Jaipur 22/12/2012-24/12/2012

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Early drive to Jaipur. Beautiful clear morning, the best time to truly appreciate the multi-sensory delights of India. All families were waking along the roadside, fires burning and chai being made.



We stopped at a fruit stall and bought some fruit, similar to pear and pomegranate, a hard green fruit called Amrood.



A long busy drive endured, as we all dozed and listened to Hindi music courtesy of Vijay.



One village we passed through had the translation of 'Beautiful Village', which was fitting of its countryside.



Forty minutes from Jaipur, we turned up a lane, framed with Bourgainvilla flowers of every colour, especially peach and pink. A lovely sight to see on a December day.



At the top of the lane was a small car park where we parked and were met by a lovely friend of Vijay’s, Mohammed, who was to be our guide.



We entered the temple and were surprised by the beauty and colour of a temple that appeared to not be on the main tourist trail. The temple was narrow and as we turned into the main section we were greeted by hundreds of monkeys, some with their young. All were very tame and ate seed out of our hand and oranges from our guide. He was a very calm man who seemed to understand the monkey’s behaviour.



We strolled up the steps of the temple and passed two bathing pools where the women and men bathed separately. It felt again voyeuristic to be watching the women bath by the water, believed to be a spring directly from the Ganges so therefore a scared place. Further up the temple, nightlights were placed on leaves, as boats, and pushed out onto the water whilst prayers were said.



The monkeys entertained us for over an hour as we walked further up the mountain and sat on a wall. The guide showed the children how to encourage the monkeys to climb up their bodies and sit on their shoulders whilst being fed! Slightly scary at times....



The path, leading from the temple, led all the way to Jaipur but, keen to get to the city, we returned to our car and headed to Jaipur.



After some lunch, Vijay drove us to a fort, overlooking Jaipur, along a narrow, winding road. The driving was heart stopping at times as, despite no 'passing places', we managed to pass large coaches on a narrow road designed for 1 car.



We visited several more 'beauty' spots around Jaipur before heading to our hotel and relaxing for the rest of the day. The hotel, Hotel Konark, was a real budget, backpacker hotel but was clean and rooms were large so we were happy.





Day 2 in Jaipur started with an amazing ride on an elephant up to the Amber Fort. Alice and Claire shared one elephant, and Jerry, Hanna and Joe shared another.

The ride was a great experience as we meandered up the winding path, climbing to the fort. We entered a courtyard, where we dismounted on a wall.

The Rajput stronghold of Amber was the capital of the leading Kachchwaha Rajput clan from 1037 until 1727, when Jai Singh established his new city at Jaipur.

We wondered around the fort and discovered a narrow staircase leading to a balcony, which overlooked the main courtyard. We met 2 men playing brass instruments, similar to a trumpet, and a large kettle drum. We all had a go on the various instruments, some succeeding more than others to draw a note.

Vijay was patiently waiting for us outside the fort, chatting with the other drivers in the warm sunshine.

En-route to the centre of Jaipur we stopped at a lake with a beautiful palace on an island in the centre. This was the summer palace of the Raj. We had a brief stop admiring the beauty of the palace from afar. Lots of people were also at the lake, feeding the numerous small fish bread.

Several children surrounded us begging, their faces dirty and their hair matted. One boy followed us back to the car. Joe, despite his young age, handled these emotional challenges very well and simply smiled at the boy and handed him a sweet.

We stopped for lunch in a 'touristy' restaurant, set in lush gardens. Joe and the girls ordered pasta which was not a success as little was eaten. A bad move to order Italian food in India.

After lunch we headed out of town to visit the office of the 'India by Car' company who we had booked the driver through. The office was set on the 7th floor of an unfinished high rise block in the middle of a building site near the airport. The men building these high rise blocks also had their families with them, living on site during the work. The children happily playing amid the dirt and machinery. As we headed up to the office in the lift I could see a small girl opposite, peering over an unfinished wall from a similar height. She appeared to be alone. As a mother, I had to just look away as I feared she would fall from the building. Health and safety is not paramount in the building industry in India.

The owner of the company, Ramesh, had built his company up with hard work and a fair amount of luck. Having been a driver himself, seven years previously, Ramesh had met an American man who saw a business opportunity. India by Car was born and the company has gone from strength to strength. We settled our bill with Ramesh and again headed back to Jaipur.

We spent a quiet night in our hotel before our long drive to Jodhpur on Christmas Eve.

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