Jaipur "the pink city"

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Had to leave Agra first thing in the morning at 5am on the train which was not a good expierence after the bruskies the night before. Managed to get up and get to the train station for our 6.15am train. At half 7 we were wondering if we were in the right station. At by 10 am were a bit pissed to say the least. We were afraid to get breakie cos they kept giving us the 20 minutes bullshit. Then an Indian guy came over and said it will be here at about 12.25 dont mind them, its always late. After considering and rejecting the idea of killing the station master we got some breakfast and at exactly 12.25 the train arrived. At least the monkeys on the platform were entertaining!!

Only a 3 hour train ride to Jaipur which was handy enough and we checked into the heavenly Pearl Palace. It had hotel room like back home, a great restaurant and nice staff - all for a fiver each!! Decided to nothing for the day after our 3 come 10 hour journey.

The next day we caught a rickshaw the the gate of the pink city. Its called the pink city cos all the walls in the city are painted in a light red colour(makes sense!!). Its also the law that they stay that colour and you get fined if you paint it another but its a good idea. We were really impressed with the place which had a mixture of cool markets and nice people. We visited the City Palace which was nice but i wont bother with the blah blah history bit.

Same old, same old that night and we got some guaranteed beer in the hotel and took it easy(theres no other option).

Next day we met a nice rickshaw driver named Raj. He agreed to bring us to a few places but first we had to pick up our cinema tickets as the Indian guide said you have to go to the cinema here. Went around a few sites which were ok. At one of the sites there was elephant rides available which i would have loved to do. The chain with spikes on it around the elephants legs and the fact it was dancing in the one spot(obviously there for hours!!) cut that idea out. Dont think India is the place to be encouraging people to own animals(and the guide book concurs).

On the mention of donating to charity our guide Raj brought us to a "co-operative" for poor children. The guy there gave us a big speech on Karma and honesty(guilt trip) and then proceeded to rip us off. The children were convienently not working that day cos of Ramadan. We felt like thicks after!!!

That night we went to see our bollywood movie. Dont know what it was called and it had no sub titles but it was worth it none the less. The cinema was surreal. It a massive ultra modern 1500 seater with balconies and comfy seats.Better than any cinema in ireland. Such a contrast to the trash strewn streets outside. Guess thats what happens when theres no alchohol and no girlfriends. The film was actually well made aswell and was worth staying for the crowd going crazy shouting and screaming everytime the star appeared or anyone said anything dramatic. There was even a scene with a riot in a mcdonalds when the womens national hockey team viciously battered some blokes who whistled at them. Of course the team went on to win the world cup(all on a diet of mcdonalds!!).

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Comments

[Andy]

Spoiler
Niall!!!!! why did you have to ruin the end of that film for us?

[nialljenkins]

sorry man, sure its out on Betamax over here soon, ill send you a copy