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Day 13 - Bharatpur - Jaipur

An early morning start saw us catch cycle rickshaws to the Bharatpur Bird Sancturary which actually was a little further from the hotel than we thought. The rickshaw riders looked like they were struggling a little but we guessed they must be used to it, although a Chris Hoy in the making they are not.

The bird park was good and we spotted loads of different types of birds including Serpent Eagles, Owls, Cattle eagrets, Kingfishers, wagtails, drongos and much more. We were also told about a part of the monestary where a monk lived where he feeds the local soft shelled turtle population and were asked would we like to go for a look, so excitedly we agreed and set off towards a small building within the park. Once there we got off our rickshaws and went into the courtyard, where there were quite a few monkeys and a tame antelope called Shamu. After we had taken off our shoes, we were led down a few steps to an algae covered pond, where one of the monk's helpers rolled some dough into balls and made some curious noises to attract the turtles and dangled the dough in the water. Slowly, covered in green algae, the heads of the turtles emerged, these were some of the funniest looking things we have ever seen they had a kind of snout nose and when there necks came out to feed they looked really funny. The size of some of the turtles surprised us, and as a particularly large turtle emerged, the monk revealed that that particular turtle was over 100 years old.

We continued on our cycle rickshaws into the park, and possibly saw one of the cutest sights - baby spotted owls in a tree. Everyone got a good viewof them as the light improved, and zoom lenses were in action. We needed them again, when some mongooses crossed the path in front of us. They toyed with us and they skirted along the sides of the cycleway as we all tried to get a shot of them. We were looking for cranes in the park, but didn't see any. We may have done had we had more time and gone further into the park. On the way back to the hotel, we spotted some jackels in the undergrowth, which was a nice end to the visit to the park.

We headed back to the hotel to get breakfast and packed up before catching our next transport to Jaipur. This was a local bus, which we had all been a little apprehensive about, and although it was warm on the bus, was actually pleasantly surprising. The bus stopped once to stretch our legs and have an ice cream, and after a 4 hour journey we arrived at Jaipur bus station. We collected our luggage and took tuk-tuk's to our hotel Tira Niwas. There was a little confusion in finding our hotel, as it actually looked like a house with gate rather than a hotel. When we arrived, we found the hotel to be very nice, with some of the nicest rooms we have had. Our guide had suggested that we go to the cinema that evening, and go for a meal at a bar after that.

We decided that it might be quite late to eat, and we hadn't eaten lunch, so took the opportunity to eat in the small restaurant within the hotel. We enjoyed cheese and tomato toasties and chips, which were a very pleasant change to our previous meals with "proper cheese" and nice bread! We set off for the cinema in tuk-tuk's, and took our lives into our own hands in the traffic. When we arrived at the cinema, it was clear that this was a family affair, with children as young as a few weeks old coming to see the latest Bollywood blockbuster "Blue" with a guest appearance from Kylie Minogue.

The inside of the cinema was very art deco, and we became a subject of curiosity. Despite the signs saying "no photography", every young Indian with a mobile phone or even camcorder was filming our party. As soon as we tried to take pictures, security came over and stopped us. We got snacks in for the film - popcorn 40p, and headed inside. We noticed that there seemed to be a large portion of the audience was full of young 20-30 year old men in groups, putting their arms around each other! We sat down, and the film began and although it was in Hindi, we really didn't need a translation, as the plot was so thin! The film was punctuated with mobile phone calls in the audience (quite acceptable in India), and the free seat at the end of the isle next to Dan seemed to become a speed dating seat, with three occupants during the first half. Yes, they actually have an interval! After the interval, we attracted another "speed dater", who went one step further and took off his shoes and shirt, got up and left, at which point our guide got seriously worried and thought that he was a terrorist, and went and got security!

After the film, we went across the room to the top floor of the local shopping centre to Red, which was a curious bar/restaurant, where we ate and had drinks. It had glass windows which looked out over the cinema, and we ordered a 2.5litre beer tower. The beer had more of a cider taste to it, but we managed to polish it off.

Our guide ordered our tuk-tuk's to come and collect us, and we were treated to the ultimate transport experience. Our tuk-tuk had been pimped out with neon lights and had a wicked sound system so we had great fun on the way back to the hotel and vowed that in India this is the only way to travel .We were being given a lie in the next morning, and everyone was looking forward to a shopping day after being assured that Jaipur was the place to buy everything!

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