Hyper Jaipur

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After a long, exhausting and sweaty wait in Agra train station, which can best be described as a slum. We boarded our 3rd class AC carriage to Jaipur (5 hours away) we weren't expecting much but maybe not the hanging out the door or on the roof (local tickets) and were pleasantly surprised to find a carriage with AC so cold we had to put on sleeves and cover our legs and a sleeping bunk! Irish rail could learn a thing or two!

Arriving into Jaipur at 11:30 we were a little concerned as we had nowhere booked to stay...we needn't have been. A fight nearly broke out on the platform between two auto rickshaw drivers, we eventually decided on Ali and were glad when the others skulked off. He brought us to Jaipur Inn which had rooms free and to our glee was spotlessly clean and has great facilities....hence we have been here 3 nights!

Jaipur is our first stop in Rajasthan (meaning the land of the kings). We have viewed 5 palaces/forts and probably could view another 5 if we so wished...after a while splendid and all as they are one begins to look like another. The highlights included the elephants at Amber fort which you can hire to carry you to the top (however we heard they were badly treated and suffering due to the ignorance of their carers so opted for a photo instead), a face off between a guard and a large monkey which even had the Indians scampering for cover, the monkey beared his big white teeth and I don't think anyone was going to take him on! Ed has faced his fear of heights admirably...to the Tiger fort we travelled by rickshaw up what can only be described as a cartoon road winding back and forth along a vertical slope.

We also visited the fantastic Hawa Mahal (Palace of winds), built by the Maharaja for his wives so in the times of strict purdah they could view the city without being seen. The Maharaja Jai Singh was a formidable man, with 28 wives and several concubines he was also at the fore in astronomy, warfare and commerce to not to mention his beloved polo. He built 5 observatories throughout India, the one in Jaipur (filled with oddly shaped scultures) is still used today for reading the stars and the skies and by us to hide from the midday sun!

Our last excursion was to a school for orphaned children sponsored by Unicef...Ladli! They make jewelery and after being harangued by traders at every turn so far on our trip, we felt this would be a far more worthwhile use of our money! We were greeted at the centre by a kind lady who was in charge of the project and she explained to us how Ladli worked. We visited the children, firstly the boy's hostel followed by the girls hostel. We bought fine home-made jewllery from the boys and the girls. It is a very impressive organization an without going into to much details it only costs 1 dollar a day to keep a child there. You can visit the website on
http://www.i-indiaonline.com/prog_ladli.htm

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