Water has been the overriding theme of today which is a little strange when we're in a the 'desert state'. Last night's mild precipitation (ahem...) left the entire region reveling in slightly lower temperatures and water levels elevated from zero to a swimmable depth. And it's not only the humans enjoying the wet stuff - in almost every village we've seen water buffalo, with a rare opportunity to live up to their name, swimming alongside children in the local pond.

And for us, it meant an impromptu bit of off-roading. Something I've always wanted to try, but never gotten around to, as we drove through one village and slightly muddy roads turned in to a small river, there was nothing for it but to give it a go! Especially with much of the village turning out either to offer advice or just to see how very stuck we were going to get. Now the only problem with accepting advice from local Indians is that it can be on the rather optimistic side.

We sent out a reconnaissance mission to asses the road after the obstacle and with much encouragement, and in second gear we eased forward. So far so good, although the steering had developed a mind of it's own and it did feel rather like sailing, we made it to a bit of dry land on one side, but then had to negotiate the bend. The next phase, was to drive directly across this river - over a bank, into the water and back out again. Easier said than done, and slightly nerve wracking as the nose of the car was pointed almost skywards at one point. But we did it, then around a couple of nonplussed buffalo wondering what all the fuss was about, got back on to a dry section which included tarmac. There wasn't any cheering, but the villagers gathered to see us off and it felt like quite a special way, if not unusual way of connecting with people.

Reaching Deeg we headed to the palace, a summer retreat flanked by bodies of water which, through a system of fountains, waterways, pools and jets was used in the most ingenious way to create a cooling effect for the inhabitants. It's easy to imagine that once upon a time, the building, its courtyards and water features were an wondrous sight to behold. Because of the scarcity of water these days, there are only two occasions in the year when all the waterworks are thrust back in to action, and the palace comes back to life. The beauty of the facades is somewhat undermined by the decay that lies behind, but luckily the Archeological Survey of India is already on site, slowly restoring the crumbling brickwork.

In stark contrast, the neighbouring Deeg Fort, dispenses with the finery and ostentation - it's a functional, sturdy block of a building, reminiscent of a medieval English castle, and complete with water-filled moat.

Bharatpur, with it's busy narrow streets was the next stop, but this time to visit the Koleadeo National Park. As the heavens opened once again we resigned ourselves to the fact that of the hundreds of bird species living there, most if they had any sense would be taking cover - and they were. We contented ourselves with the sighting of a rather dishevelled looking Kingfisher in the middle of of a road junction, and then headed off to investigate hotels.

It's been one of those days where the plan went out of the window, but we've had a lot of fun anyway. I'm already looking forward to the next bit of adventure and wondering if we're perhaps ready to take on a slightly bigger volume of water next time!

We're making taking a short diversion across in to Uttar Pradesh tomorrow, being only 55 kms from Agra. The Taj Mahal is equally impressive every time you see it, and each time you realise that it's a lot bigger than you see in pictures. And in case you haven't been and were wondering - it is indeed very romantic!