'Twas the night before Christmas

Gemma - Christmas Eve. Up very early for the 7 hour drive to Jaipur. This would be our first proper taste of Indian roads, they say if you can drive in Delhi you can drive anywhere, I expect that's probably true. There is always something interesting to see from the bus so the time flies by. Along the way we spotted cows, dogs, monkeys, camels, pigs and 2 elephants - some in the road. 

We arrived at the bassau palace hotel to some amazement. It was built in 1787 as a palace in the days of the maharajas. The whole building is intricately painted inside and out, with pretty rooms, lobby and garden. 

There was even an erm interesting murel by our room

When we were settled in we went for a walk around the city, the sights and smells of the bright markets are really exciting.

As it was Christmas Eve the hotel were doing a special banquet. We were entertained with a puppet show and sitar music (including some sitar christmas songs!). Lots of good food followed and then Indian whiskey (really not bad).