A Rajasthani Thali of lakes, mountains, deserts and starry skys

The last two weeks has seen us cross the variable plains of Rajasthan, an Eastern state well renowned for it's unique landscapes, traditional cultures, spectacular colours and vibrant cities.

Our first port of call was the city of Jaipur, known locally as the pink city. The city has a history of Mughal rule, and the forts and city walls show that this was a battle ground years before. It remains beautiful, if not overrun with crowds of rickshaws transporting tourists. The highlight for Lottie was clearly the 'Gala Temple,' known otherwise as the monkey temple. With 2000 monkeys to meet up the winding sandstone path, cows, goats, hogs and dogs, not to mention pestering children trying to earn some ruppee, Lottie found her element. Feeding the monkeys as if she were back in Pippa Poppins, with Paul standing a respectful distance taking photos, the soft touch of monkeys in holding Lottie's finger appeared to soften her heart.

We then moved onto the Amber fort, where the views of the floating palace were spectacular. Here, the worlds largest cannonball (not to be outdone by the worlds largest turban - to follow) which was only ever fired once in a test, killing several of the engineers through the sheer sound, was the only attraction apart from the view. Some shopping in the city proved fruitless, but we were set for our next location, Pushkar..

Pushkar, by contrast, is calm, peaceful, and utterly charming. Our hotel, Baba Haveli, was a stunning royal guesthouse, beautifully decorated in traditional Mughal fashion, with handpaintwork adorning the walls. We even had a blue Krisna (Hindu god) painted in the room above our bed, with his hand out suggesting that we should stop whatever we were doing, or about to do... Run by a French hippee, with stunning views from the rooftop over the lake, the highlight for Lottie was clearly the PESTO PASTA that was found on the menu and for Paul the clay pizza oven..

Begrudgingly, Paul's sleep was broken the following morning at 5am in order to trek up a huge hill to watch the sunrise besides a Hindu temple. The walk was dark, cold, and paved with dogs...however, two became friendly with us and escorted us up to the top, with only their green eyes visible. The view was stupendous, if not a little blurred at first through the exhaustion! The sun rose, as the sun does, and then it was time for a tea, and a walk home.

We will say a few more lines about Pushkar, as it stole our hearts. Every day seemed to be a day when we relaxed further into it's laid back culture..we laughed and joked with the hawkers who now began to recognise our faces, we shopped and plotted towards our first living room together, and we washed our clothes only for those pesky monkeys to start playing pass the panties with our lovely (semi) clean garments!

From here we headed to Jaisalmer - a city in the middle of the Thar desert. It's sandy fort set atop a hill overlooking the city, was intricate and blew us away. The streets winded in and out, up and down, and led to turrets with restaurants and hotels built into the city walls..ours classically furnished with a window seat, vintage furniture and plenty of charm.

The highlight of our trip, was during our 2 day trip into the Thar desert itself. A trip that started with breakfast over campfire in the cold of the morning at 7am. Meeting our camels, Daniel and Siwa shortly afterwards, we began riding our camels, unassisted within 30mins from starting. The fun began. We stopped at a local village, where we were welcomed by 9 super-friendly and smiley children. These kids had nothing, and demanded nothing, they simply wanted to play, and we certainly enjoyed playing with them.

Our Camel Safari then took us further into the desert, meeting up with two likeminded Chileans, and we began to pick up speed as we headed towards the dunes. Our camp was set, on a sand dune, in the middle of the desert. We ate under the stars, we slept under the stars. It is difficult to describe how many stars we could see, at one stage it looked as if the sky was clouding over..but in fact this was simply a mist of tiny tiny distant stars that form a cloud, like Algea on a lake. Incredible, and breathtaking. We had no troubles sleeping that evening.

The following day, we trekked further, yet this time we trotted, and then even cantered on these camels. Pauls buttocks were particurlarly perilous, but he enjoyed the speed at which he could control the camel. Welcomed back to a hot shower ( a rarity), we were even more surprised to see our picture in the state newspaper, Rajasthan Patrika. We were on page two, without even knowing that our photo was being taken!

Finally, onto Udaipur. The lake city known as the most romantic place in the state. A beautiful place set around 7 lakes, that reminded us both of Venice. We watched a traditional dancing show, and also visited the City palace, whilst also seeing the largest turban ever created. Our night here ended with a Paully suprise...a romantic meal in a city hotel rooftop restaurant with stunning city views. It topped our trip to Rajasthan off in great fashion...