Plane landed into a very quite airport and we were met by a man holding a sign for a "Miss Jackson" which we took to mean Miss Jenkins and followed to his aged but functional (despite the loudly whining differential) 4x4. Given the late hour traffic was very reasonable and shortly after arrived at our hotel, The Madhuban. This appeared to us as quite dark and very quiet which was a delightful prospect for a decent nights sleep.
Just in case our bodies were not confused enough, the temperature was approx 15 degrees lower than Mumbai. This hotel was most agreeable with a hot and cold shower (something I shall never take for granted ever again!) decent beds, Wi-Fi and air-con.
The night porter who we later discovered actually sleeps under the reception desk didn't say a lot but was always pleasant. We were awoken early morning by a thunderstorm we enjoyed a nice breakfast and decided to go for a stroll to the train station as tours of Jaipur were advertised to depart from here! This was a blatant lie and so was the somewhat childish map providing the distance unless of course it was dictated by a pigeon flying directly. This made a lot of sense as every tuk-tuk that passed and offered us a lift seemed to laugh when we refused their persistent attempts to bring us "wherever you want to go sir". We also had the misfortune of witnessing many public urinations which if nothing else at least confirmed what the odour was. Having quickly realised the only tour we were likely to get at the station was not going to be a pleasant one we carried on walking. After about 2 hours (no joke) we tracked the Pink City (now now people reign in those dirty minds), this was impressive although did leave me pondering how many years ago it got its name.
Day 2 In Jaipur
We booked a driver for the day as walking to the sights was just not going to be feasible. Driver arrived on time in a micro car (when o when will we have a proper car!)
We first went to City Palace passing through the Pink City again. The palace was big and had varying exhibits dotted about inside including Garment and Armoury exhibions. The Garments were interesting with an amazing level of detail given the fact that they were hundreds of years old. The Armoury was full of swords, blades and other seriously gruesome ways to die (photos were not permitted in here obviously). We then saw the largest silver jugs in the world according to the Guinness book of records, pretty impressive as they melted 14,000 silver coins for each one.
It was then enroute to the Amber fort that our "comedian" of a taxi driver started to grate on me but anyway the Amber Fort is huge and sitting atop a mountain provided some very impressive views all round. As with all attractions we had many offers of guides around the fort as "what we understand about anything" without their expert/extortionate experience. Once inside we had a close encounter with an elephant who did not seem overly impressed with his day job; carrying lazy, obese foreigners up the considerable hill incline to the entrance. The hazy sunshine seemed to add to the views with the insanely symmetrical gardens appearing to have risen from the lake below.
On leaving the fort the taxi driver seemed to think that the longer he delayed the more money he would get and became increasingly brave with his comments and genuinely irritating laugh. We took a number of detours and our car seemed incapable of any more than 20mph even having time to stop for a pee pee and checking that we understood what this would mean. Even Linda`s advice of imminent vomiting didn't expedite our arrival. He did not receive any extra money or a tip or a goodbye as one felt leaving him with his horrific teeth reward enough.
A nice coffee in the hotel gardens preceded another thunderstorm with hail stones the size of golf balls denting cars and setting of every alarm within earshot. Pretty impressive lightning too.
As we knew we could have a beer with dinner we returned to the Peacock.
Alarms set for 4:30am for our 6am train to Delhi.
Just in case our bodies were not confused enough, the temperature was approx 15 degrees lower than Mumbai. This hotel was most agreeable with a hot and cold shower (something I shall never take for granted ever again!) decent beds, Wi-Fi and air-con.
The night porter who we later discovered actually sleeps under the reception desk didn't say a lot but was always pleasant. We were awoken early morning by a thunderstorm we enjoyed a nice breakfast and decided to go for a stroll to the train station as tours of Jaipur were advertised to depart from here! This was a blatant lie and so was the somewhat childish map providing the distance unless of course it was dictated by a pigeon flying directly. This made a lot of sense as every tuk-tuk that passed and offered us a lift seemed to laugh when we refused their persistent attempts to bring us "wherever you want to go sir". We also had the misfortune of witnessing many public urinations which if nothing else at least confirmed what the odour was. Having quickly realised the only tour we were likely to get at the station was not going to be a pleasant one we carried on walking. After about 2 hours (no joke) we tracked the Pink City (now now people reign in those dirty minds), this was impressive although did leave me pondering how many years ago it got its name.
We then found a recommended rooftop restaurant (Peacock) on a hotel nearby (Hotel Pearl Palace) to ours that served beer! Even as someone who does not drink beer I can safely say that was the nicest beer ever. Oh yes we also had a delicious meal.
Pink City Junction: Note the cows roaming around and the guy standing in the middle of the junction with his bags waiting for a bus
Day 2 In Jaipur
We booked a driver for the day as walking to the sights was just not going to be feasible. Driver arrived on time in a micro car (when o when will we have a proper car!)
We first went to City Palace passing through the Pink City again. The palace was big and had varying exhibits dotted about inside including Garment and Armoury exhibions. The Garments were interesting with an amazing level of detail given the fact that they were hundreds of years old. The Armoury was full of swords, blades and other seriously gruesome ways to die (photos were not permitted in here obviously). We then saw the largest silver jugs in the world according to the Guinness book of records, pretty impressive as they melted 14,000 silver coins for each one.
City Palace Jaipur
City Palace Jaipur
It was then enroute to the Amber fort that our "comedian" of a taxi driver started to grate on me but anyway the Amber Fort is huge and sitting atop a mountain provided some very impressive views all round. As with all attractions we had many offers of guides around the fort as "what we understand about anything" without their expert/extortionate experience. Once inside we had a close encounter with an elephant who did not seem overly impressed with his day job; carrying lazy, obese foreigners up the considerable hill incline to the entrance. The hazy sunshine seemed to add to the views with the insanely symmetrical gardens appearing to have risen from the lake below.
Views from the Fort
On leaving the fort the taxi driver seemed to think that the longer he delayed the more money he would get and became increasingly brave with his comments and genuinely irritating laugh. We took a number of detours and our car seemed incapable of any more than 20mph even having time to stop for a pee pee and checking that we understood what this would mean. Even Linda`s advice of imminent vomiting didn't expedite our arrival. He did not receive any extra money or a tip or a goodbye as one felt leaving him with his horrific teeth reward enough.
A nice coffee in the hotel gardens preceded another thunderstorm with hail stones the size of golf balls denting cars and setting of every alarm within earshot. Pretty impressive lightning too.
As we knew we could have a beer with dinner we returned to the Peacock.
Alarms set for 4:30am for our 6am train to Delhi.
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