There are two blue cities in India, Jodhpur and Bundi. We arrive in the latter after a late night train. We hop into open air jeeps and speed to our next hotel, where we’re treated with drinks before heading off to bed.

Our hotel

Refreshed after a good sleep and shower we go by tuk tuk to see one of the ancient stepwells. There are over 50 of these structures around Bundi built about 1690. Built to contain the ground water left from the monsoons, some were used for bathing and swimming, others laundry.  The one we’re at was used for drinking water up until the 1990s, purified with alum.

If you look carefully you can see a drone flying, courtesy of one of our group members
Back on the road again we make our way up the hill to the palace stopping for photos of the blue city. Many of the buildings are painted blue from indigo which apparently mosquitos don’t like.

We arrive on the street below the palace which is built on the side of a steep hill and begin our walk up. For a fairly small city of about 100,000 it’s a very impressive palace although a lot of it has not been well preserved. The guide explains that Rudyard Kipling got his inspiration for his famous Jungle Book here and had a great fascination with the palace. 

In one area much of the wall and ceiling artwork has been well preserved

After our visit to the palace we walk back through the town stopping at a very small shop for some delicious chai

Special recipe or technique, not sure but it was good

Later that day we drive to the another town to catch the night train to Mumbai. Standing in our group at the station we’re quickly surrounded by very curious locals. One of our group members had some Canadian pins which she gave out to some pretty excited people. Feels strange to be the center of attention, I wonder if that’s how celebrities feel?