Bundi Palace

Appearing to have been frozen in time, Bundi is a fairytale town which has been left as a gem for the wander to stumble upon. Rudyard Kipling (writer of the jungle book) spent a lot of time in this wondrous town and wrote that, 'to give on paper any adequate idea of the Boondi-ki-Mahal is impossible.'

Akin to Pushkar, the people here are so welcoming. Everyone greets us with a warm hello and is intrigued to know who we are and where we have come from. The first day here we decided to go and explore Bundi Palace which is perched conveniently..and magically, on our doorstep!

As we approached the entrance to the palace a local man came up to us bearing two huge sticks and told us we would need them if we were going inside. We didn't need to ask why, the leering monkeys perched along the wall said it all, watching our every move through narrowed eyes. As Luke approached the ticket counter, one of the larger ones jumped down from the wall and landed in a defencive stance, bearing his teeth.We froze, a local man thankfully sprinted towards him and scared him away. We thought for a few minutes whether this trip was wise but were convinced it would be okay, as long as we kept moving and didn't look at them.

Luke purchased our tickets, which clearly stated that we enter at our own risk!! We cautiously walked up towards the entrance, past what seemed like hundreds of monkeys watching us from every angle.We were relieved to see two Indian guys at the top. Luke jokingly asked them about the monkeys and they seriously told him that there were some of the most territorial and dangerous monkeys up here and that they do attack. Lovely!

Although we were still anxious, when we stepped inside the palace grounds we were dumbfounded by what we saw. Unlike many other attractions we have seen, this palace has been left to decay in a natural state and, being the only tourists there, I felt like we had just discovered the ruin for ourselves. It is incredible.

me and my trusted stick!

We wandered around mesmerised. Upon visiting the palace, Kippling said, 'it must have been built by goblins and not men,' I too was starting to wonder if we would see some fairytale creatures roaming about!

As we looked around Luke discovered a huge bee hive. Lovely stuff, not only did we have the burden of being attacked by monkeys now!

When we finished exploring downstairs we were guided to the roof. There sat a proud and luscious roof garden in extreme contrast to the crumbling palace walls. The view over the town was incredible. We sat for some time taking watching the monkeys play in the grass.

Next we climbed some steps into the Chitrasala which houses wall murals dating back to the 18th century. I was completely mesmerised. The miniature paintings that adorn the walls tell the story of Bundi in a playfully illustrative manner. The drawings were so quirky and I literally spent about two hours walking around the room and slowly scanning each and every story depicted on the wall. Luke stood outside and watched the monkeys! We have seen so many wonderful sites on our trip so far but this unexpected gift far surpasses anything I have seen and I will remember it for a long time. Very very inspiring. Here are just a few photos, I must have taken about a hundred!!

and a couple of drawings I did afterwards...

Before we left we got to speak with the archaeologist who's been working at the palace for the past 25years. It was so interesting listening to him talk and I praised him for having one of the most incredible offices in the world! We went away feeling thoroughly satisfied by the magical few hours spent in the palace and were extremely relieved that we had not been mauled by a pack of monkeys!

We went to a near by roof top restaurant for dinner and again spent more time watching the monkeys in awe. They are literally everywhere!

This is a sleepy town and everywhere is closed by 10...including our guest house! Haven't had a curfew in a long time!! Goodnight beautiful Bundi :)