Desert Palace - Central Dome bw Youth T-Shirt

The Umaid Bhawan Palace, located at Jodhpur in Rajasthan, India, is one of the world's largest private residences. A part of the palace is managed by Taj Hotels. Named after Maharaja Umaid Singh, grandfather of the present owners of the palace, this monument has 347 rooms and serves as the principal residence of the Jodhpur royal family. I stayed here with a group I led in the late '70's. It is an incredible experience: the central dome is 11 storeys high and the building vast enough to get lost in if you do not play attention. The structure is made of massive interlocking sandstone with no mortar and the furnishings are Art Deco. It is a journey back in time and the call of the peacocks that wander the grounds add an unforgettable note.

I am a retired professor at a college in Toronto and taught critical thinking and communications. In the past I also taught literature, creative thinking and problem solving. I've also had the opportunity to teach about and lead tours to a variety of world destinations including backpacking through the Canadian Rockies, traveling above the Arctic Circle in Norway, into the Sahara in Morocco, and throughout Southeast Asia with a special focus on Thailand. It was my four tours to India that formed me most profoundly, both as a person and as a photographer. It is a magic land of extremes in every sense of the word. More recently I had the opportunity to expand my world view with travel to the Peruvian Andes, the back roads of West...