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Greetings from Jaipur (well actually, we are back in Delhi as there was a lack of Internet)
After our 6 hour drive from Delhi to Jaipur we hit the Amber Fort in the midday heat of 45 degrees. After oiling up on some sun cream we were introduced to our guide who spoke a language other than English, so as you can imagine it was difficult to follow! Thankfully, lonely planet came to the rescue and a bed time summary managed to clear a few things in my head.
One thought as we traveled from Delhi to Jaipur - the footwear industry must be massive in this country as people keep leaving shoes in the middle of the road causing Mr Akbar to swerve. However, think they may have purposely been left after road accidents-people here do not fear roads like we do back home. There is no such thing as sticking to your lane and people love to walk with the cars in the roads. Oh and of course, cows love to join in with the fun and walk on the road too.
Following the fort we drove to the hotel and along the way stopped off
at the Water Palace (a subsiding palace in the middle of a massive pond) for a quick photo opportunity. By quick, i mean quick as i (chris) jumped out of the car and snapped away i could see a kid in the corner of my eye running towards me. As I took my last shot he managed to get in the picture and was then demanding me for a couple of rupees. At this point i was slightly concerned and legged it back to the car. Phew!
We finally arrived at our hotel in Jaipur and checked in (this was one of the nicer ones we stayed at as it had air con that worked!) to freshen up before heading out for dinner. We ate in a half decent restaurant called Four Seasons, but sadly nothing to do with the hotel!
The next morning was an early one heading into see some sights. The Jantar Mantar was first on the list - an observatory that was used to calculate time, take meteorological readings and that kind of malarky! This was followed by an audio tour of the City Palace where the great mahajra sawai singh the second lived
(will not forget his name as it was mentioned about a hundred times the audio guide). Our final tour was the Wind Palace where there were some spectacular views of the main bazaar. By late afternoon, we headed back to the hotel to take a few mins before we were dropped off in the middle of the main bazaar for an hour or so. We were pretty much mobbed passing each store. Crossing the road to the other side was probably the most dangerous thing we have ever done! the amount of traffic is unbelievable! The visit ended in buying a kilo of mangoes for 50 rupees (69p) which were eagerly consumed in the hotel post dinner.
Next up was for the national park in Ranthamhore where we went on a safari. The drive to Ranthamore took 5 hours, taking us through various towns and villages. Not much happened in the car apart form children knocking on the window chasing money while the car was in traffic......quite scary when you are half asleep! We checked in at the hotel which was pretty rubbish (air con did not work and constant power cuts)....... Freshened up and waited outside for the
canter which took us on a 4 hour tour through the park where there were suppose to be an array of animals including the old tiger. Instead, we saw dears and monkeys which was pretty rubbish. still, the scenery was amazing as we went up and down steep hills in a disused army vehicle with loose fitted seats. This concluded with being dropped back at the hotel covered in dust and looking for our next meal. The hotel made do as the area is limited for choice.
Another early night and we set off bright and early to Agra for the great Taj Mahal. A few hick ups along the way. Half an hour into our drive, the car (a small tata motor hatchback) choked and broke down in the middle of a village. Immediately, we were surrounded with villagers peering through the window! a bit scared as they were knocking on the window inviting us into their huts for food and water. Mr Akbar, then told us to get out and push the car to kick start the engine. Naturally, as Tsz Wai is lazy she stayed in the car and i got out (no, it was probably
best that she stayed in). Along with 2 villagers we pushed the card until the engine kicked in, this was a sigh of relief, but we knew there were still problems with the car so headed back to out hotel while Mr Akbar sorted it out at the local garage. We were left in the dark about when he would come back so started to plan an contingency plan aka, helicopter out the country!
To our surprise, he came back after 3 hours and we were off an under way in a 7 hour drive to Agra. Along the way, Chris decided to leave me to my own devices and fell sound asleep. Even the sounds of passing cars tooting their horns didn't wake him from his deep slumber-lucky sod! We managed to get stuck in a traffic jam for a good hour of which chris is completely oblivious to. And its not a traffic jam as you would imagine on the M25-oh no!!! It was down some dirty track where loads of lorries, cars, motorbikes, horses and carts, camels and cars were all stuck. Everyone was in a hurry to get passed and hence there was no such
thing as a queue. Therefore, as one can imagine, everyone was stuck. A mass of people got out of their cars to try to ease the situation-I felt rather mobbed as everyone was staring into our car at the foreigners 😞 Got through it eventually and arrived in Agra where we dinnered up and hit the hay as we were up early the next morning.
Alarm went at 4:45am and got up half asleep to visit the Taj Mahal. For a wonder of the world, it wasn't very convenient to to get to and signs didn't really help.Loads of kids up at 6am in the morning playing badminton and cricket! The odd camel was seen having a nap. After getting to it......wow it was worth it! the spectacular view in the morning with hardly anyone around was amazing! this was all worth it! the heat, sun sweat, annoyance was all forgotten about. an absolute must visit if anyone is considering! i took about 300 pictures it was that great! still only 8:00am, we had been in and out and had to move to our next sight. unfortunately, tszwai was struck by a bit of delhi belly - it wasn't
very pretty! Back to the hotel it was to carpet bomb the toilet! :S
After a bit of a rest (must get a tougher belly to handle everything) we headed back out to Agra fort which wasn't great. We have become wise on our trip and no longer paid for a guide as they didn't seem to like our obsession with taking photos. It was a quick get in, take as many photos as possible and get out again. Onward to check out of our hotel and back to Delhi. En route, we were diverted to a 'mall with ac' which was probably Mr Akbah's friend's brother's store and wasn't a mall at all-more like a department store for the tourist! And they didn't have ac!!! grrr!!! It was a quick 5 minute stop as we couldn't be bothered to play games anymore. But alas, Mr Akbah didn't stop at his attempts to get us to buy something. Next was a cashmere shop and we finally lost our patience. In for about 5 mins and we just walked straight back out again. We were determined to return to Delhi soon!!! Stopped off at some tomb for a quick photo
opportunity-can't even remember the name of the tomb-will look it up later. And then back to Delhi-thank god. Bum was starting to feel numb from sitting in the car for so long.
Once in Delhi, checked back into our hotel and went in search for McD's!!! Yum Yum! We have obtained a chicken curry burger wrapper as a souvenir. Back to the hotel and we call it a day!
Good Night....tomorrow is our day of rest and then exploring Delhi some time after.
Enjoy
Chris & Tszwai
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