Day 3 Jaipur-more pink more palaces

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I wish I could say I woke up refreshed, unfortunately I woke up groggy, Just before 3am. Despite wearing ear plugs, Molly Browns snoring thundered around the room. After about half an hour and no sign of letting up, I got up and gently tapped her back. 'Pearl, I'm really sorry but your snoring is so loud' I said. I'm on my side she replied. Don't you have earplugs? I told her that yes I did have earplugs and I was wearing them, but could still hear her snoring as it is really loud.



I got back into bed and after about half an hour, slowly started to drift back to sleep when ZZZZZZZZZ the snoring started again. I put my iPod on thinking a bit of low music may drown it out, but about 3 songs in I gave up-I didn't want blaring music in my ears, but unfortunately I could still hear Old unsinkable Molly Brown. I decided to watch one of the films I'd downloaded on my iPad, and settled on Fury, the WW2 drama with Brad Pitt. 20 minutes into this and I was still laid there thinking about the irony of the film title, as it was a feeling in me that was increasing. How the hell could someone's snores be so loud I could still hear it over tank fire coming through my earphones?!



I tossed and turned and even shouted 'Pearl!' A couple of times, but to no avail. Molly Brown was indeed just as loud in sleep as she was awake, and I lay there silently wondering if I should smother her with my pillow or hers. It didn't help that her many chargers lit the room up like Blackpool and she'd gone to bed leaving the bathroom light on which invited the Rajasthani population of little flies in. I went to use the bathroom, and looked from the new wallpaper of wings to the pot of dentures smiling at me besides the sink, and I lost the will to live, and silently wished Molly Brown had gone down with the titanic. Women and children first, and all those who snore remove your life jackets and remain on board!



Time ticked on and before I knew it 6am had arrived along with the call for morning prayer. Molly Browns alarm went off and she must have hit snooze and rolled back over, so I decided to get up and shower. I was almost dressed and heading out when she woke up.

I didn't sleep so good last night she said. I didn't want to go back to sleep in case I snored again..... WHAAAAAAATTTT? Was she taking the p?! Did I snore again after the first time? She asked. I bit my tongue as I know I'm not a morning person at the best of times. Yeah, it was a little loud I replied. Oh I do snore, she said. When I stay with friends they quite often give me a nudge and I turn on my side, that usually does the trick.

She said she'd ask if there was a chance of swapping rooms with anyone, to which I replied not to worry I'm sure we'll sort something out, and headed off to be something that never happens-the first person at breakfast. I had coffee and toast, and was just finishing up when Molly Brown arrived. With her out of the room I decided to head back to see if I could close my eyes as we still had an hour and a half before we were due to leave.



I really do not mind sharing a room with complete strangers, and I get that part of these trips involves accepting the ways of others. Another part of me thought though, if you know you snore so god dammed loud, why would you put others through that? I know it requires a bit of give and take, but I wasn't prepared to give up my sleep in order for Pearl to take in all the oxygen in the room to vibrate around her epiglottis. Before we left I asked Raghu if he could look into a single room for me, even if that did mean paying the extra single supplement, and wondered if this was Old Molly's tried and tested method to get a room to herself without paying more. It was a Shame really as I'd looked forward to getting to know her more. She seemed like a nice person, if a little in your face, but the snoring sealed the deal for me.



Finally after what seemed like a day already, we set out to look at the forts and Palaces of Jaipur.

Raghu told us that as the capital of Rajasthan, it had a recorded population of around 3.5 million people, but this was actually probably around the 5-6 million mark. It was where a lot of Bollywood films took place and others such as James Bonds Octopussy, million dollar arm, best exotic marigold hotel and Batman Dark Knight were also filmed here. Celebrities came here to get married such as Liz Hurley and Katy Perry and Russell Brand, as it is classed as a romantic city. As I glanced out of the bus window to see a young boy clutching about 5 flapping chickens in each hand, whilst next to him another relieved himself by the road, I could think of more pleasant places to say 'I do'



We had a bit of history on the royal families (apparently each different region has one) and the current king in Jaipur is aged only 16. The protocol is to study at boarding school and then go to England to play polo, before returning to India. The royal family no longer has power these days but are still highly respected. We heard of past queens and princesses getting quite high in the Indian political world which seems strange given that it doesn't really seem a place that's big on gender equality and women's rights-again, so poles apart.

