Chittorgarh

We've been in India for a week now! After breakfast, it was time to leave our lovely Baba Palace hotel at Udaipur. Only two and three wheeler vehicles are permitted in the old town, so we were told that we'd be taken down to our 'bus by auto-rickshaw. What happened was far stranger than that. An auto-rickshaw pulled up, and three men loaded all of our luggage, for twelve of us, into one vehicle. Tetris in action! The woman with the bad leg got a lift down on the back of a scooter, and the rest of us walked to our transport. 

We have a fancy new 17- seater with a driver and a boy for this part of the tour. It's a small coach, so we have a good high-up view out over fields. In some areas, large fenced off-fields with netting over them housed white poppies. We wondered if they were being grown for the legal production of medicinal opiates. 
After a couple of hours plus a chai stop, we arrived at the town of Chittorgarh, famous for it's large fort. 

The hotel is made of white marble and looks like a palace from the outside. It has a garden, too, with chairs. Inside, it's Fawlty Towers. The rooms weren't ready, the dining room was dirty, the information they gave us about getting to the fort was totally contradictory...

After a good lunch in the dirty restaurant, we set off for the fort in three auto rickshaws for which Sridhar had negotiated a price. The fort stands atop a hill, overlooking the town. It has seven gates and the walls are 18 km long. It is said to be the largest fort in all Asia. A village lies within its walls, and at least 13 temples and several water tanks (reservoirs) as well as many monuments. 
We bought tickets and hired a guide, then drove off in convoy, stopping at important points. My favourite place was the Victory Tower, built to commemorate an important victory. It is wide at the base, narrow in the middle, then wider at the top. I'll try to post a shot in Extras. It appears to lean somewhat. Nowadays, it is not permitted to climb the inner staircase. Too many visitors...

The shot I've chosen is because of the woman's beautiful bright clothing. She may have been exiting a temple. It was a long tour lasting several hours, with many stops. When at last we returned to the starting point, we hoped to get tickets for a Sound and Light show in English. We went and got seated in the arena, but were then told that some VIPs were coming and that they had to have first choice of seating. We went outside the gates again. No one was around to sell us tickets. We waited and waited. The sun had set, and the temperature was dropping. Eventually Camilla heard that the VIPs had stopped for tea. Both she and Russell, who had both been stage managers/designers, were furious at them for keeping us waiting, and said that we must leave. It wasn't fair of them to hold up the whole show. Just as we were leaving, their taxis arrived. Camilla and Russell told them off personally! 

I didn't mind. The whole day hadn't really gone according to plan, but after all,  we're in India...I'd already bet that we wouldn't see the show; the day had been expensive already; I hadn't got the memo about bringing extra clothes for the evening.  

We roared back to the hotel in the autos, and ordered some supper. We'd been told there would be restaurants within walking distance. We couldn't see any. We are next to a big industrial-looking bridge. On the other side of the river, the area is, according to CleanSteve who is tracking my movements from Stroud, labelled on the map as 'narcotics complex'. Interesting. Perhaps.

Supper arrived about an hour later than expected, and was totally delicious. The table was so stained and tacky that my elbow actually stuck to it! I am thanking my stars that I brought a travel kettle, because there are no kettles in the rooms. I could go on about the hotel, but I won't. By unanimous vote, we are leaving straight after breakfast tomorrow morning. Goodbye, Chittorgargh! Do visit the Fort, don't stay at the Padmini palace!

Now, I'll just run downstairs to post this blip. I've written it, it's ready to go, but there's no WiFi in the bedrooms. I may just have an early night, if the dogs will stay quiet. 

Five things I've enjoyed seeing today;

The fort at Chittorgarh and the white- knuckle ride downhill and across town on the Auto-rickshaw

A herd of camels being driven along a busy road

An elephant on the road, carrying plant material 

The way that drivers swerve around complacent cows who lie down or wander wherever they want, on roads both large and small, in city or country 

A wedding horse (with red- decorated bridle and golden hooves) being led on a rein through a narrow street by a motorcyclist