UDAIPUR All Time High

On reaching Udaipur we gave a collective (if that's possible with two people) sigh of relief and happiness.

First impressions were "clean, clear and dust-free".

A beautifully picturesque city of Escher-like havelis, temples and rooftop perches, set around glittering lakes.

We visited the exquisite City Palace with its museum and rooms stuffed full of incredible art and ornamentation.

NB I'm sure I've mixed up a lot of these interiors, but they're all definitely in Udaipur.

We cringed at the ostentatious Crystal Gallery - solid crystal beds, crystal tables, crystal three-piece suites, crystal everything - all pretty hideous stuff.

We took a boat ride to Jagmandir island hotel and tuktukked to the distant Monsoon Palace, built high on a hill and with spectacular views of the city.

Bond escaped from here disguised as a plastic crocodile. Yes, Octopussy really was that bad.

Octopussy's swish pad - big fight scene here.

Jagmandir island in real life.

Monsoon Palace - Bond villain Kamal Khan's lair.

A view to a hill. Bond was manhunted here by Louis Jourdan on an elephant.

We dropped in to the pocket-sized Jagdish Temple complex, just down the lane from our fabulous Pratap Bhawan heritage hotel.

We saw a lovely dance performance and puppet show by the Dharohar company in the grounds of nearby Bagore ki Haveli, which was itself compact and stupendous.

We had dinner at O-Zen restaurant, which showed the 1983 Roger Moore Bond movie Octopussy. It was dreadful, but great fun.

I can't remember seeing it at the time, aged 17, and certainly don't recall 007 being so camp and corny.

Its USP though, was that it was shot largely in Udaipur, so we could point excitedly at all the places we'd just visited.

Brownie Points to anyone who can name the theme song and artist. No, me neither.

Udaipur was great for putting a spring back into our step after so long on the dusty, smoggy trail from Goa - magic Rajasthan!