Jodhpur, founded in 1459 by Rao Jodha, is the second largest city in Rajasthan and is known as the Blue City. Jodhpur is part of Marwar, which encompasses the western part of Rajasthan. Although the pronunciation is similar, this should not be confused with Mewar, the region we had just left that includes Udaipur and …
The deeper we traveled into Rajasthan, the fewer tourists we encountered, especially Western ones. We arrived in Jodhpur and got dropped off at our rental. This is the first time I booked our house through booking.com and not Airbnb. I first started to search on booking.com in places where I couldn’t find an Airbnb that …
I read about an organization in Udaipur called Animal Aid that treats and rescues street animals in Udaipur. Throughout India, we have encountered many animals weaving in and out of traffic, roaming the neighborhoods in search of food and shelter. Seeing gangs of stray dogs and lone cats on the streets is not unusual in …
Displayed in many shops around the tourist areas of Udaipur are tiny little eye-catching paintings of war elephants, camels in the desert, horses in full military dress, royal festivals and religious scenes. The paintings are small, no more than 10 cm tall, and they are incredibly detailed. My eyes are not what they used to …
Even though our enthusiasm for visiting another palace was low, particularly among the children, we had to pay the obligatory visit to the City Palace of Udaipur. This sprawling palace lies on the banks of Lake Pichola and was constructed over the course of 400 years beginning in 1559 by Maharana Udai Singh II, the …
The driver stopped the tuktuk on a dusty and deserted road. There were a few shops all with wooden doors, some closed and some open. He motioned in the direction of one set of weathered doors that were open to expose a screen door. Something inside of me made me hesitate, but for some reason, …
We left the Hyatt Jaipur very reluctantly. We had to say goodbye to the strangely reassuring feeling of being temporarily suspended in our old life – the one where we worked and the kids went to school. During school holidays and long breaks, we flew to cool places and stayed at Hyatts around the world. …
Hyatt hotels hold a special place in our memories because Leo worked at Hyatt for 12 years. Hyatt hotels have provided the setting and backdrop for some of our fondest memories. Leo started working at Hyatt when I was pregnant with RY so our kids have never known a life without Hyatt. When Covid first …
The 10-day tour with Leo’s family came to an end and we said goodbye at Narain Niwas. Only Leo’s sister, Lynn, and her partner, Dana, had plans to stay on in India for a few more days. While Leo, Lynn, Dana and RY went for another cooking class, took the other kids to an amusement …
On the first day of the new year, I signed our group up for a cooking class at Pink City Cooking. I had connected with Bunty on WhatsApp a few days earlier and made all of the arrangements with him. It turns out that Bunty was only the middle-man. The real chef was Bunty’s lovely …