We visited city place built in 1799 with 956 windows which were for the woman to look out of back in the day as they were expected to remain indoors. We passed Jaipur Air Force base en route to the Amber fort, and it was strange to see recruitment posters outside that looked pretty much the same as back home. Wonder if the were recruiting dental hygienists?!

We had a jeep ride to the palace and fort instead of getting an elephant as apparently here they were a bit overworked. They did look lovely and colourful though with painted trunks.



We had a guided tour of Amber fort and learned that the king had 12 wives back in the day: one for each month, not bad eh? The views from the top were quite beautiful, and it was a really lovely sunny day.

I spent time chatting to the 2 South African guys that I hadn't really gotten to know much yet, and decided to call them Harry and Lloyd after Dumb and Dumber. This was in no way because they were dumb (or indeed dumber) but one of them had the exact same hair as Harry from the film, and given I am so bad with names, and for a bit of artistic licensing for the blog. I will refer to them as Harry and Lloyd from now on. they are so easygoing and nice to chat to, and seem to love Shakira as they are always laughing and chatting in Spanish.



After Amber fort we headed to another palace which I can't even remember the name of now, especially as we went via another palace on the way called water palace which was really beautiful and built on a man made lake. It was the summer retreat for the royals apparently. By now I was wilting as I was so tired and the sun had been on me all morning. I was glad to go for a buffet lunch at about 1pm to a hotel called Raj Mahal, which was built in 1729 by Jai Singh (the person who created Jaipur) and was later residency for the British. By now my confidence in Indian food had grown and I reasoned Raghu wouldn't take us to any dodgy eating places. I was still steering clear of the mutton or goat whatever it was but I had a little bit of chicken but mainly a lentil curry which was lush, and all for £3



We had a bit of free time this afternoon so we headed to the shops which was like running a gauntlet, you just do not get left alone. It was really my first experience of this as I haven't been to places like Tunisia or Marrakech where I've heard it's similar, but you are constantly being asked 'you like? Come in my shop. You're friends are in here, I give you everything, what do you want....etc etc. it was tiring and I swear they have the best hearing as one of the girls Stephanie bought some bracelets and I said to her outside of the shop, 'oh they're nice bracelets' and within seconds a boy was there 'bracelets ma'am, you want bracelets?'

I did manage to buy 2 pairs of shoes and Rajasthani slippers for £5, so even if they do fall apart by the end of the trip it's not so bad. We got a tuk tuk back to the hotel which was again, another crazy journey, but we arrived in 1 piece.

I spent the rest of the afternoon by the hotel pool just reading and relaxing in the sun. I wasn't too hungry after the curry lunch so just had a coffee and a cheese toastie for a snack, and chatted with Shakira about all her shopping. She really does love all the glitter and jewellery out here and said if she can't afford to eat on week 2 at least she'll be looking good. She's a great girl, she really makes me laugh. I headed back to the room just after 6.

I had a shower and washed my hair, and called Daryl as I was missing not hearing his voice. I actually wasn't expecting him to answer as he was at work so was going to leave a message. Thankfully he picked up, and we chatted for 5 minutes before I told him it was costing a bomb and I am still a tight northerner you know!

I settled down in bed to watch the remainder of the film Fury and hopefully get an earlier nights sleep. I'd. It long dozed off when Molly Brown came crashing in. She turned one light on then off. Then another. Then off, and then shouted 'Emma, Emma, I'm gonna have to turn all these lights on' I just pretended to be asleep, otherwise I'd probably end up snapping. She was rustling about for ages then I heard the wheels on her case across the floor, and she shouted 'this door needs locking' and off she went. Yeeeeeehaaaa! I thought to myself. No snoring tonight. I tiptoed across and locked the door and Molly Brown out of the room forever and practically somersaulted into bed, I was so happy. I read for a bit, before finally nodding back off to an unbroken sleep. I can stick all the honking outside, but not conking inside. I was alone in my palace bed, it was bliss.



Ps- Things to add to the list of what happens at the roadside: snake charming and men having a shave, you wouldn't get that in your high street back home!

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