hands with us and introduce themselves - though they all jumped back in shock when the pilot gave a few final blasts on the gas!

We made it back to the hotel with half an hour spare to attack the breakfast buffet then hit the sack for a few hours of much deserved rest before heading out for another of Jaipur’s highlights - the 16th century Amber Fort (also known as the Amer Fort or Amer Palace), sprawled on the hills surrounding the city.

We made out way up to the fort in 6 person jeeps - probably for the best, the tour company chooses not to support the alternative transport method - an elephant ride. Aside from any ethical issues of elephant welfare, trying to organise 20 odd people onto the elephants would have been a nightmare - and the queue snaked a long way back. No queues for the jeeps though and we were hauled up the 4WD track to the eastern facing Sun Gate of the fort in short order. The fort in its current form was built by Raja Man Singh then Raja Jai Singh in the 1600s and is, officially, colossal. By this point the forts were all starting to meld together in our minds - the highlight here was the Mirror Palace (Sheesh Mahal - ‘the hall of private audience’) and actual clouds in the sky. The mirrors on the white background must have looked enchanting by candle light and certainly impressed powerful visitors. The marble carvings of flowers at the base of the pillars around the Mirror Palace were very pretty to look at, but due to having the Claytons Guide (the guide you have when you’re not having a guide), we only found out later that there a various animals hidden amongst the flowers, depending how you place your hands. The views down to Maota Lake and the saffron garden were also sublime.

The wall around the fort is said by some to be the third longest wall in the world after Khumbhalgargh and the Great Wall of China. Unfortunately it’s hard to say how long it actually is as parts have crumbled and disappeared and we discovered that only 25% or so has been restored - pretty much the bits tourists can easily see and which give the impression the whole wall is in good condition. Well it fooled us - looking down over it from the high point of the fort it definitely reminded us of the Great Wall of China. We spent a couple of hours exploring the fort and then it was back in the jeep for the steep, downward return ride to the parking lot. We continued on and made a short photo stop to view the Jal Mahal palace the middle of Man Sagar Lake. Albeit after we visited, we were stunned to hear that four levels of the palace are actually below the water level (in the bed of the lake).

The day (finally) finished with a demonstration of block printing, fabric dying and carpet weaving and ‘lo an unscheduled stop to see a carpet salesroom - but they primed us with whiskey and it’s not as though anyone had to buy anything... and we did enjoy walking over the heavenly soft cashmere carpets in our bare feet. Another night, another dinner and packing filled out the evening and before we knew it it was time for sleep. Tomorrow sees the long drive back to New Delhi, the end of the tour and flying to Colombo, Sri Lanka on the 23rd.