The Road To Rajasthan - First Stop Mandawa

After a few weeks lazing in South India we flew north to India's notoriously crazy capital, Delhi. Our mission for the first two days was to book a tour of Rajasthan 'Land Of The Maharajas' - it was exhausting - but finally we booked a 12 day tour with a driver aka chauffeur and luxury accommodation. Exciting!

Sack the Stylist!

A rather bumpy five hours in the car led us to our first destination, Mandawa. A once thriving town on the silk trade route, famous for its ornate Haveli's that were built by rich tradesmen as both family residence and showroom. Today most Haveli's are abandoned but some have caretakers or even local families living inside.  Our local guide took us on a stroll through the town and showed us a few of the best.

Every surface in a Haveli is beautifully and intricately painted, from floral patterns to scenes featuring Hindu Gods, Goddesses, elephants, and more randomly English people with umbrellas. It's amazing to see what was done with vegetable based paints a hundred or so years ago - it makes you wonder why we use so much wallpaper!

Now, if somebody told you there was a gold room in the next street, you'd want to see it, right? And, if it's kept hidden behind a huge padlocked door and you had to pay to see it then it must be good. In our *cough* naive minds we imagined a James Bond villains secret lair. In reality it was a room that had a bit of gold leaf detailing on a few of the paintings. Maybe the clue was the lack of security and the key holder being an old lady. Oh well, at least we had a giggle as we ooh-ed and ahh-ed at the 'gold'. Another lesson learnt for Sticky.