Mira and Milan's Excellent Adventure: The Trip - Jodhpur

OK, in the last post I left of with day 3.

Day 3 took us to Jodhpur to the Umaid Bhavan Palace. The hotel that runs inside the palace is the Taj hotel. There is still the royal family that lives in the other side of the hotel. This Taj property is what they call their 'luxury' service, and let me tell you.... it was ALL THAT.... AND MORE!!!

The best was having our own butler, Sikander. He was at our service... I can not say enough about the great things that he did for us... from bringing us coffee and tea in the morning, to running the bath for the kids, to packing us a lunch box for the road trips, to just being around when we needed him... it was GREAT!!!

So, this post is dedicated to Umaid Bhavan Hotel and Sikander.

Umaid Bhavan Palace is high above the desert capital of Jodhpur, Umaid Bhavan Palace is the last of the great palaces of India and one of the largest residents in the world, on 26 acres. Umaid Bhavan was built between 1928 and 1942 for H. H. Maharaja Umaid Singh, the grandfather of the present Maharaja of Jodhpur. It was constructed by to replace the Mehrangarh Fort, give people of that period employment during the great drought and famine. The palace is built with influence of Hindu and Buddhist architecture, exterior inspired by the holy temple of Angkor Wat and Borobudur; whilst the interior followed the layout of an Indian palace, with the ‘mardana’ – Gentlemen’s wing to the North and the ‘zenana’ – the private Ladies wing, to the South.

The room that we had was 1100 sq ft!! Yes... !!! It was HUGE!!! It apparently was previously the room of the king before the royal family moved to the other side of the palace....

As soon as we left, the kids kept asking when we were coming back... this is definitely one place they want to come back too!!

So, Sikander really made a lasting impression on the kids.... Milan proposed to the family that he would now become our butler. He started opening doors for us and opening our napkins on our laps when we sat for our meals (very cute!!). He also said, 'When I grow up, I want to be a Butler!'

The Taj explained to us, that in the days of the Maharaja, these things were taken for granted, and for them at the Umaid Bhavan Palace they still believe ‘Atithi devo Bhava’ – The Guest Is GOD. Cut a long story short…..it was our time to live an episode experience of ‘Fresh Prince of Bell Air’. Can you guess who was who in which role?

As we were leaving the hotel, the full staff came to see us off as we entered the car and made sure that we were OK. It really was touching, in just 2 nights, we got really attached to the Sikander and the rest of the staff

So check out the pics and you will see the place that definitely has made a lasting impression!!!