Day 17 – Amazon Goes Batty

The next morning after a great breakfast in the open air, we joined one of the Canadian couples for a ride on a local narrow gauge railway for a scenic ride to a town called Phulad a whole 19 km and 3h away. A local guide provided commentary about the scenery and provided crackers to feed the monkeys on route. All in all, it was a pleasant diversion. The couple from BC met their own driver for a trip onwards to Jodhpur while Ajay returned us to the hotel where we met a new Canadian couple from Burnaby, who had just arrived. The eleven guests from the night before had all departed, leaving just the 4 of us in the whole 21 suite hotel.

At 4:30, we got together for a guided tour of the old fort, learning about it’s history and the restoration work to revitalize and rebuild what is essentially a ruin. The current owner is a direct descendent (14 generations) of the original royalty who constructed the fort. The constructor was the chief military leader for the Maharaja of Udaipur. At the time of construction, The Mogul dynasty was in decline and the Maharaja’s of Jodhpur and Jaipur wanted to expand their empires at the expense of Udaipur. These 2 aggressor dynasties had successfully aligned themselves with Moguls by marrying off daughters to the Mogul Kings through the years, whereas the Udaipur Maharaja’s had resisted the influence of the Mogul armies. The military chief also constructed 2 other forts in the kingdom forming a horseshoe shaped perimeter around Udaipur. This fort, being his favourite, became the ancestral home of his line. It was attacked twice in its history and successfully defended the kingdom.

Later the fort was abandoned and deteriorated badly with the military leader’s descendants preferring the glamour of Udaipur. The current owner, together with his wife, set about the gargantuan task of restoring the fort to it’s original grandeur. The tour by his wife, took us behind the scenes with many tales and legends about it’s structure and history. We visited portions under reconstruction, artifacts retrieved, and discoveries of hidden passages and escape tunnels to the countryside. We were treated to access to some of the passageways and rooms yet to be rebuilt. In one particular room Amazon exited rather hurriedly when Madame pointed to the bat colony in the domed ceiling. By the end of the tour it had started to rain and we retreated to the front patio (covered) of our new friends while Madame served Masalla Chai tea and treats and answered our questions. Our new neighbours had consumed a late lunch and declined to join us for dinner.

Due to the limited number (2) of diners we were allowed to pick the meal off the a la carte menu. Despite the low numbers, we still got the royal treatment including 2 local musicians playing soft music in the twilight. Dinner was excellent again, following which we rejoined the couple from Burnaby to swap stories until it was time to retreat to our room for a second night.