jaipur aint flamming cheap!

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well our train journey here didnt get off to the best start to say the least. we got to the train station a 5:45 in the morning and found that the train was running half an hour late. so we sat in the rat infested train station till 7:20 (ended up being over an hour late) but we had alot of monkeys to entertain us in this time. when finally on the train our seats had been taken adn they refused to give them up. i was stuck with a smelly tabacco chewing man with no shoes who kept spitting. we eneded up getting our seats in the end though and the journey got better so we arrived in jaipur and paid 20rps to get to our hotel that is clean and friendly but it seemed a bit out of the way.

so we put our bags away and headed up to the rooftop restaurant for a spot of food but when we looked at the menu it was very expensive so we decided to go and have a look around the city and find one of the places recommended by lonely planet, bad idea! jaipur is relatively expensive and we ended up just having our same old jeera aloo being the cheapest on the menu in a little restaurant called "Handi'. feeling very fed up and confused at the lack of backpackers we headed back to the hotel for the evening and ate there as this was the cheapest place as it turned out.

We had arranged with our rickshaw driver to take us for a tour of the city for 400rps the next day and at 10 we were off to the monkey temple. which was a massive trek. we didnt bother going all the way to the top as half way up a pick up truck stopped near us to feed all the monkeys which was really cute to see them all eating. There were so many monkeys everywhere we didnt see much point in the trek up to the top in the rapidly rising heat. we then visited the 'amber fort' which is really something special. it was surrounded by rolling hills but not much greenery as you can probably imagine. the views were spectacular and the fort itself was amazing with intricate patterns on the ceilings and walls. however this is where i started to feel not very well (most probably provoked by the very bad driving of our rickshaw driver who didnt slow down for anything) and the dire state of indian toilets didnt help. there were lots of passages and different rooms. me and adam trying to save money and our 'we can do it ourselves' attitude ended in us diverting from the main route and getting very lost in the maze of passages and were found by a little indian man who spoke no english, thinking he knew where he was going we followed, however 10 minutes of following him proved that he also had no clue where he was going. we got out in the end though down to adams navigational skills, i have a feeling it was my poor ones that led us to get lost in the forst place. on the way down from the amber fort you had to climb through these gates that you have to duck to go through... guess who didnt duck! so even now i still have a slight bump on the front of my head, and am still a bit embarrased as everyone was already staring at me. along with my cries of 'ow ow ow'. indian people everywhere were copying me by clutching there forehead aswell and saying the same. adam laughed. back in the rickshaw we went over a huge bump i went flying in the air and hit my head again. not too happy by this point but i could only laugh.

it became apparent that there was something going on in the city as people were drving through the streets with flags and banners. turned out it was local elections, this meant that we couldnt go in to the 'pink city' (where the elections were being held) but we did visit the 'city palace' but we had both had enough by this time and decided it was time to go home, and i wasnt really feeling any better. however our rickshaw driver had other plans to get his commision coupon before so we had to go and look round a cloth factory, not exactly what we wanted to do but there we go.

we had lunch in the hotel again and said we would go bk to handis for dinner. we went on a hunt for all the othe backpackers before dinner by goingon a long walk... turns out there arnt any! there isnt really a specific backpakcing area like there has been in all the other places. so we went for dinner and decided that considering how my tummy was no better that i cudnt get on a train to udaipur. so we got a refund on the trains and booked to fly to goa on monday morning.

lie in this morning (sunday) and a breakfast of eggs in the hotel. adam said if i felt up to it the 'pink city' was something not really to be missed so after a few games of cards we headed off to the pink city which was exactly how i thought jaipur would be. all the shops sold the amazing jaipur cloths, that everyone talked about, and the food stalls smelled incredible. it was very bizzare to see a hectic main road and then an elephant or a camel going along aswell. i went a bit mad with buying things but the pashminas are so nice and you dont see them this cheap in england. adam had to practically drag me bk to the hotel. so tonight is our last night in jaipur and were going to go back to 'handi' restaurant as the tandoori is said to be highly recommended and it did look good last time we were there with white people eating it aswell, so thats always a good sign.

hopefully soon we will be able to get some pictures up as there are some brilliant ones but we will have to see.

speak soon from goa. you can probably imagine how excited adam is about this. im just hoping my tummy gets better before the flight.

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Comments

[Charlie]

Poor Bumpy Claire!!! Get better soon Sweetie.