Wednesday 11 December 2013

Jaipur



We had never intended to go to Rajasthan. I had wanted to, especially to Jaisalmer but with it being the height of summer and most of Rajasthan being in the desert we were warned against it.
But during our travels a couple of people had recommended us to visit Pushkar in Rajasthan and seeing as it was on the way to Amritsar we decided to take a detour. Jaipur is on the way to Pushkar so we decided to spend a couple of days here first before heading onwards.

Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan and is a big city. But once you travel around or outside of Jaipur there are many temples, forts and sights to see. Unfortunately a lot of people say that Jaipur is the least attractive of the cities in Rajasthan and we would have loved to have seen more of Rajasthan but we were happy to have visited Jaipur.

Jaipur was only a couple of hours on the bus away from Agra. Once we arrived we found it a bit difficult to find a room with air-con that was in our price range (unfortunately a fan only room in June just wasn't an option for us) After a long time in our rickshaw and being shown some hideous places we finally found a decent place. Once again we were the only guests in this guesthouse and were so relieved to have nice cool air-con.

The next day myself and Jason decided to go our seperate ways for the morning. I found a nice hotel with a swimming pool and Jason went for a walk around our area. It was so nice lounging around by the pool. The owners of the hotel had 2 beautiful friendly dogs that I got to chill with too. After meeting up with Jason again he had told me about a rickshaw driver that he had met. His name was Khan and he was a very friendly older man. He offered us a day tour the next day for a reasonable price. He had a spot where he'd always park his rickshaw and if we were interested we could just go there. He also gave his phone number.

We decided to take him up on his offer and the next morning we went off in search of Mr Khan. Sure enough he was where he had promised he'd be. His nephew was the person driving and Mr Khan came along with us for the ride. They were a great couple of men who were constantly smoking weed but were so much fun!

We had three stops on the itinerary that day. The first was the Royal Gaitor Tombs, then the Amber Fort and finally Jal Mahal. Arriving at the Gaitor Tombs I was surprised at how little people there were around. In fact we were the only people there for most of the time. The tombs are absolutely amazing, all were built using both Indian and Italian marble. One man had the tombs built for each of his seven children because unfortunately they all died before him. Both Khan and his nephew were great and turned out to be great guides also, filling us in on the history and stories behind the tombs. While walking out of the tombs we happened to bump in to the only other foreigner that was there that we had strangely enough met both at the Indian embassy in Kathmandu and again while hiking in Langtang. It was so funny that he happened to be at these deserted tombs also. After a quick catch-up and before leaving the tombs we came across a woman that was offering some henna. She offered it at a good price so I decided to get some done again. This time on the palms of my hands (which proved very tricky for me to do anything while it dried) Our next stop and one of my favourite places of our trip was the Amber Fort.

The Gaitor tombs.


There were so many monkeys around the tombs.

The designs were so intricate, all hand carved.

Khans nephew.

Mr Khan himself!

My henna tattoos.

The Amber Fort from a distance is just breath taking. The fort walls are so tall and the buildings behind it are so old and full of history that I got quite excited when we saw it. What made it even better is the fact that we had never intended on coming to Jaipur so I hadn't done much research about it so I don't think I had even seen a photo of the fort before arriving.

Myself and Khan with the Amber fort behind us.

The fort is quite big and it was midday so we arranged to meet with Khan and his nephew again in a couple of hours. The sun was beating down on us so Jason bought a *fashionable* hat and we began our ascent to the entrance of the fort. Even the pathway up to the fort is beautiful and the views from the top were stunning. Again because it was the height of the hot season there were very little vistors there which allowed us to enjoy it in peace.

The beautiful view while walking up the hill towards the fort.

Me with the magnificent fort behind.
Jason and his ridiculous hat!


The view of the gardens in front of the fort.

Once we reached the top we were so sweaty that we had to find somewhere selling drinks and sit down in the shade for a bit. We sat in the courtyard at the entrance of the fort which was magical and tried to regain some energy to continue. After about 20 minutes we moved forward and began our tour of the fort, audio kits were really expensive so we decided to go without and just enjoy the architecture and make up our own stories. The fort was huge! It was amazing to think that people used to live there. There were areas where the people would have Turkish baths, beautiful mosques, living quarters, seperate courtyards and tiny spiralling staircases. We both had a lot of fun wandering around the fort.
The beautiful courtyard in the fort.

