Diu turned out to be a welcome break from the hectic Indian city life we had been living. The streets were almost deserted  and we easily found accommodation in a converted church. We had a pretty lazy couple of days, but did find time to rent some bicycles and take a leisurely ride around the small town.

My first attempt at hiring a bicycle resulted in me riding off in a delightful pink number that lost its chain after 1 km and left me walking back to the shop with greasy hands, but the next place I tried offered a more reliable product, and we had a pleasant afternoon's cycling before catching the bus to Udaipur. I think I have actually managed to lose all my photos from Udaipur, so I will upload some if they turn up, otherwise I will just have to describe what was an incredible visit to the 'city of lakes'. This really was like no other place we have been in India, and as our first taste of Rajasthan provided all the colour we had been promised. We took time to visit the Shilpgram cultural exhibit and saw the dancing show at Bakore e Haveli, both of which I can recommend, especially the Rajasthani puppet-shows which revealed the inspiration for Sooty's annoying squeaky voice. After Udaipur we took a 5 hour bus journey to Mt Abu, a holiday resort near a nature reserve in the hills of Southern Rajasthan.

The air was a lot cleaner (and colder) here.

We took the opportunity to do a bit of hiking, with the chance of seeing bears and cheetahs in the wild. We had no such luck, but did see crocodiles and mongoose, and had a good day with our guide Ashok from the Shri Ganesh hotel.

From Mt Abu we took a (queasy) bus ride down to the nearby train station, then it was a 6 hour journey to Ajmer. 

From here we were just a short bus ride from Pushkar, where we offered our own Puja in the bathing Ghats, and fondly recalled our time in Arambol surrounded by tourist stalls selling T-Shirts, Ali-Baba pants etc.

Post-Puja

Ajmer train station

We also visited the Dargah, one of the most important Muslim pilgrimage places in India, and heard the qawwali there.

Next stop: Jodphur