Golden Hotel Jaipur

... help. Their office is 25 mins outside the city centre. The charity is called I-India and was founded in 1993 by a husband and wife team. The aim is to rescue children from lives of neglect and abuse in the slums of Jaipur. They have developed a number of projects to fulfill the needs of these kids including a childline helpline, 6 orphanages, a school on wheels, a vocational training centre, and a shower/hygiene bus. More recently they have also built a children’s ...

We set off for Jaipur straight after breakfast yesterday. The roads were much better this time. 3 lanes on each side with a central barrier so that meant we were always on the right side of the road and never heading straight for other vehicles. Although quite often we would be traveling in a lane of our own making! When we got to Jaipur we went shopping for a sari for me and a Punjabi suit for Erica. I managed to get a sari for $6, but Erica couldn't get a Punjabi ...

... for almost an entire hour for my turn...you can wait another 15 minutes for yours. The girl in front me of me saw what the guy did but did not react. I politely asked her to hand me the paper. She did. I turned to the man and said "I believe this is yours'. He grudgingly took it back and mumbled something in Hindi before looking away. Score one for the lone female traveler. I managed to get a ticket to Haridwar for May 6th in a non-A/C sleeper cabin. It was the only ...

... moment they are restoring it as much as possible to the original state in time for the Commonwealth Games in 2010. After the fort we went onto see the Lake Palace which was built in an artificial lake. At the moment it is being turned into a museum. It would have been a great place to live and cool being on the lake. We then visited a rather unusual observatory where you are able to tell the time using very large sundials and also your exact location. It ...

... Since train stations aren't the most comfortable enviornment, we grabbed a long dinner with a fellow American who shared in our amusement about the train booking ordeal. We ate at Park Restaurant and ordered 2 delicious chicken Mughlai dishes. Things we did: duh, the Taj Mahal: The Taj was really out of the way for us and $$ when you add in the trains and the ridiculous price foreigners have to pay considered to the local Indians. That said, it was totally worth the drama ...

... but I still struggle with the mess that is Indian queuing. I think you should either queue or not bother (and do the every person for themselves scenario), but the Indians do pseudo queuing. There's an intention to queue and it all starts well, but part way through the queuing experience somebody will decide to break ranks and just go for it - cue mass melee and the queuing sort of goes out the window. The queue at the Mandir is aided by queuing barriers - oh yes ...

Raz postanowilismy zaszalec ;) i wykupilismy sobie calodniowa wycieczke klimatyzowanym autobusem z przewodnikiem po najwiekszych atrakcjach Jaipuru i okolic. W trakcie okazalo sie, ze na zyczenie kilku pasazerow (i na pewno ku uciesze przewodnika i kierowcy, ktorzy dostali konkretna prowizje od zakupow od ...

... arrival at the Pearl Palace hotel, Jonathan lay down on the bed and took a few deep breaths. He then leapt into the bathroom and threw-up his lunch in five impressive watery gushes, while simultaneously purging some earlier, less recognisable meals from the other end. Who says men can't multi-task! The toilet may flush in the opposite direction in India, but rest assured, there are still always carrots in your spew. Nothing like those little familiarities to ...

... us find our hotel on a late Jaipur night. They have an exceeding desire and curiosity to talk to foreigners - while waiting for a train an engineering student began asking me questions about the US, education and marriage, while 3 or 4 other men circled around to listen. It was refreshing to hear him say that unlike his brother, he was not going to work in the US, but instead to stay in India to serve and help his own country ...

... scalpitanti cominciavano ad entrare! L'ingresso dell'enorme edificio rosa shocking assomigliava a quello di un ristorante di classe, con tanto di tipo in livrea. Ed una volta all'interno, mi sono detto che non avevo mai visto una meringa rosa da dentro, ma me la aspetto esattamente come la hall del Raj Mandir. Alta, tondeggiante, con fronzoli in cartongesso tutti intorno come la decorazione alla panna di una torta. La meringa era già infarcita di gente, soprattutto ...