Ken and the Taj Mahal
Originally uploaded by kden604.
So I've now completed the "Golden Triangle" (Delhi, Agra, Jaipur) and I'm having a blast! I'm sitting at an Internet Cafe in Jaipur right now trying to upload over 200 back logged photos. Ouch.
This picture on this post is of me at the Taj Mahal. The weather cleared up quite literally for 2 hours that day, which was when I took my photos, I got pissed on the whole rest of the day...
Yesterday morning I boarded a bus at 0600 for Jaipur from Agra, its a 4.5 hour ride and cost 159 Rupees. The bus was decent, you would say it is almost the same as most "western" buses.
As we approached Jaipur there is two bus stops prior to the primary bus station, at these stops people will come on to the bus and try to get tourists off the bus at this point. Whatever you do, don't get off the bus until the actual bus terminal, which has about 40 buses, proper ticket booths and tourist information office. Apparently it's a big scam to pull tourists off the bus and then charge them a crazy amount to get in to the "REAL" centre of town, which is a good 15-20 minutes longer on the bus. Either that, or they will try and get you in to a hotel in the middle of no-where (in terms of touristy stuff).
Anyways, I got off the bus at the proper stop, the bus station, bought my ticket back to Agra for this Friday and decided to go try and find a hotel. I was feeling lazy so I wanted something near to the bus station, which would make my life easier when I needed to leave really early on Friday morning too.
I have to give a really big plug to the "Hotel City Centre" which is literally 3 minutes from the station. As you exit the station you are facing a main street, go to the right and walk until you get to the first alley on your right hand side. There is an internet cafe/hotel on the corner of the alley. Walk up the alley about 200-250 metres and you are there.
Hotel City Centre
46, Hathi Babu Ka Bagh, Vivek Nagar
Near Sindhi Camp, Station Road,
Jaipur
Phone 1: 2205852
Phone 2: 2205853
The rooms are acceptable in cleanliness, there is a little porch outside of your room, bathroom in room, TV in room. This might sound like most other places... BUT WAIT, here is the best part. REAL hot water! Not just the luke warm/not cold water... but water that is so hot you need to turn on the cold faucet to chill it a bit! I had a 20 minute shower this morning because I in such bliss of not having to do the warm water bucket over the head method.
The price of the hotel was 300 Rupees per night, I would have paid that just for the shower this morning.
Also, through the hotel you can book a auto-rickshaw who will take you out to all the attractions and just be your driver for the day for 270 Rupees. If you want just a few of the attractions you could get cheaper, but for the whole day, to see whatever you like... I think it's a good deal.
So what did I do today...
Amber Palace and Fort
Water Palace
Royal Gaitors
Golimar Gardens
Observatory (Jantar Mantar)
Hawa Mahal
The City Zoo
Wandering Pink City (Yesterday)
I thought about doing the museum, but I was getting tired and I just couldn't take another museum right now.
Amber Fort & Palace are really magnificent to see, they are about 11 km outside of Jaipur and is perched on the slopes of the local mountains. There are long walls going up all the slopes at it makes me think of the Great Wall of China. The Palace itself has this beautifully mirrored audience hall and behind it a superbly manicured garden with fountains. Amber Fort is up on the hill and there are several ways to get up there: Walking (7-8 minutes), Elephant Ride 300-400 Rupees, Jeep 150 Rupees. The Entrance fee with a still camera to the site is 75 Rupees.
The Water Palace was under a lot of renovations when I arrived, and the lake that is supposed to be around it was pretty dry and there was lots of mud. Inside the Palace you can see massive trees growing out the top and it looks really wonderful.
Royal Gaitors - These shrines to royalty are just beautiful, made of marble and are incredibly detailed. There are some slabs of marble that are just massive and the amount of work that would have gone in to one single piece is just mind boggling. I don't think a lot of tourists actually go to this site, I was the only person in when I was there, and only saw one other couple entering while I was leaving. Well worth the 10 Rupees... There is a guide who will explain stuff for 50 Rupees if you like, well worth the money.
Observatory - This site is strange and cool. There are these MASSIVE devices created to be able to tell you about stars, time, and just incredible details about astrology and the path of stars in the night sky. Their version of the sundials is just fantastic, and there is some really large ones that I'm sure are at least 6 stories high. I really suggest getting a guide for this, the signs are really crappy at this sight and the guides explain things very well. Quiz him and talk to him in english to make sure you can understand him and he knows how to express himself well in english.
Jaipur Zoo - Lions, Tigers, Crocodiles... Oh My! Ok, I haven't been to a zoo in quite a few years, but I really enjoyed seeing some of these animals. I have to admit I'm not to keen on seeing animals locked up, but there seems to be breeding programs and such which are necessary to keep the various populations alive after poaching and such. ANYWAYS - The Tigers are fantastic, the White Tiger is so cool, first one I've seen that wasn't with those guys from Vegas and the pool of Crocodiles were really the highlight.... Sadly, not too many monkeys =(
Hawa Mahal - This was some sort of complex where one of the ruler locked up all his women... they weren't allowed out in public so he made this big tall temple with little windows so they could watch life go by. I went to this in the morning at 0900 when it opened, however because the "front" of the building where you climb up is facing East, it would be better to come in the evening so you could get better lighting. Everything was far too bright taking pictures in to the sun.
Well this pretty much sums up my Jaipur experiences, The whole Pink City is basically one giant retail area... lots of things to buy, divied up in to areas where certain types of products can be found. I'm not much in to shopping so it didn't interest me too much.
PS - I saw more elephants today than I've seen in all the shiner circus(es?) that I've seen in my life. They were all beautifully painted with colourful chalks and it looked really cool.