Trying to find somewhere cool.

Jason in front of the courtyard.

One of the many beautiful buildings within the fort.
One of the Turkish baths.

Amber fort.
On the way back down.
After a couple of hours we made our way back down and were greeted by Khan and his nephew once again. It was time for lunch and they brought us to a great little spot where we ordered some decent paneer curry and aloo ghobi with some rotis. After lunch we went to see the Jal Mahal. It is nicknamed the floating palace because it is a palace that was built right in the middle of a lake. Although we didn't go inside or get close to it, it was beautiful just to see it there in the middle of the lake.

The Jal Mahal

After our eventful day of sightseeing it was now time to fulfill our side of the bargain with Khan. The reason that we got the rickshaw ride for so cheap is because we promised him that we would look in a couple of shops afterwards. We didn't mind this at all because he was very upfront and honest about it. He told us exactly how much the shop owners gave him and knowing that they were giving him money and how much fun we had had with him we were happy to oblige. He asked us what types of shops we wanted to go to, told us that he would get the money regardless of if we bought anything or not so we didn't feel any pressure to buy. But we did end up buying a couple of things, including a nice necklace. We went to a tailor shop that had beautiful clothes and bags and bought a couple of things there for a good price, then Jason decided to buy a suit! He was contemplating it for a while and then he got the man to come down by a lot and ended up getting a good deal on it. So couldn't resist.  On our way home that night we came across a wedding. It was quite exciting to see the extravagant Indian wedding that had turned out to be a festival on the street. We stopped to take a quick look and before we knew it we were in the centre of it all offering our congratulations to the groom. There were people pulling and dragging at me just to try and get to touch me. It was a great sight to see.

Jason getting fitted for his suit.

Because Jason was buying a tailor made suit it meant that we had to stay in Jaipur a couple of days longer. This is the great thing about not having set dates while travelling, it allows you the options of staying longer in places and leaving other places sooner. I didn't mind staying in Jaipur a bit longer as a day relaxing at the other hotels pool sounded like heaven to me. Khan had also invited us to his house for tea the next day, an offer that we were very honoured to accept.

That evening we decided that we both really wanted a really nice meal. We went on to Trip Advisor and found a restaurant named Barbeque Nation with tons of great reviews so decided to try and find it. What we didn't expect is for it to be on the complete other side of the city and for our rickshaw driver to get lost and then finally find the place about 40 minutes later. He then decided to wait outside while we were eating. (we really didn't want him to)

But all of that stress was forgotten about once we got inside. The place was so clean and the smells were amazing. It was actually a chain restaurant that is all over India. It has all you can eat skewers that were beyond delicious, once you decided you had enough with the skewers it was time for the buffet. We were both beyond stuffed after leaving and so happy to have had a break from the usual foods.

The next day was spent lazing by the pool. That afternoon Khan and his nephew picked us up to collect Jasons suit. Afterwards Khan told us that his nephews wife had prepared a dinner for us. We felt so honored and a little guilty as we had just eaten before they picked us up. Of course we didn't tell them that.

We arrived into their neighbourhood just around sunset and in time to hear the beautiful call to prayer (Khan and his family are Muslim and live in a Muslim area) Once we arrived at the house I was once again taken aback by it. Khans nephew and his wife live in this tiny one room house with their four children. We arrived to find about 15 people there all of whom were just staring at us. His wife was so young, younger than me, and she was honestly one of the most beautiful people I've ever seen. She looked just like Freida Pinto and had a beautiful smile. We weren't expecting to visit the family so unfortunately I hadn't brought the camera along to capture that wonderful night.

Once it was time to eat, we realised that it was only going to be us, Khan and his nephew eating. The others just sat and watched us eat. The food was absolutely amazing and there was so much of it! I felt bad that I couldn't finish it! We then showed them some of the quirky passport style photos that I had taken with some of my friends in Korea. The women were amazed by the photos and must have just sat there looking and talking about them for about 15/20 minutes. After a great evening it was time for us to go back to our guesthouse, the next day we would be leaving for Pushkar.

Jaipur was a nice surprise spot on our travels. There were some great sights to see and we met incredible people there also.

