My First Day in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India - The Umaid Mahal Hotel - January 31, 2012

My driver arrived to take me to the Santa Cruz domestic airport in Mumbai
at 5:30AM.  I was scheduled to head to Jaipur on an Air India flight at 8AM.
It was actually 11:38AM by the time we were actually airborne.  It's a good
thing I really like airports!

On board, a really nice young man sat next to me, a Jaipur native.  He and
I chatted throughout the entire flight of one hour and forty minutes.  What
a delight he was!  In addition, we were served an excellent vegetarian meal
( at no extra charge ).  Why has this kind of service disappeared on U.S.
carriers!!

I took a taxi to my hotel, the Umaid Mahal.  The driver, Lala, has become a
good friend as I hired him for the rest of that evening and all day yesterday as
well.  He will continue to show me about this wonderful Jaipur every day
until the start of the forensic conference.  I will transfer to the conference hotel
tomorrow as my friend and colleague, Virginia Lynch, arrives late the night
of the 1st.

My first Jaipur pictures are of the Umaid Mahal Hotel, the lovely heritage
property where I spent three days.  I can't even begin to say how much I loved
it.

Hotel exterior

Entrance door

Stone elephants flanking the door

Beautiful archways throughout the hotel

Sitting in the hallway outside my hotel room

Hallway elephant

Hallway outside my room

My hotel room

Twin bedded room

Sitting area in my room

The beautiful trim that is everywhere in the hotel

Lord Ganesha, at the end of my hallway

Bar area lounge

Hotel bar

Dining room with screen

Some of the wonderful dining room staff...the buffet breakfast

every morning was excellent...with Indian and Western selections.

Hotel staff saying goodbye to me....waiter and two room stewards

The wonderful man who always greeted - and helped me - whenever

I would come and go from the hotel.

I have so many more pictures to post of Jaipur but my Tata Photon wifi connection,

for some reason, does not seem up to the task of uploading my photos!!!  It has 

taken me two hours to get these on the blog....so, I'll have to be doing more

frequent posts so you can see what I am enjoying in Rajasthan.  It is a delightful

place in India and I pray I will be back someday.