Our trip to jaipur was as unexpected as that to varanasi...after waking up on saturday morning dreading the 18 hour train journey, we sneaked to the station to 'only ask' what the costs of changing our train ticket and getting a plane instead would be......many hours later (and quite a few rupees extra) we were riding in a tuc-tuc to the airport. in retrospect the adventure to the airport is funny, but at the time, our clever driver's total unawareness of the airports whereabouts was somewhat frustrating! after driving for 20 minutes down a rickety, bum-bruising, deserted lane, he realised it was time to ask for directions. a thousand and one directions later, we eventually made it just in time for check-in, for what would be a very hassle-free and relaxing flight to delhi. in delhi we took an ancient and very cheap car all the way to new delhi station - not before a detour at old delhi station and a request for more money. luckily the pre-paid slip clearly said 'new' delhi, so after some arguing we made it just in time (three hours later!!!) to catch our train to jaipur.
although only 5 hours, plus one of delay, the train was an overnight train to allahbad. ron and i both had top bunks, from which we made friends with a family in the lower bunks and two rajasthani business men in the opposite bunks. after a scrumptious and unexpected three course meal (no joke, it was really yummy!), the entire train and its passengers fell into a deep and snorful sleep. i also managed to sleep a few hours whilst ron read the entire lonely planet and footprint pages on jaipur.
we arrived at the hotel in the early hours of the morning, but the kind owners were super welcoming and showed us a few rooms. our cheapest hotel yet and by far not the worst! the hotel was in fact an old house full of long corridors and random staircases leading to another set of rooms with their terraces. the doors were closed with padlocks and our room was pink (getting us in the mood for the following day's pinkness!).
after the intial shock of the broken mosquito net - it got stuck in the vortice of the fan (so fast and low that if only we stood on the bed it would have sliced our heads off), we finally settled down for a cosy nights sleep.
the next morning we allowed ourselves a naughty sleep-in, reminiscent of the london days. being sunday and already 1, we didnt manage to see as much of jaipur as we'd planned. we did however make it to the old city - after getting lost and drowned in tuc-tuc drivers' fervour. the maharaja of jaipur's palace, in the middle of the old city was to our joy (for in varanasi we had longer for some splendour) grandiose, imposing, intricate and full of history.
whilst ron went to look at the weaponry - where he saw some really amazingly decorated guns, knives and what nots of war and some beautifully made paintings of victorious battles - i opted for the arts and crafts centre. here i spent about 20 minutes chatting to a painter about his very traditional indian artwork. he uses only natural extracts to paint scenes from the ramayana on old book pages, postcards and forgotten colonial government certificates. he even sketched me a little souvenir drawing of two elephants! we also talked about india in general, its beautiful architectural heritage, and he went on a rant about the poor preservation of monuments in rajasthan. he also mentioned how his driving licence cost 1000 rupees (less than 13 pounds) and how he'd been driving for over a decade before he actually decided to buy the document. hilarious! though it somewhat reminded me of stories i've heard from napoli.
when the palace closed we were very politely asked to leave (this surprised us for politeness hasnt been common in these tourist hubs), and we made our way back through the old pink city. it was indeed an incredible sight. all these old buildings coloured in pink - a colour which signifies hospitality (one of jaipur's maharaja's had the city painted this colour to welcome the british king) - underneath which were millions of markets and shops - mostly selling the same things! bikes, bike parts, bike repairs and used bikes.
we passed a graciously smelling flower bazaar selling beautiful flower garlands which little children and women spent hours making, and which are commonly used to decorate shrines and temples. i was even given a pretty purple flower to put in my hair!
we also saw a pair of snake charmers who, dressed in their funny arabian night clothes and turbans, as per cliche' opened their baskets and lured their snakes our with the sound of their shrill flutes. they offered us to sit with them but i kindly refused and quite honestly, legged it!! one thing is the stray dogs, which im surprinsingly dealing quite well with, but stroking a cobra hasnt yet topped my list of to-dos.
