Rajasthan

music, dance, painting and archi-tecture. Jewelry, among which stones are a specialty (Jaipur), handicraft, leather, textile and other ornamental beauty you most likely will want to bring back home.

travelling from village to village for their storytelling puppet shows.

Will you resist the temptation to get a beautiful and colourful puppets as a souvenir?

Rajasthan is famed for its miniatures – small-scale paintings full of a surprising amount of intri-cate details. A form of art dating form 16th century. Sculpture and Phad painting enrich the wide variety of art you’ll find there. Phad is a kind of scroll painting done on cloth and portrays dei-ties, mythology and legends of Rajput kings. The Bhopas, a nomadic tribe use them when travel-ling to attract the attention as to where their performance will be presented.

Fresco painting, originating in Italy, arrived in Rajasthan with the Mughals. Some of the finest can be seen in some Haveli such as Shekhawati.

Paper making, leatherwork, camel leather shoes oriental scandals, pottery, hand woven carpet as well as textile abound in Rajasthan.

Jaipur sure is the best place to have your custom jewellery and vedic astrological gems special jewels made.

holy water and, therefore, surrounded by over 400 temples, including the multi-coloured Brahma temple. There are ghats galore, landing steps leading to the river for the worshippers. Pushkar is a place to immerse in spirituality or enjoy a walk around the market in a quiet small city.

Jodhpur: The blue city with its Mehrangarh Fort is the gateway to the Thar Desert. It is inhabited by contrasting desert dwellers among which the Bishnoi, the environmentalist heroes. Known as tree-huggers, the Bishnoi community have a captivating culture, with a religion combining religious rules with ecological ones. It is based on care towards nature. They also practice a very special ceremony that we will witness.

Jaipur: Capital and pink gateway to the rest of the state, or to heaven according to many. In fact there are seven gates into its old, walled city bursting with flower markets and fortune tellers, artisans and animals, and not one palace, but two: Hawa Mahal and Jal Mahal.

Amber Fort, Jaipur: Before moving to Jaipur, the fort palace of Amber was the capital of the Kachwaha clan. The honey-coloured citadel rises gradually along a sloping ridge surrounded by even higher ridges capped with other battlements and watchtowers.

Udaipur: called ‘Venice of the East’, as its complex lake system winds its way around palaces, temples, ancient waterside dwellings and a wonderful collection of heritage hotels. Stunningly romantic, the Aravali Hills proffer the perfect backdrop reflected in the city’s water, where you can saunter the City Palace on the bank of Lake Pichola or head to Lake Palace and Jag Mandir Palace on offshore islands.

Riding Camels in the Thar Desert: A quintessential Rajasthani experience, an overnight jaunt into the windswept dunes of the Great Thar Desert. A ride on camel back, an evening campfire and tribal dance show you can simply join in for an authentic experience.