Day 82 - Agra to Jaipur, India

Day 82 – Hers.

Another travel day – this time from Agra to Jaipur by ‘public’ bus - a mere 6 hours.  As in many developing countries, there are two classes of public bus – one for the locals and one for the tourists.  This one was not nearly as plush as the tourist class buses in Peru or even Vietnam, but it had air conditioning, assigned seats and a luggage compartment – so it was fine.  In fact, the air conditioning was so cold that I was glad I had both a jacket and scarf.  Several of our fellow travellers didn’t have such foresight and I am certain I saw icicles hanging from their noses by the time we reached the halfway rest stop.  We climbed out into searing heat – and promptly bought an ice cream.  I couldn’t find green rice flake but I had some other unidentifiable nutty/sweet flavour and Rob had serious chocolate.  We managed to speak with all but the four most militant tip dodgers and mend fences this morning – so we haven’t been as ostracised as we feared – and we started a trend with the ice cream, so we all ended up chatting and laughing together as we climbed back into the fridge for the second half of the journey.

The roads are so much better than anything we have seen since China - and not very crowded, at least on the toll roads.  When we turned off into towns, they were more lively with donkeys and camels (yes, camels!) pulling carts, bicycles, motorbikes and Tata cars and trucks all vying for road space.

Jaipur is also the most pleasant city we have seen so far in India.  We entered the outskirts, driving along wide, clean, tree-lined avenues.  We passed parks, a polo ground, a golf course and a very modern commercial street.  We turned in through the gates of the old city and were greeted by mile after mile of colourful shops, all tucked under the ‘pink’ colonnades lining each side of the main streets.  Jaipur is known as the ‘pink city’ (though the colour is actually more terra cotta).  Apparently, the buildings were originally yellow but were painted their current colour for the visit of the Prince of Wales in the 19^th century.  It is supposed to be the best place in northern India to shop for silks and jewellery.  I can well believe it – and I may have to buy something as the range of beautiful fabrics, shoes and jewels is just incredible.

Our hotel is equally fabulous.  We are staying at the Mrignayani Palace – part of the 300 year old residence of the prime minister of Jaipur state.  We were greeted with rose petals thrown from the balcony, a tikka blessing and a flower garland and awaited our room assignments in silk-covered throne-sized chairs under ornate carvings and stained glass in the first reception room.  Our room is actually a suite, up some stairs, down a corridor, across two terraces, past the music room and up some more stairs.  There are also a rooftop garden and three roof terraces, the topmost giving a fantastic view of the city. But – unfortunately – no internet.....

We took a few minutes to settle in and then our guide, Prabhev, took us on a forced march tour of the city centre – past the City Palace, Palace of the Winds and several streets of the bazaar, across a round-about (where he caused a small accident by forcing the traffic to stop for us – it is his home town and he clearly feels in charge!) and straight to a tourist restaurant for lunch.  Rob and I decided at this point to go off on our own.  For the first time in India, I felt a city was hygienic enough to try the street food and friendly enough to stroll around without the safety of a huge group.  We bought some strange fruit that is kind of a cross with a nut and some fried concoctions with curry sauce – Rob’s had mystery meat (his favourite) and mine had spinach, wrapped in some sort of dough.  We fended off tuk tuk drivers and persistent gem salesmen, still managing to look at some of the different foods and clothes for sale – and wended our way back to the hotel.

 

 Day 82 – His

We seem to have got into a bit of a habit of going out for dinner with the group which is quite pleasant if a little expensive. Tonight’s trip was to the very same hotel that the film Hotel Marigold was shot in. I have never seen the film – is there a book? – but now I feel almost obliged to see it. The dinner was very pleasant. To some extent, though, we in England have been spoilt by some excellent Indian cuisine and the food here is not much different to the stuff you can get in Neasden or Kingstanding (which is in Birmingham for those less acquainted with the suburbs of Birmingham than I am) The setting was, however, substantially different. You try eating Indian food while dancers spin around your table, fire eaters walk between the staff and local musicians play folk music in a rainy suburb of London and I think you will begin to understand. We ate on the grass surrounded by these things and not one spot of rain fell. The tuk tuk rides to and from the dinner were experiences in themselves – more akin to roller coaster rides at ground level than anything else – and both interesting and exciting in equal measure.

There is one unfortunate thing – our hotel is right next door to another restaurant that seems intent on playing traditional music into the small hours so I am not sure how much sleep we will get until it closes – ah well the joys of travel.