Lake Palace Hotel, Udaipur

We decided to splurge on our last night in the Udaipur area and stay in the Taj Lake Palace hotel,where the James Bond movie Octopussy was filmed! And I have wanted to experience staying in this hotel for many a year! It is still owned by the Mewar royal family but this hotel they have given to the Taj group, on a long lease, to manage.
We arrived at the City Palace gate for the hotel ferry, which had the same anti-terrorist security as in some of the other hotels. Arriving at the point of embarkation was like arriving in a hotel reception area...

The trip over on the boat (complete with life jacket!) was very enjoyable. We could now see the City Palace from a different angle...... even more imposing!

And we passed by the Lake Palace's Royal boat, which can be rented for private parties, which fascinated me..... 

We were checked into our room which also had a fantastic view towards the City Palace... and the boat......

We decided to go on their sunset cruise on the lake....

Stopping at the Jagmandir Island Palace to watch the sunset....

And were able to get a great view of the Lake Palace and the City Palace before the sun actually set....

Apparently Shakira had performed at a private party on the island fairly recently! For those of you who don't know she almost equals Lady Gaga in popularity! Our guide couldn't understand my rather blank reaction to this fact!  I thought he was speaking about an american sports player!

We returned in time for a traditional dance............

And finished off the evening in their fabulous indian restaurant......

the Versace plates were a nice touch!!

The night-time view from our room was spectacular.....

Morning breakfast in the central Lotus courtyard, which apparently features in the Bond movie, was superb.

We now need to get the movie to check it out!

Delwara Village, Rajasthan

We had explored the village nestled below the Samode Palace near Jaipur when we stayed there and found  the people there were living as though in the middle ages.  So we decided to explore the village nestled at the bottom of the Devi Garh Fort Palace to see if all these villages were the same.

Happily we found that the people living here seemed to have a slightly higher standard of living. The village was much cleaner, and the people seemed happier.
With better work occupations......

Making chappatis........

Sewing..........

Waste water still ran in trenches at the side of the street............

And fresh water was pumped...............

And of course they had the inevitable animals wandering around..

This was one of the few places where we were not hassled to buy!! Apparently about 40 villagers are employed by the hotel and I think they were under orders not to hassle guests.
Not very much traffic on the streets but what there was, was interesting!

As were the various modes of transporting goods!

The bicycle was probably the most popular means of transport around the village......

And there were some nice buildings...........

A video of the village taken from YouTube.......

Devi Garh Hotel, Rajasthan

If we had to choose just one hotel to return to in India it would be to the Devi Garh!  This was a fantastic experience and we wished we could have stayed there longer!
From the moment of arrival........

when rose petals are dropped on one in the entry gate, this place is special.

We felt that our suite here was the best since we arrived in India.  It had everything one wants.... comfort, very modern, but old outside!

Marble is quarried locally and so white marble had been used everywhere with designs of the lotus flower set in semi precious stone....

The view from the window in the morning was spectacular...

 and our suite was just off a beautiful internal courtyard.

complete with a swing used by the Raj!

The food in the restaurant was excellent.......

As was the decor.......... flower petals were used everywhere!

And the view from our table in the morning was magnificent...

The pool had a fantastic location.....

We would like to go there for an extended period next time so that we can try out their spa facilities.

This session looked interesting!!

This was an old Palace Fort which had been left in ruins and when the present owners bought it, it was in a sorry state.  Crumbling wall, bats etc.
This is a photo of the stairs when the property was bought by the present owners.....

Today the stairs look like this......

They have done a fantastic job!
All the old rooms have been superbly redone.....

A public 'salon' .....

With a great view over the surrounding countryside...

It had a lot of beautifully decorated areas.......

Like this one with an elephant seat.....

which had beautiful designs on the walls....

We hated to close the door on leaving........

But we will return!!