Just spent the night in the Castle at Mandawa, a Heritage Hotel in faded glory. Huge room at the top of the Castle, just down from the main street.Tony decided to have the hottest curry he could find, I just stuck to one that I didn't need a gallon of beer with. The evening meal was tasty and authentic. Today, Tony is feeling rather "delicate". I wonder why?

The hotel is an Haveli, which is an ornately painted building, one of many in the town. These buildings are richly painted both outside and inside, the more paintings and the more intracacy showed other people how important they were. They were painted on wet plaster which was made up of ground rice, marble and seasalt (seasalt gave it the sparkle). This was bound with egg white and ghee.

We had a tour around the other havelis in the town with our guide. The narrow lanes had 5ft high chicanes to prevent the cows from blocking the route. Unfortunately in the past some of the havelis were bought, dismantled, the parts sold, the house pulled down and the land sold making a lot of money for the individuals. Luckily the Indian Government have prevented this happening in the future.

A few bone juddering miles on an earth road, then we    were on the main highway on our way to Bikaner and the Laxmi Niwas Hotel  

.