A set of glittery, bejewelled Eiffel towers at the back of a pickup truck – where else would you expect such a sight except possibly in Jaipur, the city of gems?

We had just entered Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, India, on our way to our accommodation, when this amazing truck load appeared in front of us.

We were staying in Samode Haveli, a lovely heritage hotel right in the city center. I was a bit tired after the drive from Delhi, so I decided to spend the end of the afternoon relaxing outside our room in a peaceful and beautiful private sitting area.

I soon felt that someone was looking at me, hmmm, there was absolutely no one around. I looked up, and what did I spot?

As soon as this small guest saw that he had been discovered, he paid me no more attention, he just jumped across the roofs to find someone else to spy on.

I felt a little like a spy myself when I noticed a couple of boys playing just outside the hotel, I could see them through a lattice screen window and at first I couldn’t figure out what they were playing with.

It was a kite of course! I then suddenly understood what all those strange pieces of coloured paper were that I had seen in a tree earlier – stranded kites!

The sun was about to set, so we went to the hotel roof top for a view and a drink.

It immediately became quite clear that kite flying is a very popular pastime in Jaipur, and not only with kids: this man whose terrace was next to the hotel clearly didn’t fly a kite for the first time.

A couple of the very friendly staff members flew their kites in between serving us drinks and snacks, they seemed to enjoy themselves greatly and for us guests it was great fun to watch them. They invited us to try, but I cowardly said no, feeling sure that my kite would have flopped straight to the ground, or even more likely onto someone’s head.