In January, I jumped on a bus with an extraordinarily colourful group of Sound Travellers. We were nine altogether… three musicians, three designers, two architects and an artist.

We were trying out my new Jaipur – Bundi – Bijaipur loop, full of music, storytelling and painting. Here’s the story, in pictures.

The trip starts and ends in Jaipur, home to the beautiful Anokhi Museum of Hand Block Printing.

Here is the block.

Here’s how it’s made

And here’s Lee, one of the guests on the trip, printing his own hankerchief

And sisters Philippa and Rebecca having a lesson in printing

On the road to Bundi, we stopped off in an extraordinary arts centre, where we made papier mache on the roof

Next we visited the felt-makers

We stayed in Bundi for two days and saw a lot of beautiful miniature painting and music.

First we visited the exquisite Bundi Palace, home to the famous ‘Bundi Lady’

Next we met some ‘Mashak’ players – bagpipers from nearby Thikarda village

Lee and Issi danced the Mashak dance!

Lee took over the drum, and the drummer took over the dance floor

We watched in awe

We visited a hugs step well

That night we had a private dinner and concert on the roof of the lovely Hotel Haveli. The next day we went to Bassi, a small village where artists make miniature painted temples known as Kawad. Made of many panels on hinges, they tell stories about the deities. We then visited Bhilwara – home to the Joshi family who paint the Pabuji phad – a 30-foot scroll in vivid colours, depicting the life of god Pabu. For some reason I can’t find my photos of these, but I’ll be looking out for them.

We stayed at the beautiful Castle Bijaipur, and celebrated Fra’s 70th birthday with drumming from Nathoo Lal Solanki, and a whole show of theatre, bhapang and dance!

The next day we visited the beautiful Bijaipur lake

We drove north to Pushkar

Then we headed back to Jaipur! What a beautiful trip that one was.

(Photos courtesy Issolde Freeth-Hale and Philippa Thomas)