It is 4:30 pm and we are sitting in the middle of a lawn at Abhaneri Niwas. Getting to Abhaneri is an effort, 2 hours on a local bus. We have two big bags and we could only get them in by sitting them together on one seat. It cost 100 rupees, and was worth every cent! Amazingly, the bus held together for the duration. The most apparent thing on the trip was the appalling amount of air pollution, visibility was 300meters. In addition to the traffic, there were many tall stacks belching smoke into the air. The highway is in excellent condition and the trip was swift. We got off at an isolated spot on the highway, getting off as quickly as we could. We were collected by jeeps and taken another twenty minutes to the Niwas. The guest house is a walled enclosure on the edge of the isolated village of Abhaneri.

It is a beautiful place to stay, there is a large lawn, a fine dining area, and each room is not only spacious but individual. We had a wonderful buffet lunch, cauliflower, potato,, dhal, chicken and chapatti. After a short nap, a guide from the village walked us through a local temple and a step well. Both are quite famous, the temple was built in the ninth century as was the step well. The step well is 90 meters deep, and has rooms built on one aspect for the nobility and king. The steps provide access to the water at the base of the step well. The water that fills the step well is rainwater from the Monsoon. The stones that form the step well wall, are connected together with no mortar at all. They form a mathematical pattern so intriguing that many films have used this location including a Batman film.
We have spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing, Jennifer with a beer and me with a lime soda. It is cooler now, a gentle wind, shade, pleasant company, what more could anyone want?