Cyber cafe Tue: 22:15

I was at the Hotel Mahendra Prakash at lat/long, n24 34.471 e73 41.365, in case the other SMS gets lost. Nice people, very friendly and helpful though they stung me for R200 per beer on room service (one per night -- that's all I can handle!). I had managed to get a 20% discount and wangled complimentary breakfast so maybe they were getting their own back.

On the lake nearest there is Lake Palace that was used in the James Bond Octopussy film.

On my spare day in Udaipur (while my jeans were being washed) I went to the Monsoon Palace (n24 35.638 e73 38.373) which, from a distance looks like an almost fairytale palace on the edge of a steep hill above the city but on closer inspection is something of a let down.

In Europe we would have built some imposing gothic ediface designed to install fear into the serfs below. Here they aim for something dreamy and magical. To be fair, a little imaginative restoration would do the trick.

I then set out for the Kumbalgarh Fort (n25 8.843 e73 34.896) which took me several hours to find. The paper map suggested some roads, the GPS was indifferent and the road signs were non-existent. Having run 80km north of Udaipur on the NH8 I headed back and simply took a punt on a likely looking side road and went 30km into the boonies. To be fair, there were a couple of signs for a Kumbalgarh hotel but no other clues, even in Hindi. I knew it was east so that's what guided me at every junction.

Unfortunately, I arrived not long before 5pm. Much as I would have liked to roam around this magnificent looking stone fort, with only an hour to go before sunset and a good two hours driving to get back I had to turn around having literally just reached the front gate.

Never mind, on the satellite view you might see some of the second longest fortifications after the Great Wall of China. I took a snap of some and they look very similar (he says, not having actually seen the GWoC).

I am now at the Kasera Heritage View (n25 26.844 e75 38.113) in Bundi. Despite promises of hot water and fully working cable TV am I left disappointed. The hot water may be solar heated which isn't going to impress anyone in this cold and the power cable fell out of the socket for the TV. That said, I've sort of gone off TV, I must be doing something more important instead.

However, the husband and wife team running the show are friendly and interesting. The Bundi Palace up the hill needs a lot of work done but at least has the basics for a magnificent palace. It's highlights are hidden in rather low light, some very good (when you look more closely and let your eyes adjust to the dark) blue and gold murals. I arrived half an hour before closing time so was running round as it was but they were happy to open up sections for me that they'd closed in anticipation of an early night.

The town itself is awash with multicoloured houses, mostly blue, which I think I read was for Brahman families, which reminds me of Chefchouen in Morocco -- still one of my favourite overnight stops, I hope I'm not overselling it. I must try to get up early and see if I can capture some with some daylight on them.