8TH Mon. Chanoud Garh (cont.d) More rooms

The 'official' tour was very interesting. This palace is around 300 years old and has been in the family for 13 generations. Ajeet Singh (Patriach) told us that his father lost interest in the family home and ventured into the horse racing world. Although he had some success with his horses, he managed to lose a lot of the family fortune so in order to turn things around the current family members have turned it into a 'top class' commercial venture. Two sons and their wives are involved in the running/upgrading and they're doing a superb job.

Ajeet told us that despite growing up here he didn't know what was in many of the rooms till the last decade or so. Many of the walls and pillars are made of marble but had been covered with limestone for years/ It wasn't until 2010 that the family decided to have the limestone removed professionally to reveal the original marble … the job took 6 years to complete. We saw storerooms containing row upon row of original books detailing all the commercial activities of the palace, salaries, taxes paid etc., private temples, the ladies' only areas, the coffers with metal/wood trunks (empty now) and lots of other fabulous artefacts.

small temple room in the 'ladies' section of the palace
 

Just so many wonderful doors/windows and passage ways in this place

Ganesh - the elephant god

The elusive peacock ... playing hide-and-seek

These used to be the camel stables.    The elephants were kept on the lower ground floor - but sadly there aren't any here these days.

Several rooms are devoted to family photos through the decades, and artefacts/trophies – many of which I found disturbing but, of course, game hunting was the 'norm' until fairly recently so its unfair to judge by today's standards.

Our ears aren't quite attuned the Indian accents yet. The family all speak excellent English but I know I've missed out on lots of the anecdotes as I don't like to keep asking our hosts to repeat themselves.

After the guided tour we had tea and cake on the rooftop terrace and watched the sun set – very civilised 

At 7.30pm all guests met for drinks in one of the garden areas where fire-pits were lit to keep us warm (morning and night temps are still pretty cool at the moment). 

Then we were shown to our tables in intimate dining areas and served with a fantastic assortment of Indian dishes.

Sadly David didn't feel well and retired early … I think he's going to be OK – just a combination of no sleep, a stressful uncomfortable journey and possibly something he ate yesterday?? Time will tell.