We're getting there!

Day 5

Boy have we come a long way! And I'm not talking about the 473km we covered yesterday on our epic 11 hour journey that took us out of the insanity that is India's capital city through rural villages, ramshackle towns and miles of desert. 

I have been absolutely blown away by my kids. They've been utterly amazing. Not one of them complained yesterday, even though the drive was long, at times boring, and seemingly never ending. When I think about the journey up to my parents from our house, I think of it as a three and a half hour grueller. Not any more!

Looking back on what I have written, I realise how quickly the kids have adapted. No one mentions the dirt any more, they've stopped talking about home, except Martha who still asks,"Can I go to Nell's for tea?"
"Yes," I reply, "when we get home,"
"Yippee!" she says. And that's it.

None of them ask for food from home. They are just living in the moment. It's brilliant. 

We arrived last night in Bikaner a fortress town in the north of Rajasthan. We have lucked out big time with our hotel. We are staying in a former royal residence, owned by the very funky cousin of the maharaja. Our room is to die for. It's enormous, at least half the size of our entire house. We have three sets of double doors dressed in rich green silk curtains, that match our positively sumptuous sofa and chairs. The huge brass bed is draped in a sparkly fabrics and silk cushions, and the bedhead is adorned with antique saris. The walls are a deep pink, and hanging proudly above the marble fire place is a life size painting of some royal dude. There are mirrors in laid in plaster work all around this splendid room with the most beautiful windows intricately carved out of stone set high above the doors.

And then there's the bathroom! You step through more heavy silk curtains, open the doors and you find yourself in this gorgeous white space with a sunken bath that all the kids can fit into. It's big enough to host a party in it! (As I'm writing this, Freya has the Black Eyed Peas blasting out of the iPod - don't suppose these walls have heard the likes before!)

We have acres of space outside. Gorgeous gardens surround us with the mighty fort of Bikaner casting it's shadow over us in the afternoon. We had a really mellow morning hanging out in the warm sunshine (feels like early May in England), Gus kicking his football around, Freya reading a book on the swing seat on the verandah and Martha bathing her dolls in a bucket of water. Only slight cause for concern I had was looking up to see her polishing off a jugful of said water and licking her lips. We've obviously relaxed with the whole germ, illness thing, and so far she seems fine!

We've had a fantastic afternoon visiting the fort which is truly awesome. The kids were great and even Martha is now getting quite used to having her photo taken. She's stopped hiding behind her rabbit and is now posing comfortably with the other two. From there we went to visit the state camel farm, watched a herd coming from the desert for their evening feed, had a ride in a camel cart and then the kids ate camel milk ice cream and Hamish drank tea made with it. Yuk. I did not partake! But they all enjoyed it. We then finished the afternoon off with a trip to a nearby rat temple. The rodents are thought to be reincarnated souls saved from the wrath of Yama, the god of death. Pretty bizarre I've got to say. Rats scurrying around at high speed. All quite Indiana Jones. There are big clusters of them drinking from bowls of milk given to them by e devotees. Apparently it's good luck if one runs over your foot. It didn't seem like it was going to be lucky to me, so I was delighted to have the excuse of Martha not liking the rats to leave early and go and sit in the car with Gamsham. Whilst we were waiting for the others, we saw a very impressive wedding party leaving the temple where they had been for their blessing. The groom was in an elaborate cream suit with a Rajput turban, the bride and all her female family were dressed in red saris covered in much golden embroidery. Both bride and groom had detailed henna on both their hands and feet.

We're now bathing, chilling and generally loving hanging out in our spectacular home before stepping outside to have dinner in the garden next to out very own fire.

This place trounces the Lake Palace Hotel in Udaipur.

It's going to be really tough to say goodbye to the Bhairon Villa. It's worth coming all this way just to stay here.