10. New Year - Welcome 2019!!

-

New Years Eve


Preparations by the Castle staff were in full swing most of the day - they worked so hard to decorate the building with flowers and make everything perfect for later on..... and always with a smile!


We had the opportunity to have our hands and/or arms decorated with henna for the celebration. It goes on as a paste which needs time to dry and then it falls off. There was talk that putting lemon juice onto the henna would make it darker and "take" better. In hindsight it seems that this should be done once the paste has come off, otherwise it just dilutes what is there! 


Getting into a sari is no easy business and so two lovely ladies came up from the village to help us. Lots of wrapping, folding, tucking, laughing and a few safety pins and it was sorted. There is so much fabric that I was surprised to find I was warm enough as the evenings can be very chilly.


              
                  


     

 

                 


    

Welcome 2019!!!!




New Year's Day


The Boat Race 

We had the morning to decorate our boats with anything we could find - KP was in charge of the beauty contest judging with no idea as to whom had made which!


K.P's top three - Anne was the winner on the left


The race was the first across the width of the pool

               

The quiet, calm, gentle Kulwinder became very competitive..... But it paid off - she won!!


Farewell

On our last day there we had a surprise lunch up on the roof, we all felt so at home in the castle not one of us wanted to leave! It was raining rose petals ....



  

It was all very relaxed, especially for KP who took the role of the maharaja!! 

  



 

A delicious final lunch all served beautifully



A sad goodbye to all of the staff

 

My own personal enduring memory of the castle will always be Jen and Jua's laundry on the steps of their room - right on the main courtyard!! Just so wonderfully them!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

1. The beginning ........

-
Image
My recent experience of setting sail across the rough seas of divorce have taught me that no two people sharing exactly the same experience will remember it in the same way. It all depends on your life experiences, how you see things and what you are interested in. I say this by way of a caveat, this blog is merely MY experience, to give anyone interested in a similar trip some sort of a taster, but it can’t convey the smells, the smiles, the kindness and the wonderment that is India!! The first dilemma when travelling alone is the single supplement! I have travelled a lot and recently I have been visiting places in Europe and staying at hostels with up to 12 people sharing a mixed dormitory so I am not bothered about sharing but this holiday was a luxy treat for me .... What if the other person snored or spent ages in the bathroom??? In the end I decided to save my pennies and as luck would have it everyone else paid the supplement so I ended up having a room for myself an...
Read more

12. Agra - Taj Mahal

-
Image
Taj Mahal  Meaning "Crown of Palaces" it lies on the bank of the Yamuna river and was commissioned by Shah Jahan in 1632 to house the tomb of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died in childbirth bearing their 14th child. Essentially completed in 1643 and entirely by 1653 costing in todays terms over £750 million and employed 20,000 artisans. It attracts up to 10 million visitors a year. Like everyone, I have seen so many pictures of the Taj itself but I had no idea of what would surround it. When you approach the entrance to the Taj, this is all that you see, just the dome peeping out over the top of the wall!       The Entrance Gate     As you approach you could see nothing and then it suddenly appeared but really looked like a backdrop for a film set!                               The most spectacular feature is the main dome, over 100 ft high and close in measu...
Read more

3. Bijaipur - The Castle

-
Image
Entertainment en route to the airport was a quick look at the "brides and grooms wanted" section! We flew to Udaipur and the n drove about 3 hours to the Castle Hotel in Bijaipur  where we received a warm welcome.   The central part of the Castle was  built  in the early 16th Century by Rao Vijay Singh a  descendant  of the great Rajput warrior Shakti Singh, the younger brother of Marharana Pratap.  The present family are thirteenth generation to call the Castle home. This is a special place - words don't really do it justice - images give a flavour but don't convey the smells of the flowers and cooking and endless smiles of the staff.                                                                     ...
Read more