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Published: January 11th 2010
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Next stop Diu - oh sorry Jaipur
Courtesy of IRTC we found ourselves unable to get a berth on the train to Ahmedabad on the way to Diu. Remaining cool, calm and collected we got to experience the wonders of a luxury bus to Jaipur. Visions of comfy sleeper seats and inside toilet faded as the tuk-tuk pulled up outside the bus. Grumpily I complained that this beaten up, held together with sellotape, grubby bus was not what I called luxury. So grumpy was I that I forgot to take a photos of yet another common mode of transport in this varied country. Ah well, despite amazingly uncomfortable seats we were delivered safely into Jaipur and the hands of a babbling tuk-tuk driver Bablu who ferried us to the best value ever hotel called the Sunder Palace. I had died and gone to heaven! Heaven with beautiful Rajasthan floral painted ceilings, seat cushions and mood lighting. A heaven with a wonderful hot shower and a bidet type contraption (of which you have heard more), a heaven with floors you could eat off and wi fi internet! Heaven comes to the righteous so it was with a heavy heart that we
had to find another hotel as they were completely full for the next few days we wished to stay.
Seven hotels later, eight and Graeme would have gone on strike, I declared myself satisfied and we settled in to the Sijjar Niwas, a heritage haveli, and resigned ourselves to being carted around to all the sights by Bablu. Bablu, a confessed illiterate, with a better grasp of English than many a politician, he cracked jokes in Australian, and laughed with us and at us for the next four days. He and his friend Waseem were models of the new Indian entrepeneurs. Waseem, educated, looking every inch a college boy, was using Bablu's leverage with his uncle to drive a tuk-tuk. Two tuk-tuks, two charmers, and a refreshing candour created a desire for these two to succeed. Graeme gave them business lessons. I offered translations. Somehow I seem to speak better Indian English! We met other satisfied customers and on strange happenstance were able to put Rachel and David (fellow travellers from way back in the piece) in touch with the best value in town. Mind you, bear in mind that these lovely boys make their money from commissions from
A view on life
The harem viewed the world through these tiny peepholes textile and carpet factories, paper and tea sellers. Bablu certainly made his monthly earnings from me! I promised I would put in their contact on the offchance that any of you readers might find yourself in Jaipur and need a good belly laugh. 09928333131. We managed to help convince two Australian girls that their best chance of an honest ride was with these two as they dropped us off at the train station on our way down to Ahmedabad.
What more of Jaipur? A feeling that we had arrived in yet another country. An ordered capital. More free of litter and encroachment than other cities we had visited. its wide streets, obedience to traffic signals, cleanly swept station and platforms with train numbers and carriage indicators implied that this state had a stronger economy, less corrupt politicians or an exceedingly generous Maharaja. The opulence of the architecture, the luminosity of the decoration and an obvious pride in the ancestral history was evident throughout. We visited wonders small and large, quiet and busy, seemingly run with more efficiency than we had hitherto seen. Strolling back down from impressive Jaigarh Fort, passing the wondrous Amber Fort and the saffron gardens of
Kesar Kyari Bagh, we were happy at being less hassled if more whistled at by imperious guards.
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RENanDREW
Ren & Andrew
Marble screens...
I loved watching the light play through these screens...I want one at home! ;)