Getting there and away:

From Agra we booked a bus through our guesthouse, it worked out being a bit more expensive than the train but it was quicker and there were more tickets available. From Jaipur to Pushkar we got a local bus, it only took about 30 minutes and was an interesting ride!

Where we stayed:

Hotel Jai Maa: They had decent rooms at a decent price. They seemed very clean and we had a tv, air-con and hot water and they were also quite big. While staying there Jason noticed that he was getting bitten, after inspecting our sheets we found a bed bug. We informed the staff and asked to change rooms. After moving rooms we didn't have any other problems with it. So if you do stay here check the bed first. Other than that we enjoyed our stay there and even with the bedbugs would still recommend staying there. The rooftop restaurant is very sweet too.

Website:  http://www.jaimaapalace.com/

Tripadvisor reviews:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g304555-d2485575-r162078322-Hotel_Jai_Maa_Palace-Jaipur_Rajasthan.html#REVIEWS




The Gaitor tombs

One of the many sculptures in the Gaitor tombs.


My henna tattoo.

Inside the Amber fort.

Inside the Amber fort.

Inside the Amber fort

Inside the Amber fort.

Inside the Amber Fort.

Inside the Amber Fort.

Jason in front of the Jal Mahal.

Jasons Bullet beer.

Let sleeping dogs lay in the Gaitor Tombs.

Outside the Amber Fort.

Thursday 21 November 2013

Agra and the Taj Mahal.

The Taj Mahal at sunset.
















After a great introduction to India from Varanasi it was time to leave and visit our next destination...Agra.

A mini festival that we came across when leaving Varanasi.

We had booked our train and were so impressed when we got on board. We had booked a 2nd Class A/C for our overnight journey. We had a 4 bed compartment which had a curtain to block the hallway from us. Something else that I was pleasantly surprised with was the toilet situation on the train. Everywhere in the world train toilets are usually stinky so I had crazy images of what an India one would be like. But this train had both an Indian toilet and a western toilet. Most people used the Indian toilet which meant that the Western one was quite nice, It even had toilet paper!

Soon after we got on, a British couple had gotten on and took the other two beds in the compartment. Apparently they try to place foreigners together on these train journeys. As we were talking to them we had told them about how Jason had $1,000 stolen from his bank account and we had only realised this in Varanasi. They had commented that they had no trouble while in India and felt very lucky.

Unfortunately, they spoke too soon. That night while we were all sleeping someone came into our compartment and stole the girls bag right from underneath her head. It had happened when the train was stopped for about 20 minutes at a busy station so the person managed to get the bag and then get off of the train as soon as it happened. What makes it worse is that their passports, money, cards and vouchers for all of their future hotels and activities (they were on a tour) were all in that bag. We were quite shocked when it happened at the fact that not one of us had seen the person come in. As you can imagine, we didn't get much sleep after that But that meant that we were awake for when we were getting close to Agra and managed to get our first views of the Taj Mahal. It was far away but it looked so beautiful from a distance and so much bigger than we had imagined.

When we arrived at the train station we found a nice richshaw driver to bring us to a guest house that we had found in the Lonely Planet. He was so sweet and offered to drive us to different places the next day. We were a bit iffy about doing a "tour" with a driver but he had promised us that we would make a price beforehand and that he wouldn't try to charge us for extra.

When we arrived at the guest house we decided to take a room when they told us that the rooftop room was available for the same price so we went for a look. Once we got up to the rooftop we were just in complete and utter awe. The rooftop faced directly on to the Taj Mahal and had the most perfect view of it. It was so close that you could even see the people walking around inside the gardens.


Our view of the Taj Mahal from the Saniya Palace guest house.
...and again, so beautiful!

 This roof top was utterly amazing and that evening as we ate dinner at the restaurant on the rooftop, surrounded by fairy lights with the Taj straight ahead of us and the call to prayer playing from about 10 different mosques around us, I felt, actually I don't have any words to describe how wonderful it felt that night. Lets just say, it felt perfect.

The next day our driver picked us up to begin our tour of Agra. First we went to the baby Taj, which is a smaller version of the Taj. It was just as beautiful and the gardens equally so, especially with all of the squirrels jumping around. Next we went to another tomb which predates the Taj Mahal and is in fact the oldest one in Agra. It was so beautiful and there were some cheeky little boys hanging around it who were desperate to get their photo taken.

