kiwifiddy: Jaipur

We arrived in Jaipur at around 5am, extremely tired after not having had a huge amount of sleep on the train. You may not believe it but it is surprisingly cold on the train at night. After stopping for a chai by the train station to collect our thoughts we then wandered around for another hour before we found a bed to collapse into for a few more hours of sleep.

Jaipur is part of what is termed, 'The Golden Triangle' which consists of Delhi, Jaipur and Agra which is the route a lot of tourist do as a quick visit to India. So from here on in things become more and more touristy. There were plenty of things to see in Jaipur and we definitely kept busy for the two days or so that we were there.

We spent most of our time in the Old city of Jaipur. Jaipur is know as the pink city.


The busy streets of the 'Pink City'


One of the many sights, a huge sun dial (we still couldn't quite figure out what time it was).

Brock outside the Hal Mahal, one of the many palaces.

One of the great things in Jaipur, especially with our new found confidence, was the street food! Amazing snack stalls with bhuja type snacks, peanuts, lassis, samosas covered in spicy sauce and the 'piece de resistance' ... sheesh kebabs!! Yes makes for a very happy husband. And I must say some of the best meat we have had, full stop.

Giant poppadom

There was also the Thali House, thalis for RS70 - $1.75 unlimited, as in they just keep topping it up!!Brock walked away beaten by the Thali House.

We caught a local bus out to visit the Amber fought which we were told is a must. I didn't make Brock stand by the door the whole way there however a certain amount of panic did begin to rise when chattering, sqwarking women began to fill the bus to crushing point! Deep breaths and an open window seemed to keep the panic at bay but we were very quick to charge through the crowd and off the bus when it stopped!

A little bit of fun, a day in the life of a rickshaw wallah.

Less about the speed, more about enjoying the ride.

One of the great sites we found in the Old City was a mineret with a great view of all of Jaipur. What was best about it was our self confessed guide who proceeded to tell us about Jaipur, 'Paris of India' and to take us up the mineret, 'Eiffel Tower of India'! He was very full of knowledge and helpful when it came to the 'snaps'. He had all the angles and positions down pat and proceeded to offer his help in the oh so India way, 'Come, sit here, look here, listen to me.' He was also horrified to find that we had been married for 9 months and that, no, we had no sons. To which he insisted on seeing us at the temple at 5pm to pray to Krishna for 2 sons!