We had another early start as we headed off to take a REAL local train to the small town of Bassi - a completely different Bassi than we went to previously.
The train station in Bundi is much smaller than Agra. No crowds, no security. The train arrived and we found a compartment that had free seats (no seat assignments on these trains!) and sat down beside some locals. Peanut shells lined the floors and men went by selling rice, biscuits, peanuts and chai. Just over three hours later and plenty of stops along the way, Shakti was telling us to get our bags and get ready to hop off (the train only stops for two minutes in Bassi). Our train tickets had cost about 50 cents each.
We hopped off and got into two jeeps. Ours was completely open and it was a wonderful 45 minute drive through villages and farm land, with more kids waving excitedly, and more cows, goats....you get the idea!
Camel at work in Bassi
Arriving at our lakeside accommodation
We arrived at our accommodation for the night: luxury tents on the side of a beautiful lake! (Nicest bathrooms we had yet, and inside our tent!) The itinerary for the rest of the day was eat lunch and then relax! So we sat on our tent porch watching the reflection of the adjacent land off the waters as the sun set behind us and I caught up on our blog posts! (No internet of course so they had to be posted later!)
Welcome music
As the dusk approached we sat by the fire and I bought a bottle of Indian Viognier white wine which wasn't bad (we really are getting used to these Bon fires!) We enjoyed a lovely buffet dinner and then sat around the fire some more, listening to the sounds of the night and looking at the stars. We were told that we could get up for sunrise, but otherwise breakfast would be ready at 8am and we would leave at 9:30am! Nice and late!
We didn't plan on getting up for sunrise, but one of the local water birds had other plans for us! At around 6am I awoke to this bird making a racket - as if to tell us, get up and don't miss this! Funny enough, we never heard that bird again! I peeked through the tent flap and the sky was a a deep pink and purple reflecting off the water. I was happy that bird alerted me to the beauty! I woke up Dave and we enjoyed the dawn colours and the sunrise, then went back in for a snooze.
For breakfast, they had decorated the tables with flower petals and we sat enjoying a lovely buffet and chai with a gorgeous view of the lake. Can't get a much better honeymoon than this!
After a nice hot shower, we hopped back into the jeeps and made our way to a very small village for another walk around. We were shown a typical house and met some more local kids and villagers eager for their photos to be taken.
We hopped back in the jeeps and made our way to a farm where they grow opium for the government. Some kids stopped to talk to us. Back on the road a few election buses went by full of people on the roof (yep, there is an election coming up in India too!)
Cows still decorated with henna from Diwali
We then made our way to our accommodation for the night (very close by) - a 300 year old palace called Castle Bijaipur!!!
Of course we got the royal welcome once again with garlands and tikas, and our welcome Pepsi and then were shown to our gorgeous room with a king size bed and paintings on the wall. We've definitely been living like royalty since arriving in Rajasthan!
There were many activities to choose from, like massage, pedicure, henna painting, cooking classes, and a village bike ride. I chose to spend the day lounging by the pool with an occasional swim. Dave and the rest of the guys went for a bike ride through the village and encountered wedding celebrations with women dressed up in Saris and dancing. James, one of the guys on our tour, had his pedal fall off and had to stop. As soon as he did so, a huge group of kids just surrounded him. The rest of the group quickly realized he was missing and went back to find him engulfed in locals trying to help fix the bike. Panicked by the crowd of people, he broke out into a sweat and his tika was running all down his head! The guide ended up trading bikes with him and biking with just one pedal the rest of the way.
Place to chill out in the palace
Hanging out in the pool
Alannah getting a pedicure
After the guys went back, two of the other girls and I decided to each get one of our feet painted with henna. The woman had the henna in a rolled up piece of paper and squeezed out the designs (all unique and all just from her head) in less than five minutes each. It went on thick, so she told us not to walk on it for 10 minutes and that it would dry in an hour. Once it was dry the thick dark brown stuff started chipping off revealing the lighter brown henna stain underneath.
Fresh henna
We then joined the group for some drinks and sat around yet another Bon fire, the upstairs to the restaurant for a buffet dinner. While sitting outside by the fire, we could hear loud music just behind the palace and firecrackers and fireworks were going off for the wedding celebrations. We went up on the roof and got a glimpse of some of the festivities and could see the occasional firework pop over the courtyard while we were down below. We enjoyed a buffet dinner in the restaurant upstairs and then ended off the night back by the fire with Shakti telling us stories of ghosts and spirits of Rajasthan.
The bar
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