jaipur

I've moved on to Jaipur. The five hour journey by train from Agra across here turned out to be a bit of a trial. The train left on time, there were no delays along the way, and there were friendly passengers in my carriage who were keen to get to know me. The problem was my stomach. Just before I left for the train station at Agra I began to feel a bit nauseous. Perhaps unwisely I decided to carry on regardless. I won't bore you with the details but it was a long and rather painful five hours. I did make it to Jaipur though, and eventually got to my hotel - the Stephels Hotel - a little after 11pm. I checked in and was finally able to lie down and rest.

I spent Tuesday recovering, either asleep on my bed or drinking water with electrolyte rehydration powder. I thought it better to rest solidly rather than try to soldier on only to get worse, and I was right to do so because by Tuesday evening I felt 100% better and had a slight return of appetite. Interestingly I took my laundry through to the hotel manager during the day and asked him if they had a laundry service. 'I'll get my boy to do it,' he said and then in walked a guy who must of been at least 70 and took it off my hands.

Today I've been out sightseeing in Jaipur. It's a nice city; there's a much better feeling of space here than in Agra. The streets are wider and the buildings don't overhang so much. I started the morning by having a cup of tea and a chat with a guy known as 'Guru,' and then spent the latter part of the morning at the Hawa Mahal, a five storey royal tower which was built in 1799 for the ladies of the Jaipur royal household (to enable them to watch over the city). Like everything I've seen so far it was simply amazing. After that I walked across to the City Palace, home of the Maharaja of Jaipur (and a pal of Prince Charles if you're interested). The palace is a blend of Rajasthani and Mughal architecture. Inside the Mubarak Mahal building within the complex they had on exhibition the enormous coat of Sawai Madho Singh I. It was unbelievably large - he was reputedly two metres tall, one metre wide and weighed 250 kilograms. He also had 108 wives. Not sure I believe all that but the coat was there and that's what the sign said. Finally, I climbed the nearby Minar Swarga Sal (the Heaven Piercing Minaret) which gave me a panoramic view of Jaipur and the shopping bazaars below. Happily, along my way, I picked up an adapter for my battery charger, and an onward bus ticket (for 6 April) to my next destination: Pushkar.

Tomorrow I've arranged for a Tuk Tuk driver called Ram to run me up into the hills outside the city and to Nahargarh (the Tiger Fort) which overlooks the city from a sheer ridge to the north, and the Amber Fort which is built just behind and dates back to the 16th Century. After I'm going on to Jantar Mantar (back in the city centre), the famous observatory built by Jaipur's founder Jai Singh in 1728. Then it will be time to pack up my things again and onwards to Pushkar.