Jaipur:

December 28th, 2004 - December 29th, 2004

We left Jaipur yesterday, which was Thursday, which of course, we reached following our night in the desert in Jaisalmer.

Jaipur was OK, but definitely not one of our favourite spots. We were warned about the pollution and the traffic and we experienced both. We arrived on overnight train, early in the morning. We have managed to get a hold of this overnight train stuff! After a few hours sleep we took a car and toured the city. We saw the city palace and it is easy to say that it is the worst palace we have seen on our trip. It was so boring and nothing really going on. Had we done Rajasthan the other way (Jaipur first), maybe it would have been good... alas, it was not.

Back to the pollution... it was killer. It was hard to breathe and there was a haze of smog suffocating the city. It makes a summer day in Toronto seem like a walk in the park. As for the traffic, we were in the car less than 5 minutes when we were hit by a motorcycle. In India a few harsh words are exchanged and you continue on your way. Luckily, we were in a big car! Later in the drive we were hit again, this time by two ladies in a crappy orange little thing; they tried to cut the corner in front of us and cut a little too much - I think they had been there before from the previous scratches on that side of their car! Our driver pounded their hood a few times and yelled before continuing on!

The only redeeming part of Jaipur was when our driver took us too a local market on special request ("Market with no tourists"). It was great. Things were at "Indian Price" and we got a few nice things. The highlight was getting samosas in banana leaves from street side vendors for a mere four rupees each (10 cents CDN). We'll be able to live more comfortably here on those prices...

We drove from Jaipur to Agra, stopping along the way at a few sights, including Fatepur Sikri which was once the capital of the Mughal Empire.

We were shown around by a young boy who had attended the school at the mosque. At the end of the tour, he asked how he did, and we told him he did a great job. He then informed us that it was the first ever tour that he had given.

That wraps up our time in Jaipur and area. We are now in Agra, leg two of the "Golden Triangle" which includes Jaipur - Agra - Delhi. It is also home of the Taj Mahal and where we will be spending New Years Eve.

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