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Published: June 14th 2017
Geo: 26.8616, 75.6958
Having been pretty much hotel bound in Dehli, due to the contents of my guts not staying in me longer than a few hours, I was not sorry to see the back of it. Move onward and upwards so to speak…. Onto Jaipur, location for 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' and one of the main attractions on the tourist routes of the north. Famed for it's Amber Temple and Pink City, there was more than enough to do for those with the energy, and for those (me!!!) sadly lacking this, enough to do in small doses. Just a pitty we were only there for a day and an evening.
The evening of our arrival, we pulled up outside, what can only be described as a 'posh hotel'….. well by our standards anyway! The Sunder Palace Guest House was a beautifully furnished little establishment, with a large lobby, with plenty of space to sit down for a chat and a chill. Upstairs, there was a small rooftop terrace restaurant, with views of the city and big comfy chairs. We had somehow hit the jackpot on a budget! 😊
On arrival, I was shattered, although was pretty pleased with myself for keeping down
a packet of salt and vinegar crisps (left over from Turkey…. Thanks Emily xxx) and a banana! What excitement! I went for a lie down…. Woke up 3 hours later…. I guessed that evening it probably wasn't the best idea to go out for an adventure! It however was….. dinner time…. Dare I, dare I not??? I decided to join the gang on the roof (once out of my post heavy sleep daze!) to see if I could stomach something in public (less likely to think about it if in public!). To my delight there was 'jacket potato with baked beans' on the menu…. Sorted! Surely that would stay put and with some protein in there to boot, surely would help the situation! The certainly weren't no Heinz, but they were good enough. It all went in, and stayed in! ‘oh happy days!'
After swapping rooms, due to the extreme temperature that ours seemed to be at compared to the rest of the hotel, I had a beautiful, undisturbed nights sleep, and awoke ready to tackle as much of the city as I could without keeling over! The Amber Fort was a fair old distance from the hotel, even
by Tuk Tuk, and so Jay (my babysitter for the day!) and myself decided it was best to tackle the closer sights, just in case my stomach decided to turn against me again!
The Wind Palace (Hawa Mahal to give it its correct name!) in the ‘Pink City' was our destination, although our driver did his very best to sell his services for the day, for a small (astronomic!) fee of course! It is a stunning building, constructed from pink/red sandstone, designed as part of the old palace, with nearly 1000 small windows, so the ladies of the court could spy on the goings on of the city below, without being seen themselves. The shell that is left is truly spectacular, and after the sickness wave I had come over me for about 30 mins, we managed to see the whole 5 floors and take some awesome pictures, as the stone stood out against the azure sky.
We didn't really have a plan of where to go after this, so just started to wander… we were beckoned into a very small, yet beautiful Hindu temple, where the guy in there just wanted his photo taken. He was a funny little man,
but a sweet one all the same! We dutifully took his address to send him the photos… whether this will realistically happen is another matter! He did like my sprite too…. Cheeky sod…. Drank half of it in one go!
As we meandered around the back of The Wind Palace, to take a photo of the most famous side (its backside!!), we were approached by a very ‘friendly' Indian, who ended his speech with a ‘can I show you my shop!' …. The way I was feeling ‘why the hell not'!!! we were lead to a little shop, with material stacked to the roof! We were ushered to sit down…. It was air conditioned… we obliged! So many different products were dragged out of the shelves, to attempt to part us with our money! By the end, I had a little pile of 4 items, including a beautiful green sari, which I had been dressed in moments before. I dared to ask, what the price was….. my face would have made a perfect picture…. For my sari, 2 silk tops and a pair of cheapish trousers …. US$120. There was no way I could afford to spend that kind of money
on such few things! I said the most I could afford was $40 maximum. I refused to budge… played the whole ‘going travelling for 2 years… $50 a week for everything blah blah blah' and eventually he folded!!! I was amazed myself… how much profit he would have got out of someone who paid ‘full price' for it! My god! But all of that for £30 ish I was happy! As soon as we walked out, there was the next ‘friendly Indian' with much better deals than next door! Of course! This was the last one we were going to be dragged into…or so we thought! I think, to be honest, they just wanted to dress us up like dolls and have photos with us, but again we obliged!
Once we had escaped the ‘friendliness', we attempted to find the main palace of the old town…. As we wandered, the heat of the day was beginning to tell its toll, and after discovering it would cost a lot to enter the palace, we sort refuge in the shade of the square… we were target again for another… guess what… friendly Indian!! LOL
This man was the driver of ‘The Helicopter', a
rickshaw that had been modernised with an engine. He had been in the paper (showed us his laminated copy of the article!) and was apparently famous throughout Jaipur. He offered to take us for an hour ride, around the sites that were un-walkable from where we were, for 40IRS (50p)! it was so hot, we didn't mind being driven around for an hour for that little a money! We were taken to the Water Palace which is only photographable now, unless you swim to it! And then on to see the elephants that take people up to The Amber Fort in the mornings, when it is not to hot and then retire to the shade for the heat of the day. They were so beautiful, although did not appreciate seeing them chained so much. Such soulful, wizened eyes. I could have stayed there for hours, but time was getting on, and ‘The Helicopter' driver still had all of the shops to take us to that he clearly claims commission from. To a point, we didn't mind, as each shop we had a little demo of how things were made/printed/dyed and were given free cold drinks! We had nowhere desperate to
be, so why the hell not! The shop I came closest to spending a fortune in was another material shop, this time not on clothes, but on bedspreads/duvet sets. They were amazing, I could have had about 10 sets, but the whole transport issue and the fact I am not going to be home in quite some time put me off! Next time I am India, I will spend a fortune instead!
Once returned safe and sound to our lovely little guest house, it was time to chill out on the rooftop (in the rain, which was stunningly refreshing!), eat another baked potato…. This time with beans and cheese – my diet finally becoming more varied… and then recover from my 6 hour shopping excursion…. I think I am on the mend! 😊
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