After a good nights sleep and a relatively short 4 hour drive on pretty straight roads, we arrived at Jaipur with renewed optimism that our tour was back on track.
We passed through the bustling city centre (full of traffic) and made our way out to the other side of the city past the water palace and fort to our hotel. We where shown a pretty decent hotel room (for Indian standards) only to be told this was not our room and we feared the worst - instead we where taken to the suite on the top floor, the room was excellent but far too big for our needs - we even struggled to see the TV from our bed!
So we relaxed and went to the rooftop restaurant to enjoy a free meal (we made the most of this) and watch the light show taking place at the fort.
The next morning I was fully back in the game so we hit the sight seeing hard. First was an Elephant ride up to the old fort high up on the hill/mountain side. The Elephants where cared for by the government so they where in really good health which made us feel good about riding them up to the fort. They where colourfully painted and fed and watered at each end of the track so they where in good spirits. It was quite a weird experience riding on the back of the biggest land mammal and it felt both very safe and also very unsafe at the same time! The only downside to the ride was the driver who kept hassling us for a tip even though there where signs everywhere telling people not to tip as the people received a good wage for the ride.
After this we looked around the fort and realised we had to get back down on our own! So we asked some staff at the fort and they showed us a path that kept crossing the Elephant track so we where dodging Elephants and their droppings all the way down. On the way we saw a bedraggled looking man with a wicker basket and a flute and inside he had 2 huge King Cobras who where mesmerised by the musical instrument.
Once back on flat ground we headed over to the water palace which was a retreat for the old royalty to escape the relentless summer heat of the desert. It was quite pretty but off limits and we had to look at it from the shore, so after 15 minutes in the sun we decided to move on to the next spot, the 'pink' palace. For me personally this was nothing great to look at, mainly because this was in the centre of the city and had been enveloped by stalls and beggars but Leanne enjoyed snapping it. After this we went for some lunch and a rest before taking our drivers advice and checking out a Bollywood film.
We where a little sceptical but decided to do it and we went to watch 'Ra-One' which was the latest blockbuster film and we where not disappointed at all. The cinema was immaculate and inside the screen was huge and while the film was on people laughed and cheered out loud when something good or naughty was happening on screen - there is even a half time interval for a toilet break! Although the movie was in Hindi we still understood what was going on and we didn't feel out of place at all.
We retired for the evening and rested up for our next stop Agra and the Taj Mahal.
To see our pictures from Jaipur please click on the link below;
https://picasaweb.google.com/112941139607408893724/JaipurIndia3rdTo5thNovember2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCISosoigtMXWTw#
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