Jaipur, India - The pinky'ish city.....

Trip Start Nov 16, 2008

Trip End Feb 07, 2009

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Where I stayed

Hotel Pearl Palace Jaipur

(Jaipur hotels)

Flag of India Jaipur, Rajasthan, India
Thursday, November 27, 2008

Arrival in the pink city, well at least we thought it was pink, at night time was a hectic and long affair with India's bazaar road system. Lorries going the wrong way down the motorways, cow's who seem to have right of way, dogs playing chase through both sides of the carriageway and our small little TaTa Indigo (like a Toyota Yaris only a little bigger) bombing through the roads with the same haste as Hamilton...... We were both ready for a good rest and we definitely found it in a hotel pearl palace! Quaint and colourful with friendly staff it was too be our base for the next couple of days.

Woke in the morning to an early start and ready to see the sights and explore the pink city......pink????? Pink in some places but more a light shade of terra cotta in others, the city professes to paint the buildings and walls inside the city once every year......we think they may have missed out about 5 years as the 3 million population and about 5 million vehicles & motorbikes has taken it's toll on this hectic city.

Visited the amber palace (wasn't amber....more a sandstone colour), the City Palace where inside we saw the armory, carriage museum amongst many other things, the observatory (The Jantar Mantar), and finally the tiger fort (Nahargarh).....absolutely stunning views from this fort at the top of one of the highest mountains overlooking the massive city of Jaipur but there is absolutely nothing inside it except the odd monkey, pigeons and chipmunks..

After a long day we both felt a little battered and bruised from this busy and aggressive city with people hard selling to get us to part with our money.

Amber Fort

At one point they wouldn't take our money as unbeknown to us one of the notes was a forgery. As soon they ask us if we are English or American we knew we are in for another sales pitch! "Hey Mish, you reply in Spanish and I'll reply in German....... That'll throw em!! " hehe

We decided to follow the lonely planet's guide for lunch for a change and went and found Jaipur's best kept secret...a little restaurant called Ganesh. There's a reason it's the best kept secret... The place looked like it hadn't been cleaned for years, the waiter had so many stains on his trousers in places you really don't want to see stains and the cloth used to clean our plates and table looked like it had been used in a oil spill at the local car garage.....that said we both decided to stay and practice caution and choose options that need to be freshly cooked and use our hands to eat with....just like most people do in India.

With four squirts of anti-bacterial soap and half a coke (cola) later we were treated to some of the the best food so far. Delicious and vibrant explosions in our mouths it soon became all clear!! Anyway, what's a few flies between friends!!

There's lots of temples, museums and forts to see here in Jaipur and there is only so many you can take in without having to go on an extensive history lesson to familiarise yourself with their fascinating history and culture.

Next stop Pushkar....... Or hippyville and some like to call it.........