While in Jaipur, I got to stay in the luxuruous Rambarh Palace Hotel. Part of the Taj group, the hotel used to be the guest house cum hunting lodge for the Jaipur Maharaja. Just a small "third home" for guests, you know, a cozy, basic palace when you're tired of your main one in the city centre or your "summer home" in the middle of the artificial lake...

The grounds are gorgeous. The pic doesn't really do the place justice, but this was the only time I could get between the monsoon rains. When not touring the city, we very much enjoyed lounging under the covered veranda catching up with my family and watching the rain pound down like a waterfall. Kept it nicely cool.

Definitely the top place I've ever stayed and a far cry from how I usually travel.

This is the same view that pierre Adolphe Valette painted in India House of the river that runs down the side of the Palace Hotel.