We were impressed with our overnight bus to Jaipur ... the seats actually reclined and we managed to remain in them throughout the 5 hour journey! I even managed to nodd off and catch a bit of sleep. We arrived in Jaipur, also known as 'pink city', at about 7a.m and we were hit straight away by the rush of morning touts and rickshaw drivers desperate for us to stay in their guest houses. After carrying our heavy bags and being hassled non stop for about 45 minutes we found a lovely place to stay. We hit the sac straight away and caught up on a few hours sleep. After breakfast we took a tour of the city, 50 rupees for an hour in a rickshaw. We went into the grounds of the pink city and stopped at city palace but never went in. Next we visited Jal Mahal, a beautiful palace on Man Sagar lake. Then we were randomly taken to a group of elephants in a brick yard down some narrow streets. There were 4 huge elephants that were happily eating away at straw before we disturbed them! They were so friendly but still intimidating! We gave one of them a quick hug and pat then let it carry on eating. In the evening we met up with our buddies from Mumbai, Helen and Nicola. We went for an amazing meal and had a great catch up!
The next morning we checked out and sneaked into Helens nice hotel as it had a roof top pool. We spent a few hours cooling off before setting off to the busy train station. We took a train to Sawai Madhopur, the base for any trips to Ranthambhore National Park. With 40 + tigers living wild, Ranthambore is recognised as being the number one place in India to visit if you hope to see a tiger living in its natural habitat. We booked on an early morning safari that picked us up at 6.30 a.m and lasted until 09.30 am. Any yeah, you guessed it, no tiger sightings! But it was still exciting and a great experience knowing we were in the tigers back garden. We did find a tiger footprint and tiger dinner such as deer, antelope, monkeys, etc. So we finished the safari a little disapointed but knew it was all down to luck if we were going to see a tiger, especially in less than a 3 hour period.
Anyway, on a brighter note, our next stop is Agra to see the mighty Taj Mahal!