The baby Taj.

The baby Taj again, it was so peaceful here.
The oldest tomb in Agra.

Some of the boys we met while there.

Inside the building.


And again.

Before going to our next and final destination that day our driver wanted to bring us to his house for some chai and for me to get some henna tattoos on my hands from his daughter. It was so wonderful to be welcomed into his house and to be shown where him and his family live. We also got to cuddle with his dogs puppies. The dog was a street dog but they would allow her into their house so she ended up becoming their dog. He brought us up to his rooftop which had another beautiful view of the Taj Mahal (it seems like everywhere in Agra has a view of it!) It was such a wonderful experience to sit down and chat with his family, this is something we soon found out about Indian people, they are so warm and welcoming.


The view from our rickshaw drivers rooftop.

Their adorable puppies!

Jason and the puppies.

That's me getting my first henna tattoo.

I think she did a good job!


After our little detour it was time to go to the gardens that are opposite from the Taj Mahal. They offer amazing views of the Taj and since we were going there at sunset we would be able to see the changing of the colour of the marble. This garden was so exquisite and it really did have unparalleled views. It was also very quiet with only about ten other people there...Sometimes travelling during low season really does have its advantages!

It really was a beautiful view of the Taj Mahal.

I love this photo if the two of us and the Taj.


Jason in front of the Taj.
That evening we tried to get to bed early as we wanted to get up early and go to the Taj Mahal at sunrise. The next morning we walked to the Taj Mahal. One of the gates was right by our guesthouse but they only open two gates in the mornings so we walked about ten minutes to the next gate. I would definitely recommend visiting the Taj as early as you can because there are hardly no crowds and you get as much time as you want there, especially before the crazy heat sets in.

Walking around the gardens, I think we were both almost "starstruck" with the beautiful building looming over us. It really is as beautiful as it looks in the photos! While taking photos this man came over and took the camera from us showing us how to get better shots. He then got us to do some very cringe-worthy poses (think Diana-esq) Afterwards he quickly asked for a tip...ah yes, India, you got us again!

Inside the grounds.



Can it get any cheesier?
And so it begins....the awkward photos!

OK, it just got cheesier!




It was fun though and looking through the photos afterwards we got a good laugh.



After paying him for his services we made our way inside the Taj. You cannot photograph inside but trust me, it's quite beautiful inside also.



That's me, this shows just how big the Taj is.



After spending the morning getting all of our cheesy snaps it was time for our final bit of sight-seeing in Agra. we were off with our driver again to visit the Agra Fort. Most people that visit Agra usually only go to see the Taj Mahal, but as we found out there is so much more to Agra than the Taj. It's definitely worth spending a couple of nights here. The fort was quite impressive and it seemed to just go on and on. There were so many different buildings inside the fort and it took us about 2 hours to see them all (we did need many breaks as it was midday) but it was definitely worth seeing.



The Agra Fort.



Just like everywhere else in the city, it had views of the Taj Mahal.
(which you can't really see in this photo, but that's what I'm looking at)



The beautiful Agra countryside.

There were plenty of monkeys in the Fort too.

I love this photo as it looks like the monkeys are praying.


You don't even want to know what this monkey was doing!



The private mosque in the fort.

The outside of Agra Fort.


After a busy couple of days in Agra it was time for our next stop. Jaipur in Rajasthan.

Information

Accommodation: 

We found our guest house through the Lonely Planet India guide book and it was the last time that we used the book for accommodation. There was nothing wrong with the place, it had the most amazing rooftop view of the Taj Mahal. But our rooms air-con barely worked and when you are paying double the price for air con you kinda expect it to work! Also they charged us extra for wifi that didn't work.
 I find that when a place gets on to the Lonely Planet then they are guaranteed people staying with them so their standards slip a bit.

Tripadvisor reviews: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g297683-d1187585-Reviews-Saniya_Palace_Inn-Agra_Uttar_Pradesh.html

Getting there and away:

We took a train from Varanasi to Agra which we booked about four days beforehand at the train station. Most big train stations have a foreigners room where you can book.
Leaving Agra we booked a bus to Jaipur. It was a nice big spacious air-con bus and we booked it at our guesthouse. Unfortunately this bus actually cost the same, if not, more than the train.