my work begins...

Woke up to a reasonably hot 40 degree day. It's not a good feeling waking up to the heat with a slight hangover. I couldn't believe we polished a litre of Smirnoff last night. I can't see my self doing that again....although it was our welcoming party so it was just a one of thing.

At 10am Lynne and I headed up to the palace to meet Shriji the Maharaja or 'present custodian' of Udaipur (as he likes to call himself). The meeting was held in his palace office. Chandeliers hanging from the tallest ceilings you've ever scene. The meeting went really well as Shriji was most impressed with Lynne's work - which always makes my job really easy.


In the afternoon Lynne used Shannon and I as her guinea pig. With Lynne as our guide we went on a test run of the audio tour. By the afternoon the sun was beaming down and we were boiling hot so I was glad to be out of there. The tour was a success and it was obvious that Lynne had spent 4 hard working weeks perfecting the tour. I especially loved the main courtyard called Amar Vilas. I'll have to go back and photograph it, as it truly is stunning.

Later that afternoon the wedding festivities were in full force
with more music, coloured fruit cocktails and garlands of marigolds. I couldn't resist the kodak moment!

In the evening I went for a little stroll through the main town at sunset and couldn't resist some bargain shopping at my favourite tailors in Udaipur.


I think the owner should franchise his business on Oxford Street!!!







It was my name day today - St Peter & Paul's. So we thought we'd be a little adventurous with dinner and order tandoori chicken. But after a mouthfull we decided to stick to our original plan of being vegetarian. Our bbq panner, mixed dahl, rice and salad was delicious!!

Welcome to India Mr. Paul

After a comfortable flight to Bombay, Shannon (Lynne's daughter) and I checked into the hotel and had a restful sleep. In the morning we visited the Prince Of Wales Museum (one of our sites in India). The museum was only a 10 min walk from the hotel so we decided to get a bit of exercise and take in the sites by walking over...and boy did we get a nice surprise on the way. The monsoon rain hit us hard and we got absolutely drenched. It was kinda fun walking in the summer rain until I was literally walking in shoes filled with puddles of water. It was a good excuse to stop at Fab India and pick up a few new Indian clothes to change into. Any excuse for some shopping!


That afternoon we caught a plane to Udaipur where Lynne was eagerly waiting our arrival. It was nice to see Lynne smiling and happy. She looked so rested and excited to see us, welcoming us with open arms.






In the afternoon we did a quick walk around the palace and took in the gorgeous view of Lake Pichola. Which is absolutely stunning. I haven't seen anything like it. So romantic. Which makes it a perfect setting for a wedding. Unfortunately we aren't staying at the palace hotel as it's been taken over by wedding guests for a huge Indian wedding. I call it the monsoon wedding.



You can't imagine how extravagant this event is. It's a 4 day wedding with a function every night spread all over the palace. Lynne tells me it's costing the family around $100,000 for the whole wedding. Red carpet, fancy fruit cocktails, garlands of flowers drapped all over the palace. The bride arrived yesterday and the groom today. They even have musicians playing traditional Indian instruments welcoming the guests.

The colours in Udaipur are stunning. The streets are filled with pink, yellow, red and gold saris. I'm really loving this place so far.

We settled into our hotel and enjoyed our dinner over a bottle of vodka. Tomorrow we start work with Shriji the Maharaja of Udaipur.

6 sleeps to go!

It's less than a week before I depart on yet another Indian adventure for work. Up until today I was kinda excited for the first time to be going back to India. It's taken me 4 trips so far to become sensitised to the poverty and despair that I always seem to come across in that country.

Don't get me wrong India is a fantastic country full of colour, passion and wonderfully spirited people, but there is a down side which I tend to forget sometimes....it's DIRTY!

And who better to remind me of that but Lynne. Today she sent me a pic of a street in the main town of Udaipur - a town in Rajasthan (North West India) where I will spend most of my time working in.