Jaipur, Agra and Khajuraho

We arrived in Jaipur very late and so just headed straight for a place we'd read about in our book.  The rooms were lovely but priced a bit out of our budget but we were so tired after the bus we decided to just treat ourselves for the night and find somewhere cheaper in the morning.  After a relaxing sleep and a nice hot shower we went to check out.  They asked why we weren't staying, we were honest and told them that it was a bit out of our price range to which they responded by offering us their "wifi room".  This was a room which had one computer in it but also two beds made up on the floor.  Because we couldn't really be bothered moving our bags again we accepted their kind offer of the Wifi room for Rs150 a night, roughly £1.50.   It was actually a very comfortable wee room and other backpackers had left lovely messages all over the walls which were nice to read.  

We met our first scottish back packer since arriving in India! Him and his Aussie girlfriend were doing some travelling in india before emigrating to Australia.  His girlfriend remembered that we had all actually already met briefly on a bus from Udaipur to Jodhpur.  It's such a huge country but we've actually met a few people more than once since arriving.  After breakfast we walked from our accommodation down to the Pink City which was about 1.5km away.  We visited Jantar Mantar which has loads of huge astronomical devices which were built in the 1700's.  We hadn't seen any restaurants or cafes since arriving in the pink city so we grabbed some tasty street food for the pricey sum of around 40p for the two of us.  After our lunch we visited the Palace of the winds and Albert Hall which were both very beautiful.  Kay had caught a cold in Pushkar from one of the girls in our dorm room and wasn't feeling very well so we got a tuk tuk back to the accommodation in time for dinner.  

The restaurant service in India has been generally painfully slow but this place took the biscuit! Kay waited almost an hour and a half for some tomato soup which when it arrived tasted like cuppa soup! My dinner was tasty though, and arrived ages before Kay's did.

The next day we went on a wee tour to some places outside of Jaipur.  We were first taken to Amber Fort which was really impressive and very ornate.  We were then taken to Elephant Village so we could spend some time feeding the elephants.  We could have done a ride, it wasn't too expensive, but we are planning to do one in Thailand so just spent some time hugging the elephants and giving them food!  We watched a couple who were doing a ride try to get onto the elephant by climbing up the trunk.  The guy managed ok as the elephant moved its trunk to help him once he started but his girlfriend didn't get the same courtesy when the elephant decided not to help her.  she was just dangling from its ears while we all laughed.   We asked the driver to take us to a washing ghat which had loads of cool stairs down to it which looked like something out of The Labyrinth and then we went to see the water palace on the way back to the city which was pretty but nothing in comparison to Udaipur's Palace.   

The driver dropped us back on MI road which is the main road running through Jaipur and we headed in the direction of our accommodation.  We stopped at a famous Lassie shop which is a yogurty drink that they have here.  We have had flavoured ones in restaurants but they only had Sweet or Salted on offer here.  The lassie was served in clay pot/mugs and when we went to hand them back when we were finished they told us just to chuck them in a big metal bit at the front of the shop.  We couldn't decided if they would recycle them somehow or if they were one use only? I hope they are recycling them, it's very wasteful if not.

We went to a place called Pearl Palace for dinner which had been recommended to us by the Scottish/Aussie couple.  The food was really tasty and they had a wee paragraph about each star signs eating habits and they were actually pretty spot on! 

We woke up early on our last day in Jaipur so that we could go to the monkey temple before heading to our bus.  We got a tuk tuk along to the bottom of the path and it was only a twenty minute walk or so up to the temple.  The temple isn't anything spectacular but there are 5000 monkeys living around the temple which was very cool to see.  I'm not sure we saw that many but there was a lot.  We bought some nuts at the bottom of the path and they showed us how we should give them to the monkeys to make sure we don't get scratched.  When we started walking up the hill one monkey came trundling along towards us, I duly held a nut in the way we were shown but the wee *beep came and grabbed the whole bag out of my other hand!! 

Our bus journey to Agra was a bit of a white knuckle ride! They drive like absolute maniacs here! They don't need to get a licence here which probably has a lot to do with it.  They quite often drive the wrong way around roundabouts and we encountered quite a few trucks driving towards us on the wrong side of the duel carriageway, whatever they were up to.  We arrived in Agra quite late but our accommodation was really nice and had a view of the Taj Mahal from the roof top restaurant.

