Rajasthan - Part 1 - Jaipur

Arriving late in the evening in Jaipur, after a five and half hour flight from Malaysia, it was midnight by the time a taxi delivered us to the haveli (traditional townhouse) I’d booked. Every now and then thrift gets the better of me and this seemed to have happened when I booked 3 nights accommodation in Jaipur a few months ago. 1500 INR (£16) does get you a basic, clean room in Jaipur, but as we wearily fell into bed (it was 2.30am KL time) I was already plotting a morning move to something with more charm.

Colourful tea seller in the old city of Jaipur

Poppadoms galore!

By 9 am the next morning we were tucking into breakfast at Khatu Haveli, a haven of tranquility with oodles of old Indian charm, inside the walls of the Pink City. Rough around the edges, but still charming. The old city is teeming with people, cars, tuk tuks, motorbikes and animals against a backdrop of constant noise and extreme poverty. Right outside the yellow walls of our large guesthouse cows and pigs, foraged for scraps of food in a large pile of litter.  The roads are dusty, potholed and strewn with litter and walking through the old city on our first morning it’s sobering to realise and comprehend the level of hardship that exists here and is unlikely to change any time soon. I feel very fortunate.

The morning’s walk through the old city to the city palace set me thinking about India so I looked up how many people make up India’s population.  It’s a staggering 1.3 billion and India’s the second most populous country in the world.  Along with many tourists we meandered around courtyards and buildings that make up the city palace complex, built in the 1700s.  We liked the Mubarak Mahal (“Auspicious Palace”) which is an ornate fusion of Islamic, Rajput and European architectural styles. But the highlight of Jaipur old city (for us) is the gorgeous five storey Hawa Mahal (Palace of Winds) built in 1799 of pink sandstone and the city's most iconic structure. It wasn't easy to find the ticket office as the facade of the building faces a roaring busy main road and the entry point is at the back. This monument  (and Amber Fort, read on) makes Jaipur worth the journey.

Mubarak Mahal in the City Palace complex in Jaipur

Ornate doorway, City Palace, Jaipur

Hawa Mahal, Jaipur

Hawa Mahal, Jaipur

Facade of Jaipur's most famous palace, Hawa Mahal

The following day a cheerful tuk tuk driver, Max, drove us to Amber Fort and waited while we explored this enormous palace. It's situated on a hilltop about 11km from Jaipur.  Trudging uphill to the first gate we met elephants plodding down the wide stone path towards us! It's popular here to take an elephant ride to the entrance, but they didn't look happy elephants to me. Hopefully pressure from animal activists will put a stop to this in the not too distant future. Between 1037 and 1727 successive rulers improved and added structures and what is now a UNESCO World Heritage sight is an amazing fort. I won't try to describe the fort but the architecture and size of the temples, courtyards and gates are overwhelming, given the time period in which these structures were designed and built. A truly impressive and surprising sight.

View of Amber Fort near Jaipur

Elephants in Amber Fort

A courtyard in Amber Fort

Inside Amber Fort

Tuk tuk driver Max deserves special mention because his skillful manoeuvres have allowed us to live. At least that’s what it felt like. We're seasoned South East Asia tuk tuk passengers, but nothing can prepare you for the white knuckle rides that take place around Jaipur.  Indian drivers here are impatient and aggressive  and the poor roads are overcrowded with users (cars, motor bikes, tuk tuks, tractors, dogs, pigs, cows and pedestrians). A taxi driver told us only commercial drivers (like taxi drivers) take a test and very few people have insurance. Just about anyone can drive a vehicle and go unchecked so standards of safety and driving skills are low. However, we did feel surprisingly safe sitting in Max's old tuk tuk, even if I did shut my eyes now and then.

Gordon and Max

Jaipur’s the first stop on our travels around Rajasthan and from here we fly to Jaisalmer. Since it’s winter in Rajasthan the weather is cool in the evening but the day time temperatures are perfect for sightseeing, around 20 to 23 C.  The only thing that’s made Gordon sweat is the curry!

Gordon and Bruno the beagle, at Khatu Haveli