Blogs from Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, Asia - page 12

Day 13 - heading on to Jaipur- The Pink City Both Jude and I had a really good nights sleep last night, and feel so much better for t! We got up at 7.30. It was just a case of showering and checking for missed items to put in my bag last minute....... For me! For Jude it was a bit more than that. We were both laughing at the enormous job in hand for Jude! Her stuff! Jude has shopped for England!she began by collecting her stuff from around the room, then systematically rolled everything. So far, a good. It was the next bit that was amazing..... How on earth she fitted all of her items into that backpack .... Was an amazing feat. Hats off to you Judy, I would have. Never believed it ... read more

The road from Agra to Jaipur was completely in line with what we had already seen in India, namely crowdy, chaotic and full of surprises... If you compare the traffic with the traffic-rules in Europe, the first thing that comes to your mind is something like "This situation is crazy!". But after a while, you can see that there is a system in it. One of the tricks is even written on most of the trucks: "Blow Horn". Since the local drivers all have the same driving habits, they can avoid -even if it is just at the last moment- accidents. Not entirely true... in Jaipur we once saw an accident. After they both checked if their vehicles were still working, they just continued their way. When we got closer to Jaipur, we saw a change ... read more

Accommodation - Alsisar Haveli Heritage Hotel Weather - Warm, sunny, blue sky with haze 26C Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, was built in 1727 by the Rajput ruler, Jal Singh, and is known as the Pink City due to the pink/terracota-coloured walls of buildings throughout the old city. In the morning we visited the magnificent Amber Fort, the site of the ancient Rajput capital which displays Mughal-style architecture with traditional Rajput influences. What a surprise, the best kept secret of the tour so far, our transportation along the path to the fort was on Shakima, an Indian elephant!! Feeling like (but not looking like) Maharaja & Maharani we entered the inner courtyard through the majestic Sun Gate atop our noble beast. The Amber Fort was the best fort so far, protected by massive ramparts following the ... read more

I woke up at 6am, ready for the train to Jaipur from Agra. Unfortunately the train wasn't ready for me and turned up a whole 2 hours late! This perplexed the shit out of me, so I asked around in that frantically stressed-out way that commuters often do, sure I'd mucked up somehow. The most comprehensible response I got was that it's "not an important train". Turns out there's only one track, and my unimportant train had to make way for all the others. As usual in India I made another friend at the station, and imparted as much info about my life as was required in a typically strained conversation, while wishing I was still in bed. Another power nap on the train left me with just enough time to skim through my Lonely Planet, ... read more

Having successfully battled the Old City of Jaipur the previous day it was time to see what else this interesting place had to offer. Our hotel arranged for us to have a driver for the day, and he was pretty much at our mercy as to what we wanted to do and where we wanted to go. Our first stop would be Amber fort about 11 km from the Old City. Hoping for something a little more elaborate and dare I say more interesting than Jaipur’s city palace, we weren’t disappointed. Amber fort sits on top of a large hill and its presence from the road leading in and looking up is pretty impressive. Once inside, you are also treated to what seems like hundreds of rooms and alleyways in all different directions. Some of the ... read more