Our first stop today was to pick up our new clothes. As advertised, the shop had created four shirts for Dale and a jacket for me, overnight! They all fit perfectly. We got out of the shop without spending any more money; but it was tough!

We then started our journey to Deogrh, another community in Rajistan. We stopped at two temples on the way. The first was the temple of Shiva (built in the 700’s and finished in the 900’s AD) where the local king comes to pray on the occasional Monday, you know, when he is in town once or twice a year. We didn’t see him there because it was Sunday, but we did see the prince at our hotel. He was there during our stay. The temple complex had 108 separate shrines dedicated to a variety of gods and goddesses besides Shiva. 108 is considered a lucky number apparently.

The second temple we saw was started in the 900’s and was Rajistan’s version of the Karmasutra temples. The local guide was helpful in telling us which of the 3.2 million Hindu gods and goddesses we were looking at.

The next stop was our hotel. The drive was fascinating. The landscape was vastly different than anything we have seen before. We were driving along and all of a sudden, coming towards us, was a man on an elephant. The van stopped and the elephant came over to see us at his rider’s request. We were able to pat his trunk and get close to him. The elephant’s skin was much softer than we expected it to be. The trunk was so flexible that Dale put a tip for the driver as a thank you for stopping (i.e., a 100 Rupee bill or $2CDN) into the space behind the elephant’s nostrils. The elephant then gave the bill to the driver without any difficulty, almost as if they had practiced the manoeuvreJ!

We finally got to our hotel and our mouths dropped. We walked into a palace built in the 1669. The rooms we were shown to are all suites and have sitting rooms (where I sit now) that were once part of the royal residences. They are beautiful. However, there is a downsize to staying in a castle. There are a lot of stairs. We got lost twice just trying to get to lunch! The door frames are very small. Dale barely fits through some of the hallways but he is thrilled to be walking on the battlements. I have a hunch our next D&D campaign will happen in a castle with narrow hallways and many ways to get from one place to another.

We watched a performance of local folk dancing before supper. The dances were incredible. At one point, this woman was dancing with 8 pots balanced upon her head! Then she swapped the pots for a burning lamp! 

Sorry to be so delayed in posting these entries. Internet access is spotty sometimes.