Sometimes a bit of luxury is called for. The bus ride back to Johdpur was cramped, dirty and slow and it was great to be back in the Yogi guesthouse where the owner had arranged a lovely room for the night and a car to take me to Udaipur the next day. The Yogi guesthouse is the nicest place I've stayed on this trip. Hot water, soft beds and pretty antiques.
My driver, Ganesh, and I left Johdpur at nine the next day and headed for Udaipur via the temple complex of Ranapur midway between the two cities. I'd heard a lot of bad things about Indian roads and Indian drivers but they have proved to be untrue so far. Ganesh seamed to enjoy overtaking everything in his path but he did it safely and the little Indian designed and manufactured car was fine. When will we see them on British roads I wonder? They have one that costs £2000. I've seen a few, they look ok.
It took two hours or so to get to the temples. They are Jain temples and as far as I can understand the Jains are the Indian equivalent of the Free Masons in that they have a lot of business interests and a lot of money. A lot of that money went on the beautifully carved temple complex. It's a bit like a small version of Ankor in Cambodia. The same carving style has been used but this time in white marble rather than the brown sandstone of Ankor.
The rest of the drive went smoothly and Ganesh delivered me to my hotel in Udaipur, another pretty one but sadly only room for me for one night. The next day my flirtation with luxury came to an end and I found myself a budget place but I have a private balcony overlooking part of Udaipur's famous lake and a TV so it's not all hardship.
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