Lake Palace

As you can see by the picture everyone is staying at the beautiful Lake Palace in Udaipur.

The city itself is a very vibrant and bustling city even though it is one of the smallest in India. Being in Rajasthan all the colours used in the clothing are very bright making the Sari's more beautiful than they already are. The architecture here is very distincitve and the attention to detail is outstanding. One thing I personally have noticed is the friendliness of the staff at the hotels and the general public-they are always so willing to work and offer their services.

The contestants have ben tkaing advantage of all the wonderful Spa treaments offered by the hotel as well as embracing the richness and diversity of the shopping outside the hotel complex. These pastimes were very much appreactiater after the long flights that many endured from all over the world.This year we have participants from a wide variety of countries including Italy, Norway and Australia to name a few.

On the first evening the participants were formally greeted by the crew at a small drinks 'do' on the Sunset Terrace of the Lake Palace before retiring early to bed to recover. The terrace, as suggested by the name, is in the perfect position to watch the sun fall behind the hotel. The white walls of the building sometimes turns a yellowy tint from the sunlight which, we have been assured looks wonderful.

The following day (Saturday) was more for looking at and repairing many of the cars. These were kept in the Maharana's classic car garage, who in the evening invited the rally party and crew up to his private rooms in the palace where he hosted a cocktail party. We also met his family and his pride and joy - His MG car... I dont know the model but it was classic and beautiful. After this we slowly made our way to a group meal in the most majestic of settings. Flowers lined our entrance and the food was divine and plentiful. This whole evening provided a great oppurtunity for the group(contestants and crew) to chat to one another and get to know everyone a bit better.

Sunday started off with the official opening of our Indian mechanic Bunti's car garage. The whole event turned out to be much larger than he expected but he was so greatful to all the cars that turned up and for the sheer volume of people and press who also appeared. The cars attemped to follow in convey on the way there but the Indian roads were so packed with people, scooters, tuk tuk's, jeeps, cars, cows, sheep, dogs... i could go on. it was so hard to follow the car in front. Eventually we all made it and the event involved many members of Bunti's family, an Indian cake and many photos with the infamous mechanic himself. A truly Indian event but alot of fun!

The afternoon was set side for last minute preparation be that for the cars or for oneself in the Spa.

Everyone is lovely and we all seem to be getting on so well that we are really looking forward to setting off tomorrow.

Jessy