Two forts and a temple

"Garh" means fort (or so I've deduced), and Chittorgarh and Kumbulgarh are two of Asia's largest - in fact I think the former *actually* is the largest. We're talking nearly 30 sq. km.! You either don't see the whole thing, or are forced to drive around it.
The first two photos just give the tiniest sense of what's available at Chittorgarh, while the next three panoramas show Kumbulgarh (our preference), which is in the middle of the mountains between Udaipur and Jodhpur.

The final three photos are of Ranakpur - an AMAZING temple. 1444 unique and intricately carved columns hold up the building. I've done my best to capture it on film, but I'm not sure I've done it justice. Sad thing is, we apparently missed some that may have been nicer!

Rural India

We've now taken a couple trips into the rural parts of India (as well as two buses today). It is more arid than I had expected, and actually feels quite 3rd-world-ish. Nonetheless, their are moments that really take your breath away. Here are a couple photos to give you an impression of what I mean.

Final Udaipur photos

So, here are the last photos of Udaipur we'll post. The first panorama is again from our Hotel at dusk. One of my favourite photos ever. The next two are from a walk about a park-laden mountain/large hill up to "Sunset point" (one of perhaps 4 in the city). The other two photos are of Vee trekking to a gazebo on the top of said mountain/large hill and an elephant on the road. No surprisese there...

Leaving Jodhpur...

Hi All!
Well time is flying and we are soon leaving again for our next destination! We have been in Jodhpur for two days now and leave tomorrow morning for Pushkar.
I must say that the drive to Jodhpur was one of the most amazing we have ever taken! It was roughly 9 hours, but we stopped at a massive fort and then a Jain temple on the way. Matt will put up some pics tonight!
We went through crazy mountains then arid deserts! We saw so many different people, vegetation and ways of life, and even encountered a pack of wild camels!! That is something I will NEVER ever forget - simply stunning!
Matt and I still have moments where we look at each other in sheer astonishment of the fact that we are in India. It still is hard to believe at times.
Tomorrow we will be taking our first bus ride when we head to Pushkar. It's four hours and it supposedly has AC, so this should be interesting!
Oh and one super cute side note...along with the fact that there are tons of wild dogs here, there are also many puppies! I am in puppy heaven and often take the time to pat and play with them. Of course that is followed with a dousing of hand sanitizer, but SO worth it!!!!
Missing you all and hope you are all well back home!
xxoo
Vee

One more day in Udaipur...

Well tomorrow is our last full day in Udaipur. It has been simply magical. Today Matt and I hiked up another mountain to another fantastic viewing point of the entire city. It took our breath away. It's at these moments where I am truly in awe about being here...I am so grateful.
We have really kind of nestled in to a little routine here. We get up every morning and go to Edelweiss, our little European Bistro for breakfast, a big one! We usually have 4 chais to drink, an omelett, a multigrain roll with jam and butter and Matt usually has an apple strudle at the end - piglet! It keeps us going for all of our treking, until later in the afternoon where we head to our roof top for beers and a cheese masala parantha. For all you carb lovers out there, you would die over this. Almost like naan bread stuffed with spices, cheese, tomato and onion. YUM! India is a carb lovers dream!!
We then usually head for a late dinner, but last night just had a vegetarian dinner at our hotel b/c we were too exhausted to move. We went on a day trip to a HUGE fort called Chittogarh, which stands on a 28 square km site - the biggest in all of Asia- will post pics soon.
So the day after tomorrow we head to Jodhpur, the blue city, for some sighteeing then we are off to Pushkar, a small pilgrimage town where there are supposedly many hippy westerners and great shopping!
We are slowly becoming more and more comfortable to the wild sites, sounds and smells of India. But I am certain there is more shock value to come!
Missing you all terribly!
Love Vee,
xxoo

Photos (3 of 3): Out and About

The final set of snaps for Udaipur (at least for now). Vee is in front of cenotaphs - apparently Ahar has over 360. The beautiful white building is the aforementioned Lake Palace hotel. The remaining photos are at sunset at the Monsoon palace. That was an awesome 5km hike up a mountain (and a 5km hike back down in the dark after the sun set).

(As an aside - I find loading photos on blogspot incredibly frustrating. It`s not a program for presentation...)

Photos (2 of 3): The Culture

Here are some more snaps of Udaipur. The panorama is the upper courtyard of the City Palace (which is an amazing place!) The dancers were part of a traditional Rajasthani dance show we attended with our two new Canadian friends Walid and Elina (with whom we spent three awesome days). They're shown with us at dinner with Kunal, an Udaipur friend. The shot of the two of us is on our hotel rooftop - a very regular place to go for beers and food.