Friday 8th February 2019
It was a 10.30 start this morning to allow Trevor and Andrew to return from the 6.30 start on their Leopard safari. They were told it was 90% certain that they would see a leopard; we we doubtful however. 🤣
Instead of the early start the 3 Amigos had a leisurely breakfast and then a walk around the grounds of the hotel. Out the back down a dip we came across what appeared to be a dish washing “factory “ presumably for the 3 hotels nearby. Dirty dishes in one end, a big vat of hot water and then the drying section.. hmmm very hygienic 😱
Dishwashing factory 
A big pot for the dirty dishes
We walked round to the front and came upon 2 schoolchildren walking miles to school, the boy had no shoes..how many of our children WALK to school? We talked and gave 100 rupees hoping that he might buy some shoes. 😊
Trev & Andy finally came back; no leopards were seen.. apparently it’s too cold for them in the morning this time of year 🤣
We got on the bikes and set off up into the mountains; the road was very twisty and steep in places, good fun to ride. Suddenly we started to see monkeys jumping around in the trees; we rounded a bend and there were 20 or more sitting by the side of the road. We stopped to take pics and they didn’t seem to mind. There was a female with her young baby which look uncannily like a human baby from a distance.
Mother and baby 
Just chilling 
The 3 monkeys ..”Teen Banda” in Hindi
They have long tales these monkeys,
We rode on and had a quick visit to a temple before stopping for lunch.. I’ve been completely vegetarian since arriving in the hope of losing a few lbs, but with the amount we are eating and all the beer no chance 🍺 🙃
We carried on though this beautiful area in the mountains, as we descended and the ground levelled out there were green fields of crops.. all totally different to the barren desert in the North of Rajasthan. We like the South, windy roads and mountains 👍
As we exited one village the noise of our leader’s bike spooked a large water buffaloe, I was following and the thing charged across the road just in front of me.. I was lucky, that thing must have weighed a ton or more 😱
We had a great ride and now we would join a main highway for the last 40kms onto Udaipur. We stopped for chai and then set off on the dual carriageway. After a while plodding along at 80/90 kph the 3 naughty boys decide to take off for a full throttle blast.. soon the others were out of sight and we were flying. There was a point where the road branched, both signs said Udaipur so we carried on straight; some way further on we slowed to let the others catch up; no sign of them so we pulled over. A while later we saw a single headlight as our leader approached indicating we should turn round. We rode for a bit the wrong way along the dual carriageway (as you do in India) and then found a break in the central reservation so we crossed over. The others were parked up on the other road to Udaipur..we are definitely the bad boys 🤟 At this stop a coach pulled up and out jumped some guys from a band to check us out 😎 amazing who we meet every time we stop.
Soon we were entering the mad house which is Udaipur doing battle with the masses. We turned off and the road climbed and then we saw a big lake; there are several in Udaipur. We rode along the banks of the lake and then climbed high up to our hotel, The Hilltop Palace, which enjoyed great views over the lakes. We were greeted with garlands of flowers..and it was beer O’clock time 😊
We have arrived 
Flower power 
Kingfisher pride of India 
View from my room balcony
Tomorrow we have a day off so we will check out Udaipur 😊