Ghanerao

We left Udaipur with regret it is so beautiful there and set off by car to Ghanerao  a small  village that is between Udaipur and Jodphur.  The countryside was mainly farmland dotted with small villages which are in the Aravali hills. We passed by Tribes people whose clothes were an array of different colours, always bright pinks, yellows green or red. It was so hot and yet they seemed to be perfectly at ease walking along the dusty roads carrying loads and laughing or chatting away, while Adiy and myself were shrivelling in the heat.  Our driver stopped to show us these hanging black lumps that hung from several  trees, they were about the size of small rugby balls. To my horror I saw that in fact they were bats fruit bats!!  Jesus I ran back into the car and refused to get out again.

After 3 hours in a temperature of 40 degrees! We made a stopover at the famous Jain temple in Ranakpur, it is one of the five key places of pilgrimage for the followers of the Jain faith. While we were in there I spied one of the priests dressed in white and orange approaching different people and blessing them, in general you give a wee donation. I am not adverse to giving donations but I knew I would feel uneasy being hummed at so I hid behind any of the 1,444 pillars to avoid the humming priest. My poor Adiy is not as agile as me nor am I as blessed as he is now!  got caught. The priest ( who by the way was the head priest! ) was enthralled to hear that Adiy was from Dublin  and told him of a young Irish man who came to the temple some 30 years ago. This Irish man was a young architect who spent several months, taking measurements inside the temple. My Adiy was in the same class as Arthur,  so he got a double whammy of a blessing,  How about that?

We arrived at our hotel which is an old castle in the middle of a tiny village. The people live very simply and were just so lovely. When they smiled their faces were a picture to look at and their smiles made me feel very warm inside. Little children ran after us each one saying “Hello” and then ran away delighted with themselves giggling with glee. I felt like a famous star being followed by my fans! Next scene in the movie- There was nobody to greet us upon our arrival and this created a very strange sensation. You know in the old movies when the carriage pulls up outside this massive castle,  there is no one in sight and on the ledges of the towers  hundreds of birds are perched watching and waiting. It was exactly like this, I was scared shitless, our driver could sense my fear and tried to console me; suddenly” An Igor” appeared and lumbered his way over to us.” I take you to your quarters;” boy was I excited to follow. My Adiy bravely marched in and I followed with trepidation. We lost our driver, he drove off and all that was left was dust.  

The Castle.

A stroll in the village.

The Dining area.

A window to peep from in our room.

A relax room in our suite

View from the terrace top of our room

Never judge a book by its cover, happy afterall. igor was in fact very kind and helpful.