Blogs from Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, Asia - page 75

Well helloo there everyone! Just in case you all thought we'd disappeared into the ether, we've finally found a computer with t'internet!!! Believe me this is harder than you might think in India...especially as we've been on a bus and tramping round fairly remote villages for the last few days!!! But hey - we got here ok and began our travels in Delhi. Right...so Delhi is the most crowded busy, noisy and filthy place ive ever seen! Its an amzing mixture of ultra modern and almost medieval. It smells of wee though. Everyone just pees in the street. And the hotel stank of mothballs...there were even mothballs in the sink. God knows why... So before we'd even been in Delhi for an hour we'd already been whisked off sightseeing, visiting a hindu temple and sikh gurdwara ... read more

Today we woke up with the sun beaming down over the Jal Mahal outside our window and had a wonderful buffet breakfast at the hotel. At 10pm, our driver picked us up and brought us to Amber Fort. In the past, most people rode elephants to the top of the fort. When we arrived, elephants painted in colorful designs waited to take people to the top. However, due to recent events, the number of times an elephant can climb to the top has been limited. We also had been reading about the plight of the Amber elephants and how they are overworked here. So we decided we would walk to the top. It was an easy walk, especially compared to the fort at Bundi. Many hawkers stopped us along the way, but all were easily dissuaded ... read more

Geo: 19.048, 73.0828On January 4th, 2006, we boarded our first of many Indian Railway trains. As we rushed on, heaved our bulky bags under the seat and chained them so they wouldn't walk off during the night, we thought, are we getting too old to do this? We were in the 3-AC compartment. That means, 3-tier, air-conditioned or 6 people to one compartment where the seats transform into 3 bunks on each side of the compartment for bedtime. That doesn't count the two other beds along the long side of the train. Our train left at 7pm and around an hour later, the "bed roll attendant," as noted on his uniform, came through to issue us our clean sheets, blanket, towel and pillows for the night. We settled in and met our neighbors - all businessmen ... read more

I’d hoped to update my blog this morning but, just as we arrived at the cybercafé, it was this district’s turn for its daily two-hour power cut. We could have gone in search of another café in a neighbouring district which might have had power but thought better of it and went to find somewhere to change some travellers’ cheques instead. The observant among you will note that my earlier blogs have since been updated with photos (on my return home!). We said our thanks and goodbyes to Jai Singh when he dropped us off at the railway station in good time for our train to Mumbai (Bombay), leaving just after 14.00. He had proved to be a good and reliable driver - I can certainly recommend him to anyone planning to hire a car in ... read more

First morning in Jaipur and the hotel we found happens to be very nice and clean. My stomach seems to have settled and I devoured eggs and toast for breakfast on our balcony. The weather is really nice when the sun is out so for the most part we're wearing summer clothes but after sun-down, the temperature drops fairly significantly. So while I'm wearing a tee-shirt and linen pants during the day, at night (to bed), I'm wearing socks, my linen pants under my cargos, an undershirt, t-shirt, long-sleeve tee and my fleece along with the provided wool blanket. As you might guessed, there is no heat in buildings. And since they are made mostly from marble to retain cold (for the harsh summer), it ends up being exceptionally cold. We spent the day in the ... read more