Jaipur – The Pink City

Day 1 – This Beard has to Go!!

We left Udaipur early in the morning (Babu had managed to repair his rear bumper from previous accident) and headed for Jaipur, another 7 hour drive which we were not looking forward to.

Happily there were no break-downs or accidents on this leg, but Babu still did  not have any intention of speaking to Shelley unless he really had too, only 7 hours of erratic driving (which includes taking his hands off the wheel and praying whenever he passed anything remotely religious!).

Jaipur is named ‘The Pink City’ because the buildings have a uniform pink colour for no other reason than to camouflage the poor quality materials from which they were originally constructed.

We arrived late in the day and checked into our hotel which was quite nice and after the long journey we went for a beer on the roof terrace (sounds better than it was).  There was a chirpy barman up there that showed us how to remove beer caps by firing them off with the aid of a spoon (So now I’ve learnt a new skill on my travels!!). 

All was going well until he asked about children, when we said we had none he kept banging on about us having some, saying that Shelley could knock one out in 9 months.  Eventually he concluded that we couldn’t have kids because I (Glenn not Shelley!) was between 55 – 65!!!!!  This beard has got to go – how bloody rude!! (Obviously Shelley is creased up about this comment)

After this insult we decided to go and find somewhere different to spend our money!,  we looked around for some time and ended up in a fairly dark, dingy, sleazy bar.  I usually like these types of establishments but after being asked for money to smoke there (which I refused) and trying to be overcharged for a beer, we decided to only stay for one before returning back to the hotel for the night.

Day 2 – Sightseeing

Babu I think was beginning to realise it was coming close to tip time decided to offer us a day sightseeing, which we took him up on as we figured as it was round town it should not be too dangerous.

Firstly we went to one of the town’s main attraction the ‘Amber Palace’ which was quite an imposing structure that runs along a high ridge near the city, with a procession of tourists heading up to it on elephant back (we walked it as we are now experienced hikers!). 

Not being  given any information from our helpful guide Babu we opted for a more expensive tickets to enable us to get into a number of the cities buildings as we thought we would be going to a few of them later on. 

Anyway we had a look round the palace for a while which was quite nice. One thing of note was the pair of glasses proudly displayed which Ben Kingsley wore when he played Gandhi? Eh?, whats all that about?  We then headed for the Jaigarh Fort which was accessible via a secret underground tunnel from the palace and then another steep climb upwards. What a surprise this was not included in our multi-ticket and yet again we also have to pay for a camera ticket (I wonder how long it’s going to take the UK to cotton on to this money spinner?)

The fort itself was pretty ramshackled with very poor sign posting, but in the far corner there were some nice gardens with fantastic views over the whole complex and reservoirs below.

We then stopped off quickly to look at the water palace before Babu decided we should go for lunch at yet another of his overpriced locations (Backhanders mee-thinks!), where as usual we just opt for drinks.

After lunch we were then dropped off at the City Palace (Not included in our Multi-Ticket) where the royal family still reside.  However we found it pretty bland and uninspiring compared with some of the buildings we have already seen in India, the only thing of note here being the World Record Silver Urns (evidently the reigning Raj had them filled with water when he traveled to the UK as he didnt trust our unsanitary supply!) and a museum of some blood curdling weaponry.

Next stop was ‘Jantar Mantar’ which was a garden complex that was filled with very large and ancient astrological instruments that could have been more interesting if we hadn’t been flagging. 

After this we took a look along the Bazaar’s which we weren’t particularly impressed by, not the enclosed winding streets that we were expecting but just long streets with shops (Shelley is still not allowed to buy anything!!).  So a short while after we thought we would check out another bar that was in our rough guide – once again although it was up nine stories with views over the city (through very dirty windows!) it was no great shakes so we only stayed for the one.

As Shelley and I were not that blown away by Jaipur (I think we had a more romantic image than what we found) we thought we would find some early dinner before going back to the hotel.  We decided on what sounded like and interesting restaurant only to be informed that when we were searching for it that it wasn’t that good (people only went to it because it was in the rough guide) and were recommended somewhere different.  The restaurant was very basic but the food was good and cheap (however I will live to regret this decision!).

We then headed home by tuk-tuk, but we couldn’t get a cheap fare, we found out why when the driver took us to a hotel with a similar name about 10 miles from where our was!! Eventually we did get home and went to bed. (An extremely expensive fare for the driver at £1).

Day 3 – Dellhi Belly, More Sightseeing and Journey to Agra

It finally caught up with me (thanks recommender of restaurant!!) and I spent the whole night on the loo with my head switching between the sink and bath, and I mean all night, I think my internal organs must have liquidised, unfortunately Shelley did not get that much sleep either (These rooms do not  have sound proof doors!!!).

After a rotten night a few Imodium and painkillers were in order as we had another 5 hour drive in front of us and with Babu’s dodgy driving so  I didn’t want to take any chances!.

We were setting off for Agra but Babu was suddenly in tourist guide mood mode so firstly he took us to Sisodia Rani-ka-Bagh a small royal pleasure palace with nice gardens (we had a ticket for this on our multi-pass) which was a five minute attraction if you eeked it out!.  Followed by ‘Monkey Temple’ (Galta) which was a collection of temples nestled in a rocky ravine with three reservoirs/come stagnant pools which were populated by thousands of monkeys (Which looked a bit vicious – Shelley wasn’t too happy!).  People were actually washing/performing rituals in these stagnant pools filled with Monkey Doo – nice!!

Despite telling Babu about my illness the night before this seemed to make no difference on the way he drove for the next four hours, I’m very glad the Imodium was doing its jobs.  The journey was quite uneventful  with the usual stops for Babu to prey at some temples and the normal stop at an expensive restaurant for  lunch en-route.

Arriving at Agra late in the day we arrived at our hotel which was nice and spacious, so as I was not feeling 100% we stayed in and relaxed (plus the fact we had to be up at 5.00 for our dawn visit to the Taj Mahal).  We did go to the restaurant for dinner however I only had a drink whilst Shelley ordered a Mushroom Korma which when arrived looked like a grey mushroom soup and apparently didn’t taste that much better either, so pretty pleased I didn’t feel like eating!