Things could get a bit Narlai!!

I really did tempt fate yesterday by mentioning that Sarah was feeling a bit of heat exhaustion, as in the early hours of the next morning, a case of Delhi-Agra-Jaipur-and-Jodhpur belly hit me and I have decorated the porcelain at the Raas with several days worth of curry, cokes and alcohol! Not pleasant!

Normally I don't mind just riding this out, but at 9:30am we were due to be getting into a car and driving for three to four hours with no adequate toilet facilities en route. Thankfully I always bring my own loo roll, which I am sure Sarah thinks is a trifle unnecessary, but after my experience at Lamin lodge in The Gambia, a loo roll is like American Express; I never leave home without it!

Thankfully, prior to going, my trusty friend Mr. Immodium came and saved the day, meaning that I have made it to Narlai without any mishaps along the way!!

Anyway, enough about bowel movements, and more about Narlai. The village is small, and set at the feet of a humongous rock which goes up several hundred feet above them (on top of which I am told there is an elephant monument). As I mentioned in the previous post, this hotel is a former hunting lodge of the maharajah of Jodhpur, and part of it is still used by the family. It is a lovely boutique hotel, and the staff are incredibly friendly and welcoming.

The swimming pool, and the big rock which overlooks the hotel - Lush!

Once again it is so nice to be out of the hustle and bustle of a city and in the middle of nowhere, just listening to the sound of wildlife and a lot of drumming from the local temple. When asked, the guard at the entrance said the reason for the drumming was the village celebrating a festival called Sadi or Saadi. I have not heard of any festival called that before (my own ignorance, rather than doubting the fellow!), but from the sounds of it, drumming and chanting into the night are an integral part of the festival. It was a  great sound to hear as we are drinking cocktails under the stars!!

The hotel is impressive, and there is a lot of attention to detail taken here, with little nooks all around the place for people to relax, and it shows just what Bijaynagar will be striving towards (in fairness to them, they are only just setting off on that road). The room we have is once again spacious, and we have a dressing area, as well as a nice little balcony for sitting out on. One of the best things is the key and lock - it is a very old lock system, but we have the biggest brass elephant keyring to ensure that we don't lose it (maybe they have heard in advance that I tend to forget stuff or leave important things behind me!!).

Our room, lovely and spacious!

You are not going to forget this key in a hurry!!

The staff are clearly proud of their village, and on several occasions people who work here have wanted to take us on a tour of it and take us inside a family home. I just don't think we are going to have time to do that, as we are really starting to feel drained from all the travelling around (it will be so nice to get to Goa and be able to unpack properly), and so tomorrow is going to be spent having a nice lay in before heading off on the final stretch to Udaipur.

Anyway as i say, the staff are great, all in traditional dress and very happy to help with every request. As a case in point, a local delicacy they have here is corn puffed poppadoms, which are just wonderful! When one of the waiters discovered that we liked them, he said if we wanted he would go and get us some to take with us for our journey. We readily accepted this, and off he went into the village, returning some 15 minutes later with a *kilo* of poppadoms for 230 rupees (about £3). I don't know if you can imagine a kilo of poppadoms, so I have taken a photo of them!!

Anyone for poppadoms?? These are precooked, so might last the journey in our case!

The people waiting on us here are just lovely. When we finished our meal, they asked if we would wait for a minute, and then came out and presented Sarah with a birthday cake (which I think was a honeymoon cake) and then sang Happy Birthday to her and got her to cut it. We were full from our meal, so we shared the cake around with everyone else in the restaurant (and said the staff could all have a slice too!). There were even some Indian families coming over and congratulating Sarah with hugs, which was such a lovely welcoming feeling, you can't help feel endeared to them all and wishing we had more time here.

That just about wraps up things here, I am going for a well-earned sleep, seeing as I didn't have much of one last night!! Udaipur here we come!!