Blogs from Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, Asia

You can add snake charming to a resume right? Cause I've got this stuff down people! The cobra was quite nice and let me pet him. No worries though, no venom.....I think.... read more

Today was 115 F and we spend an wonderful day touring Jaipur. Rather than having our breakfast at the Rambaugh Palace, we were off to see the many sightseeing spots in the city. After driving through the city gates we realized why this is called the Pink City. Duhhhhh.... everything is pink... all of the facades are required to be finished in Pink. First top was a place called Dera Amer which is known as the elephant polo field. Apparently while the men played polo on horses... the women played a slower game on elephants. We first had breakfast with the elephants.... We fed them banannas and we had a full buffet breakfast. After that it was time for the elephant safari... two to an elephant.. ours was named Lela... It was quite an experience.... more ... read more

It has been a while since checking in. Think that i last wrote getting to Udaipor and falling asleep. Before I forgot.. and just in case i didn't mention it ..... it is very hot here. Today (Wednesday) it hit 114 F..... but more about that later. In Udaipor we are staying on the fabulous Taj Lake Palace hotel. It is situated on an island in Lake Pichola and the only way to get to it is with a boat shuttle. This is the only hotel right on (or in) the lake. It was a summer palace for the Maharana of Udaipor (yes i said Maharana not Maharaja).... the Maharajas are lords of their locality (more about that in Jaipor) and the Maharana is a lord and a warrior. The current Maharana is the 76th generation ... read more

Yesterday was a very long day. We had breakfast early in Udaipur and then got on our bus for what turned out to be an almost 8 hour trip to Jaipur. Temperature was very hot (as per usual) but it is the only way to get between the two cities. We really got to know our guide Vishtal quite well while traveling. I think that he is the best guide that I have ever had in any of our trips. He is extraordinarily intelligent and clear and has a passion about India which just feels good to us. He has told us a great deal about Hinduism and the many different gods that Hindus worship... i guess we call them sects. There are so many stories about the different temples that we have seen and the ... read more

The bus journey between Pushkar and Jaipur was an easy 3.5 hour trip. The bus pulled in to the front of the hotel, loaded our luggage, and we were underway. It was fairly modern and clean and we were the only passengers on board at first, although we did the usual pick up/drop off along the way. Much to my surprise, we used an expressway for the entire trip, except for a couple of dusty diversions into towns to pick up passengers. So, I reached Hotel Palms in Jaipur not feeling too shattered. The bus dropped us right outside the hotel, which was a bonus. Things were looking up, I thought, when we entered the foyer. Air conditioning, comfortable leather look seating and a lift! No extra charges for air conditioning or wifi, a definate improvement. ... read more

Greetings from the beautiful, gentle world of elephants! We spent approximately five hours today interacting with these peaceful and magnificent creatures. On arrival, we were introduced to our elephant, Callibelly, who we would be spending the next five hours with. We were told that elephants are very sensitive animals and pick up on our energy (similar to dogs) and so we must remain very calm when near them. Their eyesight is not particularly good, so they depend mainly on smell to navigate their way through life. So we were also asked to stand close to the elephants, speak to them reassuringly, calmly and not convey any anxiety. Again, so similar to interactions with dogs(!) Elephants are pack/herding animals and are thus very sociable creatures, so dont like to be alone... We were also surprised to find ... read more

We were a little apprehensive initially about our five hour train journey... We had heard some horror stories: delayed trains for hours and hours on end and complete chaos at the stations. But, us usual, we were pleasantly surprised at the (eventual) simplicity of it all. Firstly, the sheer size of the place alone was enough to make anyone a little nervous. Crowded? Yes - but chaotic? Not particularly. Once again we appeared to be the only white people amongst a sea of Indian faces, hence understandably a lot of stares. But we're quite accustomed to this now. Jen had a little encounter with a squat toilet, after accidently wondering into the men's toilets. "NO NO NO MA'AM!!!" ... Good start. Fortunately we were able to find an English speaking man to ask which platform we ... read more