I was a little worried last night that it wouldn't stop raining and I'd awake to find myself marooned in the very lovely hotel... But whilst it was still damp the rain had stopped and after another sacrifice of breakfast for slightly more sleep and belvita we were taken by jeep to Bundi train station to jump aboard a "local" train to Bassi... A different Bassi!
The train was fairly packed as we sat alongside locals who had woken up enough to give us somewhere to sit from where they'd been sleeping. It was all metal seats, no frills, peanut husks on the floor and a moving "hole" for a toilet. There was even a man carrying a fairly grubby looking bucket through the carriages selling packets of biscuits and snacks for the equivalent of 10p - a bit different to British Rail! It was an interesting journey and we heard the shrieks of peacocks who sound like they are shouting "my Lord, my Lord" and saw very still lakes and dark tunnels.
Once we arrived at our station we had to hurry off the train as Raj had told us it would move again in 2 minutes... Although in reality we were safely inside the transfer jeeps with our luggage safely stowed in a trailer pulling away from the station and the train was stood at a standstill!
After a stop at the ATM (in the middle of a busy town with an entrance so small my day rucksack barely squeezed through), we arrived at our homestay palace in Bjaipur and again it was impressive - another castle! As we entered staff played drums, put garlands of flowers around our necks and then a red fit in our foreheads. What an amazing welcome! Again there is wifi although not in the rooms.... Feels like a strange contrast to the classical feel of the surroundings.
My room has grand looking twin beds,ornate paintings of tigers and elephants on the walls and a sizeable bathroom with a warm shower.
I took a quick dip in the very beautiful pool and then we went up for lunch in the restaurant. My appetite is scarily big now the DB has subsided and so I had a lovely lunch of vegetable kofta, aubergines and chapatis. We had free time and so I read a little and played cards before meeting as a group to play cricket.
Raj found a bat, but had to send "a boy to the village" to find us a ball to use! There was limited success in accuracy, but lots of success in fun and some of the Grandchildren of the Feudal lord came along to play. The cutest being a tiny bit of maybe 4/5 turning up with his own bat and ball and a big wide smile when we let him join in with the adults and older boys. The game ended after a large bat resulted in a missing ball.
As we played cricket some wealthy looking local boys arrived in Seat Ibizas and unloaded large amounts of booze and as I write they are still clustered around the pool having a party - although Raj our guide assures us that they are not gentlemen as tempting as it might be to want to investigate further!
It was Eleanora's birthday so Raj arranged a cake and we sang happy birthday to her before we headed up for a buffer dinner which was delicious. We were joined by the Lord who as he entered the room we observed the staff scatter in panic looking for their turbans! He sat and chatted with us for a while and shared his philosophy that to eat you must have a clear kind with no anger and to eat with your hands and enjoy the feel of the food... He's taking us for a yoga class tomorrow at 7am!
