We ascended Amber Fort in style aboard our colorful elephant on Friday morning, where we were wowwed by the Hall of Mirrors, but not so much by the block-printing fabrics well-known to the region. We did reveal our geekness with our unsuppressed excitement at the Jantar Mantar observatory, where dozens of stark geometric instruments were used to measure time and location to pinpoint accuracy. After an unsuccessful souvenier hunt and consolation with a sweet lassi from the real Lassiwala, we dined under the stars at our hotel courtyard, where the owners graciously offered to let us stay and shower prior to our overnight train to Udaipur. The 2AC sleeper car was quite an experience, although we had little time to appreciate the surroundings before we fell into slumber. By the time we arrived for breakfast at Jagat Niwas, we were thankful to relax to the beautiful view overlooking the iconic Taj Lake Palace and free WiFi. Our morning walking tour included the Jagdish Temple and City Palace, although the highlight of the day was kicking back at the hotel room on the cushioned window seat with some good books. After a quiet sunset boat ride around the lake, we returned to Jagdish to join the mesmerizing chants of the evening prayers, then dined by the lake at the hotel rooftop restaurant. The next morning, we set out with our driver on the bumpy highway to Jodhpur, stopping along the way for an exhaustive climb up Kumbhalgarh Fort and a tour of picturesque Ranakpur Temple. The excitement of highway driving, which involved a lot of honking and dodging incoming traffic, finally ended in Jodhpur, where we ate on the patio at the renowned On The Rocks restaurant before boarding another sleeper car to Jaisalmer. The 3AC car we shared with a nice Indian family was quite chilly, making it a struggle to sleep without blankets. Jaisalmer welcomed us with sizzling desert heat, as we explored the dirty, narrow alleys of the golden sandstone fort – now occupied by not just people, but the most entitled cows in India. In the evening, we rode camels through the Thar Desert to a camp among the dunes. There we enjoyed a night of singing and dancing despite the torrential rainstorms and lackluster meal. Back at our hotel, we emptied our shoes of desert sand then maneuvered our sore butts to bed. We departed Jaissalmer by train aboard a much more luxurious 1AC car, arriving too late in Jodhpur to experience the heritage hotel. With only the morning to experience the blue city, we breezed through the royal family’s cenotaph and Mehrangargh Fort, then after a kulfi break, boarded our flight for sweltering Cochin.