Pinch punch first of the month!!
Rush to leave the hotel early and a tuktuk ride to new Delhi station for our 0920 train to Jaipur.. Not only was it early, it left on time and arrived on time 5hours later in Jaipur... A very efficient service... Unfortunately the efficiency also applied to the air con and we almost froze to death!
Hoping for a more relaxed city, we were seriously disappointed! The chaos was everywhere and pestering from locals wanting to sell us tours, transport, drums, just about anything was starting to become frustrating...
In particular we met one guy called Shoeb, who was a slight guy with a passive but persistent attitude. He took us to our guest house and waited at least an hour outside in case we changed our minds and wanted to stay elsewhere...
We then braved the outside world once again an this time partly walked and partly tuktuk'd to the large gate of the pink city, where we headed to the famous palaces and buildings, largely but definitely not all, painted in pink, more terracotta really.
Anyhow after being pestered some more, my meat cravings and hunger where taking hold as the early evening set in. We thought a trusted lonely planet guide tandoori restaurant would be perfect remedy and moral booster!
However this was not before Sophia had chosen her ring... A pretend wedding ring as we left ours at home for security reasons. Except Sophia forgot that this ring didn't haveto be perfect, i.e the right colour, stone, shape, size, pattern.. The list is endless. So after going into countless shops, trying on maybe 150 rings or more... We finally found a ring, and as importantly we could go and eat before I digested my own stomach.
We eventually got to the restaurant despite our tuktuker taking us first to what looked like a prison, and then after some discussions the restaurant Moti Mahem, we scoffed some tandoori chicken and sheesh kebab.... Once again all was well!!
we got home only to see Shoeb standing by the gate...apparently disappointed we hadnt called him...we politely ignored him.
Hopefully a day of rest tomorrow!!
