We flew out of Kochi to Jaipur (with a long boring layover in Mumbai) the next afternoon, arriving in Jaipur late night March 9th.
After our few recent hotel 'issues' in the past we were a bit concerned that something funny might happen with this one also (especially because we also booked it through hotels.com). Luckily, there were no problems-no printouts needed, no room price issues, and friendly, helpful staff. Eureka! The hotel is called Anuraag Villa and it is considered one of the best budget hotels in Jaipur. It has a cute backyard garden area and its located close to city yet far enough away from the hustle & bustle. If anyone has watched 'The Very Best Marigold Hotel' the garden reminds me of the movie. That movie was also based in Jaipur & I would recommend watching it! Really enjoyed it! Internet was actually existent here, albeit sporadic, but I am starting to learn not to depend on wifi here, unfortunately. I know that's not what we are here for but it really helps when you need to book things or Skype someone :P
We are staying here for 3 nights: 1 night to recuperate, 1 day of exploring and booking train tickets onwards, and one intense day of sightseeing. The day of exploring was adventurous enough! We couldn’t find the “foreign tourist ticket office’ at the railway station, being pointed in 2 different directions by 3 different people. We finally found it, and we came to learn that train availability is completely based on who you ask :P At first being told a bunch of options were not possible, 5 minutes later a lady actually helping us book those same routes! There was pushing, chaos, and disorder. Somehow communication did get through because we were able to book 3 train journeys there (I still don’t know how we accomplished that). Funny enough, when we eventually went to the ticket office in Delhi (at New Delhi railway station) the experience was quite the opposite—a whole upstairs section of the station was dedicated to a ‘Foreign Tourist Ticket office’ and you actually got to sit down with a booking agent and plan out everything at once. It was 180 degrees from our experience in Jaipur! I just feel bad for people who do it the other way!
So Jaipur itself is crazy chaos. The state of Rajasthan is very dry and dusty, which means you are instantly dirty the moment you step outside. The place is full of dirt & filth but tht is nothing new. More cows & stray dogs. However, there are also random wandering pigs in Jaipur! Whole families of them just wander the streets just like the cows! Amazing :P people are generally nice if you ask for help or if they want you to buy something or use their services. The haggling here is worse than the south. I suppose it is because they are more used to tourists-it is the famous golden triangle after all. However, I see it as a fine balance: the haggling may get annoying but at the same time people are willing to help you find things too, even if you don't pay them..... But, Obviously, being bothered all the time does not make for a relaxed environment! India is definitely not for everyone....
There are a lot of nice things to see in Jaipur. Most famously is the pink city and plenty of things inside it- Hawa Mahal, The City Palace, Jantar Mantar, etc. the architecture of these places is impressive but overall I was underwhelmed. I actually think the Pink City is ugly. You imagine this pretty pink colour but its more of a dark, ugly salmon colour. The reason it is actually this colour is due to conceal past bad workmanship (basically to cover up past mistakes!). The bazaars here are also known for their fabrics, textiles, leather and gems. I didn't actually find anything I liked- it's not like I will wear a sari back in Canada and buying precious gems or jewellery is pointless when we still have almost 3 months of traveling ahead of us! We has our trusty book with us to suggest good eating spots, and headed to a vegetarian spot in town called namij (sp?). The food was ok, nothing special. Even though the book suggested it & it hasn't steered us wrong yet, we were a bit hesitant to eat there because it seemed that we were the only ones there! Also, seeing a mouse didnt help the situation. With hesitation we did eat there and were, in the end, pleasantly surprised to go downstairs to see lots of people eating there. Turns out they had just stuffed us into an upstairs corner away from everyone else.
After lunch we went across the street to a place famous for its lassis-'Lassiwala' . The place was swarming with people so we knew it was good! The place only serves fresh lassis and it was delicious!! They serve them in one time use ceramic cups - oh so tasty! The place is so popular in Jaipur that 2 identically named places have popped up right beside it to try to trick customers ;)
Enough for day 1. We sat in the garden for a while and tried to make use of internet. The plan for the next day was to do some kind of guided tour ....