We woke up really early (5am) so we could go and see the sunrise at the Taj Mahal.  We spent a few hours here taking photos.  It's so impressive and very beautiful, especially seeing all the different colours as the sun rises.  The Taj Mahal is a symbol of love but here are some interesting facts you may not know: 

1.  Mumtaz was Shahjahan's 4th(!!) wife out of 7!

2. Shahjahan killed Mumtaz's husband so he could marry her

3. Mumtaz died during her 14th(!!) labour

4. After her death Shahjahan married Mumtaz's sister!!

There are other things to do in Agra apart from the Taj but we decided to spend the day catching up on our laundry and writing and sending some postcards.  We should have bought some postcards from each place that we've been but instead had to settle for sending mostly postcards of the Taj Mahal.  We managed to find a few that weren't of the Taj but they look like they were produced in the 70's!  We met the Scottish/Aussie couple again at the Taj...I think they're following us around India!  Our laundry man was one of the nicest people we've met.  He was so happy and jolly and when we brought him our washing he made us sit with him and have chai and then more chai when we collected it.  We are both addicted to chai and can never decline an offer of sweet lovely chai.

We left Agra early the next morning and took a train down to Khajuraho. Khajuraho is famous for having temples which are carved with erotic images, these are said to be based on the Kama Sutra.  It's quite a small place and so we managed to visit all the temples over the two days that we were there.  Our accommodation in Khajuraho was amazing, they came to collect us at the train station which was a lovely surprise and took the stress away of having to negotiate a tuk tuk ourselves.  we were stuck in doors on the first night when there was torrential rain, and so they taught us to play an Indian card game which was more or less poker and we taught them to play rummy.  We went for some cake and chai at a wee patisserie type shop here.  Our eyes were bigger than our bellies though and we couldn't even finish the scrumptious cake.  What was not scrumptious, was the chai.  I started to drink mine and thought it tasted weird so I asked Kay but she was still so bunged up with the cold that she couldn't really taste anything.  I drank some more and again thought it tasted weird when I suddenly saw the label on the tea bag which was still in the cup....it was Earl Grey! A warning to anyone that hasn't had the misfortune of trying it, Earl Grey with milk and sugar is rancid! Kay's was lemon tea (!) with milk and sugar but fortunately for her she couldn't taste it!

Only a week left in India which is making us sad :( time has flown in so quickly and at the same time Mumbai feels like a million years ago.  

Jodhpur and Pushkar

Arrived in Jodhpur on the bus journey from hell at stupid o'clock in the morning so headed to the train station to sit until it was a more reasonable hour to go in search of accommodation.  The sleeper buses in India are actually quite luxurious ( compared to the trains anyway), but the roads are horrendous and I think the driver purposefully aims for every massive pot hole just for some entertainment.  They actually tried to chuck us off the bus on the side of the highway where some rickshaws were waiting,to rob us blind presumably,for a ride to where we should have been dropped, but we stood our ground and demanded they take us to the train station, luckily there were some Indians helping fight our corner for us.  

We had breakfast at the train station and some lovely chai and got a rickshaw to a place we had read about in our book.  The book was saying that it was a reasonably priced place to stay, but I think things have changed since the book was written as he was showing us, granted very lovely rooms, for Rs1500 which is about £15. This might sound cheap but when everywhere apart from Mumbai has been £3-4 a night for the two of us we weren't about to start shelling out that much.  We'd passed a few places on the way so I stayed with the bags and Kay went in search of somewhere more in our price range.  Because we hadn't slept on the journey from Udaipur we decided to go for a wee nap before going to see what Jodhpur had to offer.

Our accommodation was really well positioned for all the touristy things (there isn't much!) so we decided to walk up to the fort of Jodhpur which was only about 10minute walk away.  As far as things go here, it was pretty expensive, for the two of us and a camera it cost Rs700 but included in that cost was an audio guide.  We spent a couple of hours walking around the fort which was very beautiful and had some amazing views of the blue city below.  It was getting quite late and as we weren't 100% confident in the way back to the accommodation we walked quickly to the white temple which wasn't far from the fort to take some more photos, we got some lovely ones of the sun setting behind the fort.  

We went in search of a restaurant that we'd read about in our book once we walked back down from the fort but got a bit lost and ended up at the clock tower which is surrounded by a market.  A guy came and spoke to us claiming that he worked at our accommodation and told us that the restaurant that we were looking for didn't open until 7pm but that we should go to a "government" shop where we could buy designer clothes even that famous English design house Chanel....I think you mean French!? We eventually convinced him that we didn't have any money for shopping and headed in the direction of the restaurant which he had kindly given us directions to, but again advised it was shut.  Of course it wasn't really shut and of course he didn't really work at our hotel but god loves a trier!  The restaurant looked lovely but was very expensive, they've maybe put up their prices since being in the guide book, we were so tired we decided to just go back and have dinner at our accommodation. It was nothing to write home about but filled a hole at the time. 