we bumped into, or rather, were pinpointed, followed and fished out from the crowd (because that's what we as tourists are - rare fish in a sea full of hungry fishermen), by a tuc tuc driver with a very bad case of cataract. he showed us his little book of memories (or rather, a book where tourists thank him for the day of sight seeing) and then drove us to the Jal Mahal. this hidden palace is just outside the old city and floats in the middle of an artificial lake created by a maharaja. we were then driven to a park (made up of three intertwining smaller gardens) which was the home to two very cute temples. the first was quite grand looking and the view across the parks and the lake palace was breath taking. the second however, much simpler and smaller was our favourite. people were praying here and music was shooting out of speakers set above. the calming music and the approaching dusk was finally beginning to sooth our tired souls which had been somewhat bruised by the constant hassling of the old city.
we didnt however manage to avoid the stop-off at the commission based shop but dealt with it surprsingly well.
back in our pink room we lay on our bed trying to plan the following day but as usual failed, for india always has a plan in mind for us.
though taken over by a much expected bout of delhi belly - probably caused by our uncontralable urge to eat salad (not the buffalo steak frenci!) we were happy and relaxed.
the next few days in jaipur were very busy and very tiring (what with the delhi belly in action...) but we managed to cram visits to most of the pink city's beautiful monuments, two prolongued stays at the train station and one dinner at the revolving roof top restaurant on MI road (jaipur's main road).
a few of the sites we saw are worth a particular mention. the jantar mantar, for one, was pretty amazing and entirely surprising. both ron and i described it as a grown-up's playground. one of jaipur's many maharaja's built this spectacular astronomical observatory for astrological purposes - in order to always know his fate.
here is ron's description:
imagine a ten year old with a life size lego set.multiply that by millions of rupees - there, you basically have your first impression of the jantar mantar!
despite its 300 years, we were impressed to discover that all the complicated instruments were still in fully working condition! we learnt that astrology is still extremely important in hindu culture. it is used to test the compatibility of man and woman for the setting up of arranged marriages (still quite prevalent). star signs must be compatible, more so than personalties and intrests.
indeed, experts from around the world still come here to use the instruments to scan the heavans and decipher the stars.
the entire observatory is ingeniously built with an almost machine like accuracy, but retaining an incredible artistic verve. amongst these monumental instruments is the world's largest sun dial - easy to read and accurate to 4 seconds. it tells jaipur time - which is 24 minutes behind official indian time. as well as this, were instruments to test the elevation and tilt of the sun, the position of the stars according to jaipur's position on earth and 12 sun dials representing each of the zodiac signs in their exact coordinates to decipher the influence of the stars on those born under a particular sign.
we also saw a darker side of india; some children, no older than 10, using a stick and their tiny little fingers to reach through a gutter and scoop whatever plastic bottle they could reach. for what purpose we could only imagine, but we have been warned about re-filled mineral water bottles.
our trip to the monkey temple offered us some great views over the city, very different to those we experienced from the minaret in the centre of the old city, and of course, a pleasant encounter with those furry little critters which inhabit the whole area around the temple. however, it seemed a little forgotten and was enveloped in poverty. we were not asked for money by the children, but rather, they begged for us to give them our empty water bottles - a business which must be thriving in the pink city.
the amber fort, or ammer as it is pronounced, came as a true and surprise to us. we did not expect such a huge and grand fort in such a strangely unstrategic location. (that's probably why it was never under seige and thus why it is still in such good condition!) an inspiring architectural feat, what with the mirror-walls and the delicately coloured facades. truly reminiscent of the (photos of the) wall of china.
we spent an extra night in jaipur which we had not planned because our train to jodhpur was cancelled. in the space of an hour we re-planned our itinerary, crossing out a few of rajasthan's gems to replace them for a completely different plan. we changed our tickets for jodhpur and jaisalmer and decided we would go to mount abu instead.
after 4 hours at the station waiting for a train which never came (but for which we were given a full refund!), we made our way back to our hotel where we were greeted warmly and were given an even better room at an absurdly low price for the night.
we went to bed feeling somewhat disappointed in the wasted afternoon but excited about our new itinerary!!
