Tranquil Jaipur.

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Getting the train tickets to Jaipur were no problem at all... one queue and five minutes later and we were making our way to the platform. There was a surprising amount of westerners on our platform and it didn't take long to get chatting to a couple who informed us that the journey was seventeen hours long so we both found a corner to bed in to. As i got comfy on a luggage rack, the train began to fill almost to its limit. Three or four stops later and the maximum capacity had been totally forgotten about with five people to each group of three seats and four to every luggage rack plus the people sleeping in the aisles with mice running over them and people wedge into almost everywhere you can a person. With night falling over the train we continued to shudder down the track in the dark with only the locomotives horn going constantly to tell the people on the track to stay clear. Perched up on the rack with me was a group of Indian guys who spoke some English and were very friendly with their food, sweets, chai and music which went on for most of the seventeen hour journey. Daylight now and we're crawling ever closer to the end of the line. I blink and suddenly I'm being woken up by a guy sweeping the now empty train sat at Jaipur station. I sit up, rub my eyes and i notice the torrential rain outside, Not what i would have expected in the desert but apparently it had been raining for four days at this point.

We gathered our bits, left the train and got situated on the platform preparing ourselves for the Tout Derby and Operation Shithole. Upon leaving the station the barrage began with whole gangs of Indian guys running at us, which in itself is quite intimidating, to try and get us in their rickshaws but we've formulated a plan... Any rickshaw driver that comes up to us and follows us down the street, we completely ignore but anywhere that there is a... almost a rank of sorts... we walk up and down the rank and go for the driver who doesn't chase. The least pushy. ALWAYS get a price before you get in!! our first rickshaw in Jaipur took us a couple of hundred yards down the street and then ask for one hundred rupees! So i obliged, slap it in his hand, told him i hoped he choked on it and then raced to stop him driving off with our bags!! Admittedly he was a little confused as we asked him to stop about half way through the journey but that doesn't excuse the blatant rip off of those light skinned cash machines!

Our hotel in Jaipur was really nice. The guys were really friendly and greeted us with lots of smiles every time we entered in or out of the place. The only problem was that we were right on a main road and next to a bus depot so as you can guess the noise was... peaceful(for a motorway at rush hour). After general shopping and such, we went for some food and then to an internet cafe to do a little surfing. Displayed in the internet cafe were a lot of chillums and pipes of many different sorts so i pulled the owner aside and asked if he had anything to go in any of his wares, with a wink and a "you come thirty minutes, i have" the plan was made and soon enough i was relaxing again in my hotel room once more.

After a few days we decided to go on a sight seeing tour of the city and do the tourist thing. Some beautiful sights before us and some brain numbing Indian paperwork but all in all it was a few hundred rupees well spent. As is customary here, every single tour has to include the odd 'government' emporium or 'cooperative' shop but it seemed to split the day up a little. Walking back to the hotel we met a couple of Indian guys with really good English and sat and had a chai with them. As we finished our chai, they invited us to go for a beer which we politely accepted. The time came and we were led to a car which immediately set alarm bells ringing in my head but we'd accepted to go for one beer so we entered the vehicle. five or ten minutes later we pulled up to the most expensive bar we'd been in anywhere! It wasn't so much a bar, more a posh nightclub with no one in! Feeling even more uncomfortable every minute we drank our drinks and made our excuses at which point one of the guys vanished and the other got quite offended and started raising his voice so we just turned and left. Jilly wanted to pay for our beers so went to find the man until he told her about one thousand rupee surcharges and... at which point she said 'f*ck that' and we walked out.

So with Jaipur done and dusted, we thanked our friendly hosts and made our way to the train station with Pushkar in our sights. Goodnight Jaipur! Thanks for the Insomnia!

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