Today we got up at 7am and after breakfast walked up to the Mehrangarh Fort.  We did an audio tour of the fort and took lots of photos of the lovely views and the intricate designs on the red sandstone.  We then walked to Jaswant Thada - a white marble memorial to Maharaja (King) Jaswant Singh II.  Then got an autorickshaw back to the clocktower and market area.  Stopped for a lassi (local yoghurt drink) then picked up some samosas from a street stall that fed both of us for 20p.  Then visited the Umaid Bhawan Palace - this was built for Maharaja Umaid Singh and is very grand.  It is now split into a museum, hotel and the current Maharaja still lives there.  The hotel is the poshest in India so we treated ourselves to a cocktail in the Trophy Bar.  We also took the opportunity to use some swanky toilets and even took photographs...... which you can't see yet - hahahaha - promise to get some up soon to prove that we are not actually in Blackpool! 

In the evening we went to a restaurant called 'On the rocks' - another nice curry sat out in the garden.  Then we went into the 'nightclub', Ed danced to Kylie (under sufferance) but after a few too many Shakira songs we made a swift exit.

Sunday 8 October - got up at 6am for early breakfast.  Ed got a massage from the waiter at the breakfast table!  We had all decided to pay extra to get cars to take us to Udaipur rather than take the local bus which would have taken 8 hours.  We stopped off at a pottery and bought a couple of pots.  Then we went to a Bishnoi house - Bishnoi is a religion that originated from hinduism, believers live by 29 principles (don't eat meat, don't drink alcohol etc. but welcome visitors with opium!).  Very basic house, floors and walls made from cow dung, the chai was good though.  From there we went to a village where they made rugs (durries).  The man showed us articles about the village taken from various newspapers and magazines from around the world.  We thought they may be a bit heavy to carry for the next 6 months so gave them a miss!

From there the fun began!  Four of us had a car to travel in, the rest a jeep.  We had a boy racer driver who had no fear and seemed to enjoy overtaking on blind bends and dodging the traffic!  After overtaking a lorry and hitting a kerb we ended up with a flat tyre, however he was obviously used to it as took 10 minutes max to change it (to a very bald tyre!).  Will (one of the group) had a go at the driver and insisted that he kept his speed down.  If you ever get the chance to drive on the Jodphur to Udaipur road SAY NO!  We saw four crashes within about half an hour, one man covered in blood, we ended up on a diversion which was a non-existent road (very bumpy) and when it got dark the driver insisted on flashing his lights the whole way!  We did stopped at some fantastic Jain temples in Ranakpur though!  We eventually got to Udaipur alive but we were very tired so went out for some food then straight back to the guest house to bed.