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As Jaisalmer was not on the agenda, we headed for Garha near Shergadh, 2 hours from Jodhpur, where we were assured was one of the greatest seas of sand dunes in India. The sand dunes were indeed splendid, and we met Brigadier Udai Sinh at his resort, Desert Hermitage, and enjoyed a chilled beer and a delicious home spread with him. The Desert Hermitage is a cluster of 6 cottages, and is known for it's camel safaris to the sand dunes. We opted to return to Balsammand palace for the night, and drove down to the marketplace around Jalori gate and the railway station to pick up embroidered leather footwear, including camel leather mojdis, other handicrafts, and Rajastani snacks.

BALARAM PALACE RESORT, NORTH GUJARAT

Finally, homeward bound and pressed for time, we cancelled our proposed stay at Mt Abu, and headed instead for Balaram Palace on the Abu-Ahmedabad highway. This is one of India's most exciting renovations-the palace was beautifully painted and restored, and the Nawabi style gardens have been professionally landscaped with exotic flowers, Mexican lawns and modern fountains. The swimming pool is one of highlights of the palace-it is half way up a cliff and fed by a natural rock spring. We had room no 201, the Nawab suite, with a lovingly furnished visitor's room and a good sized bedroom. The bathroom had dressing area. wash basin, tub, centrally heated showers and western toilet fixtures. It was equipped with terry cloth bathrobes, shampoo, shaving kit, toilet requisites and even a hair dryer! The windows brought in fabu1ous views of the garden, the river and the hills. The dinner was one of the best meals of our trip-we enjoyed the soup, baked macroni, paneer methi, malai kofta, pulao, cheese nan and vanilla ice cream with hot chocolate sauce, and the management was very efficent. At night, we walked along the hills in the full moonlight, and awakened at leisure for a breakfast of French toast with melted butter and honey-a fitting end to our honeymoon trip full of honeyed memories and moonshine!

ROYAL HONEYMOON IN PRINCELY INDIA

North West Safaries & travel services offers 12 day honeymoon packages in India with accommodations in Udai bilas palace, Shikarbadi hotel,, Sardar Sammand lake palace, Gajner palace, Balsammand lake palace and Balaram palace resort.

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Anil Mulchandani is the owner of North West Safaris and Travel Services and undertakes consultancy for travel and tourism in the Gujarat - Rajasthan region. You can contact him at this email address: ssibal@ad1.vsnl.net.in. Dinesh Shukla, the photograher for these beautiful photographs, does free-lance photography. You can see more of his works at: www.ahmedabadcity.com/html/dinesh.html. His phone number: 079-6610609, fax: 079-6560962