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Hello!
We're in a city called Udaipur at the moment, we've been here 2 nights...
To rewind a bit from our last entry we took a train to Jaipur from Sawai Madophur. On the train we met a man called Nitin who was sat next to us, he was an accountant from Mumbai; we had a long talk with him about India which was good because it was probably our first conversation with an Indian person that definitely wasn't trying to sell us anything! He was interested in England, so much so he even bought a pound off us (we would have given him the coin but he insisted that he pay!) maybe the Indian entrepreneurship is rubbing off on me!
We arrived in Jaipur, (no delays on the train this time!) yet again the rickshaw driver gave us his whole sales spiel on the way to the hotel. We stayed at Hotel Arya Niwas which is so far the best place we've stayed. Great room, restaurant and the place even had a fixed price shop which didn't try to rip you off.
Jaipur is famous for it's markets and especially so within the pink city (or the old city) which is a walled area i think in the north of the city which also houses the very large city palace. It's called the pink city because supposedly all the buildings are painted pink, now whilst the buildings are all the same colour, i would say its more of an off brown colour or Terracotta to sound nicer! Which makes me think they've either had a great deal on Terracotta paint or the sun has turned everyone colour blind. I didn't have the heart to question it. Anyway the markets were great, there's hundreds of individual stalls, and each road/ Bazaar specializes in something different. There was a lot of Indians shopping there so it certainly wasn't a tourist trap. We got our haggle on and bought some fruit then some sandals and an Indian dress for Sinead. It's right to haggle but sometimes it's over a matter of 50P!
The next day we hired a driver who took us to Amber fort, it's this huge old fort on the top of a hill 10km north of Jaipur. You pay about 4 quid to go in and it's well worth it. They just let you have free run of the place, and you nearly end up getting lost from the countless passageway's and halls; then every so often you stumble across some intricate Indian mosaics or glasswork which makes you stop and look. We ended up climbing some spiral staircase to the top of a small tower; no one must have been there in a while because when we reached the top you could look down through the central atrium and there was about 50 bats sleeping on the walls, we slowly made our exit!
We had wanted to get a elephant ride up to the fort but because they were at a festival we couldn't, but we did see one on the drive back to the hotel just wandering down the road flapping its ears :-)
We then took a train to Udaipur, again we've had a good time here; it's a much quieter city than the others we've been. It surrounds a big lake, and in the middle of it is a man made island complete with a very swanky hotel. If you've seen the Bond film Octop**** then its the island they use for Octop**** s abode.
The lake gave us our first experience on Indian Ghats, these are steps down to the waters edge which people use to bathe, wash their clothes and whatever. We got lucky because we stumbled across a festival whereby hundreds of women came down to the water dressed in spangly Sari's and carrying statues of god's which they proceeded to pray too and offer flowers, it was a great mix of colour. There was a few young children there who spoke to us with great English and jumped up and down for pictures! The lakes also got a few crocodiles rumour has it, but everyone here seems happy to have a bath or a swim in it anyway, nevermind whatever else goes in it!
We're heading to Mumbai today, we're booked onto an overnight sleeper coach so we're passing time until then (that's probably why this is a longer entry than normal!)
Sorry about the lack of pictures, when we can upload some we will!
- comments
jennifer watts Great blog you two, I could happily imagine all what you have been seeing. It seems that you are getting away from the more touristy areas now and experiencing the Indian way of life. Hope you continue to have great experiences and enjoy yourselves. Take care. Lmdx
Jennie Finney Really enjoy reading about what you're up to, keep them coming & hope you enjoy the diversity of Bombay!!!! Lots of love Jennie xx
Dave Whitfield Always haggle Andrew, it's expected. Offer them a third of their asking price Church gate area is nice in Mumbai
Sarah Bowman Sorry I'm late to join the party! Sound fab you two, so pleased you're getting the hang of things. I remember the place, Roger Moore wore a crocodile suit to cross the lake to the island and then got out in an immaculate tux!! Sad old Bond fan. Hope you get your elephant ride at some point. Look forward to your next installment. Sending lots of love xxx