Bundi

Bundi was a little stop over on the way to Jaipur. We had a crazy arrival in Bundi. As we were pulling into the train station I could see a lit platform on the left, about 30sec later when the train came to a stop it was pitch black and we had to jump down off the train into darkness, not really being able to see how far we were jumping down.  Walking along the station was only possible by the light from the train.  As we exited the train station there were massive flood waters which we had to walk through and it came up to our ankles.  The tuktuk ride to our guest house was very bumpy as the rainy downpours had created massive potholes in the road.  Definitely needed a sports bra for that journey! We had planned to do a day trip into the country side with a local guide Kukki who has discovered some cave and/or rock paintings.  I am a little sceptical and wonder if he painted them himself and then 'discovered' them in order to create a wee touristy business for himself.  However, Bundi has received a lot of rain and the roads out to the country were flooded and we couldn't go.  This meant our time in Bundi was very much chilled out.  We walked up to the fort but thought it looked rather run down and not as nice as other forts we had visited so we decided to skip the fort visit. Instead we hung out at a few different restaurants and in our hotel room.  Bundi is a town of 100,000 but it was so empty.  I don't know where all the people live & work because as we walked around we saw a lot of cows and monkeys but not many people.  A lot of houses had to have their roof top terraces fenced in so the monkeys cannot jump on to their terraces. A few times we heard a thump on the roof as a monkey jumped on it.  The best thing about our guest house was its Italian cuisine - it made a nice change from Indian food.  We also tried a dessert called 'hello to the queen' which is crumbed biscuits with butter, then chopped banana, nuts and raisins with a scoop of ice cream on top finished off with chocolate sauce.  Sounds totally random but tasted pretty good. 

To get from Bundi to our next stop of Jaipur the easiest option was to take a government (read public) bus.  That meant no air con, and loads of people jammed in, with us being the only white people which made us fun to stare at. It also meant that instead of a 4.5hr journey it took 6 hours.  Might be best to stick to private buses from now.  Also the fact that the government buses are really run down and there was a rock holding a seat in place made me think it wasn't the safest form of transport.

Two things that continue to perplex me about India:

1) Mothers put eye liner under their babies eyes as a way to ward off evil spirits and bring good health to the baby.  I think it makes the baby look creepy. I will try to get a photo on show you all.

2) The first time we got laundry done it came back smelling like food (not overly strong but enough that we noticed it). The trend has continued each time we have got clothes washed.  In our cooking class Meenu told us that nothing goes to waste, and even the oil is kept and made into soap to clean clothes!!!!!! That explains the food smell - so gross.

Also a big happy birthday to my Nana who turned 90 today!!  It's Nathan's birthday tomorrow which will be celebrated by looking at Jaipur city palace and then taking a train in the afternoon to Agra.