1790 miles, 6 months, and a birthday

The weary but exhilarated road warriors are back, after covering approx 1790 miles across ancient cities, hidden villages, historic forts, luxurious palaces and forests of Rajasthan. And yet, there is so much more to this enchanting desert state that even as we drove back home, we started planning for our next itinerary into the depths of Rajasthan..

There is nothing more I like than planning for the next road trip :-)

We stayed at some unique places....some images below:

Destination: Ranthambore (Sawai Madhopur)

And we stayed at: Khem Villas

Our cottage

The view from the bedroom

Abundant mums and marigold in the cottage veranda

Beautiful furnishing from Anokhi (who are co-partners at Khem Villas)

Uniquely carved leg of an outdoor cot, and a niche adjoining the outdoor bath

Paper lamps and lanterns lighted the villas

And as you can imagine, we loved the view!

Destination 2: Narlai (between Udaipur and Jodhpur)

We stayed at: Rawla Narlai

The 17th century fortress (a former hunting lodge) is right next to a gigantic granite rock

Our blue toned room

Each room had a sit out...this one came with its own antique swing

By evening, the fortress had a magical feel with light shining through multicolored window panes

Brass urn for water from the Ganges and Lord Ganesha

One of the 'jaali' in our room, and a cute photograph of some royal prince and princess as kids!

Even the staff at the fort had a royal appearance!

It was easy to believe, specially at night, that we have travelled back in time...

Christmas celebrations with a difference! Traditional rajasthani folk singers entertained us with beautifully haunting melodies on Christmas eve

Final Stop: Jaipur

We stayed at: Barwara Kothi

A 'kothi' (bungalow) owned by one of the princely families, now converted into a modern yet very royal home stay

Sigh, it was some trip! To be able to put up our feet and look at this view again...

Well, back to regular world and home now...and I must confess (and hope that my significant other isn't listening)...that at the end of the day, there is no place like home!

And the other things that happened while I was away:

Dec 26th: 6 whole months since I started An Indian Summer!

Dec 27th: Moi b'day! :-)

Adieu for now as I work on my post for new year's eve...