We splashed-out and hired the hotel’s driver and air-conditioned car for a day, which cost about £15, to take us outside the city limits to visit Jaipur’s Amber Fort, the Monkey Palace and a couple of other places of interest.

The Amber Fort, a 16th Century palace was an impressive complex, and an official guide gave us interesting insights into it’s history. My favourite story was that of the two queens (wives of one man), who wore so much jewellery, 16kg each in fact, that they had to be pushed around the palace in wheelchairs! Dave take note, that’s a lot of diamonds.

Following a morning at the fort we stopped off for lunch at Cafe Coffee Day, India’s nearest equivalent of Starbucks and eventually Dad’s favourite place of refuge. Our afternoon itinerary included a trip to the Monkey Palace, so called because of the large number of monkeys running around begging bananas from the public. At the palace ‘pond’, many women were making offerings of candles and money, as well as bathing themselves in the sacred (but very grotty looking) water. After watching them for a while, a group of girls insisted that I join them in bathing. My dilemma — how not to offend them by saying no, nor catch some water-borne disease by saying yes? I opted for a quick splash of my face whilst keeping my mouth fully closed, and whilst they looked bemused, they seemed to accept my gesture. I have so far found the people of India to be very friendly, happy to make our acquaintance and have their photo taken, and the girls here were no exception.

Our tour ended with a (requested) trip to a fabrics factory, for me to buy some cushion covers (Dave wonders exactly how many sofas we’ll have in our house with the number of cushion covers I’ve bought world-wide; I have an addiction). Whilst waiting for me to deliberate over designs, Dad wandered off and re-appeared wearing a Rajasthani style turban. Much taken with his distinguished appearance – the beard really helped – he purchased said turban and, for fun, proceeded to wear it for much of our trip. This endeared him greatly to the locals who frequently made comments such as ‘good Rajasthani man’, although my favourite was ‘Ah, Mr Singh is King!’.

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