Country roads and Jaipur: Photos
December 22:
The five hour ride to Jaipur is not quite as wild as the ride between Delhi and Agra. However, we cracked up when, as well were thrown back and forth on a one way dirt path that had been washed out by the monsoons and asked what the "road" was called, our driver said "the national highway" And it WAS the national highway! Our driver cracked up as well. However, since this was the road where a tourist and guide had just been killed, we pulled our seat belts tight and were glad we were in an SUV and not an Ambassador. There are at least six accidents along the road as we travel--trucks collided, tractors overturned, cars in ditches. Stopped at Fatehpur Sikri along the way. Very interesting.
Random thought: There are no cats in India. Seriously, never saw a cat anywhere. Dogs are ubiquitous as are goats, pigs, monkeys and cows, but no cats.
We passed a group of tents along the way to Jaipur and I mentioned how beautiful the women were. Our driver Kewal dryly said "that is a red light district" Oh, my....
Field after field of mustard flowers. We stopped to give some children pens and stickers. Make sure to bring pens and stickers to India. Finally arrived at Oberoi RajVilas--named the 3rd best hotel in the world by Travel and Leisure in 2005. Two magnificent elephants with gorgeous jeweled blankets on their back are at the entrance and salute as you arrive (the contrasts in India are crazy). Raj Vilas is gorgeous, but we think that we would have preferred staying in Jaipur proper at the Rambaugh Palace. Raj Vilas is great for a resort destination, but not the best for site seeing. It is a 20 minute (bumpy, ugly) drive to town everytime you want to leave the property.
Went to see the Samode Havali (hotel) in Jaipur and would recommend it. Gorgeous courtyard, great locations, nice rooms. Nowhere near as posh as Raj Vilas or Rambaugh, but very nice and half the price.
December 23rd:
Visited Pink city, astronomy center and Palace of Winds. Later took elephants to Amber fort. Tip: since the accident in September when a guide was stomped to death of an angry elephant, they have decreased the number of elephants by half and only let them do three rides a day. Therefore, if you want to get an elephant ride in the morning, you need to get there by 7AM. However, if you go at 1PM in the afternoon, there is hardly any crowd at all and you get right up. We actually walked up to the fort in the morning (it is an easy walk) and then took the elephant ride in the early afternoon just for a photo op. We had a great dinner at an unbelievably low price at a restaurant called "Indiana" in Jaipur. Great local dancing. Piping hot, excellent food. Casual. Would highly recommend.
December 25th:
We were at Raj Vilas for Christmas and they did a nice job celebrating the holiday. Unfortunately, most of the major shops were closed for Christmas day, so we didn't get to do any jewelry shopping. However, I made up for that later ;-)
Off to Jodhpur....A favorite city--tied with Vananasi as my favorite
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 | Permalink | Posted by Patricia Pomerleau on Sunday, January 22, 2006 |
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