Ranakpur

After Jodhpur our next destination was Udaipur however as this was another 10 hour trip we had an overnight stop in Ranakpur.

Along the way we stopped off at a popular shrine in Rajasthan. The shrine was to a young prince who had died in a motorbike accident several years previous. Local people have stories of people who were in similar accidents that had been taken to hospital by an anonymous man on a motorbike. Many believe the prince is this anonymous man who has become a kind of guardian angel for the area. As we drove away from the shrine we passed many people walking towards the shrine. Apparently many will walk weeks to get to the shrine no bigger than a large gazebo. It was our first real experience of the spirituality of India.

Ranakpur is famous for it’s Jain Temple. So after a couple of hours driving we arrived to explore the incredible structure. The temple was extremely detailed with elaborate carvings covering every surface. It was very impressive! We spent a while looking around the temple which at one point must have been surrounded by jungle - which unfortunately seems to have been replaced by a carpark – before returning to find Sunny having a snooze in the car whilst being surrounded by equally soporific monkeys.

It was only a short drive back to the hotel so we decided to go for a walk around the nearby hills to catch a view of the sunset. We climbed the nearest hill only to be greeted by a beautiful view of a large reservoir and the sun setting behind it.