The next morning we went on a village safari with two others from the hostel, we took a jeep out to some local villages where they made different crafts.  The first village was one where they made clay pots.  We watched the guy making all sorts of things from spice pots to candle holders.  He made it look so easy but we learnt this isn't the case when we were allowed to try for ourselves.  Other things we saw were rug making and opium tea which is technically illegal in India but apparently they turn a blind eye to it out in the sticks.  We saw our first elephant walking along the street but the driver was too slow and didn't stop to allow us to take any photos in time.  We had lunch at the family house of our guide, we had some really lovely spicy potatoes and chapatti.  I'm loving the food here but because we're eating out two to three times a day we have tried everything they have to offer on the menus and are starting to sicken ourselves of a few things.  We do treat ourselves to the odd veggie burger or French toast just to eat something bland. 

There wasn't a lot to do in Jodhpur and you could probably squeeze it all into a day if you really wanted to so we spent quite a lot of time just wandering the streets and markets just looking at stuff.  They had a Mr Softy machine in the market and you could get really lovely ice cream for about 15p.  Kay had to drag we away from there each day kicking and screaming! We went to eat at a place called The Omelette Man  and I'm sure I won't need to tell you what we ate there.  It's a really famous wee place right next to the clock tower and it's literally some stools on the street and one man with a frying pan.  He claims he can go through 1000 eggs a day! For about 55p you could get a delicious big omelette sandwiched between two slices of sweet bread and a steaming hot cup of chai. 

Our bus to Pushkar (Ajmer) left at 10.30pm and we were told that it would arrive at about 4.30am which wasn't ideal but we figured we would spend a couple of hours in the train station until day light.  We were rudely shouted about 3am and told that we were in Ajmer.  We hurriedly packed our things and made our way off the bus but because we were so disorientated we didn't realise until it was too late that they'd managed to just dump us a the side of the highway! With only one rickshaw demanding Rs400 to drive us to the train station we had no choice but to pay it as there was no one else, we were in the middle of no where, at the edge of a slum, it was 3am and he wasn't willing to budge at all on the price! Furious doesn't even come close to how we felt that morning and as soon as we were in our accommodation and connected to their wifi I sent our travel agent a message going bananas at him for booking us on a bus that would arrive a that time in the morning!  He has tried to book us on more buses but we went so mad that he is cancelling them (at his cost) and booking us on the trains that he should have booked us on and that we paid him through the nose for.  The amount of money that we paid for them to book our train tickets has been the biggest "lesson" so far in India.

We sat in the train station until morning and then took an 11 pence bus ride to Pushkar.  We had booked ourselves into a dorm room before we left Jodhpur for £1.20 a night.  When we got off the bus we had to navigate through the usual wall of rickshaw drivers trying to get your custom but we thought our accommodation was within walking distance (we were wrong) but when we told one of them that we didn't need a ride as we were staying at Milkman Hotel (yes that is the name!) he said he would take us for free as the owner was his friend.  I don't really believe that they are friends and I am sure he will receive commission for dropping us there but that's not really our issue, we were just happy to catch a break after our awful morning.

Our accommodation here is fine, a little rough around the edges but what do you expect for £1.20 a night!  It's the first dorm we've slept in since we arrived but we were so tired from another sleepless bus journey we managed to get a couple of hours shut eye once we arrived.  We woke about lunch time and decided to shower and make the most of the rest of the day.  We had some banana and chocolate pancakes for lunch and then walked down to the lake which is surrounded by 500 temples.  Your shoes need to be removed and no photos can we taken, although I think Kay managed to sneak a few in when we walked around.  There are a few people trying to sell you flowers so you can put them in the water while they conduct prayers.  Our book said it was wise to do it as they wouldn't leave you alone until you had a string bracelet which showed you had.  A guest in our dorm advised that it was all nonsense though and that no real priest would ask you for money to conduct a blessing and so just to ignore them which we have duly done.  They haven't actually bothered us too much since we arrived.  We had dinner at our accommodation which was a huge portion blandness and had an early night.

Trip advisor lists the 8 attractions of Pushkar to be a camel safari, the lake and 6 temples.  Since we'd already seen the lake and aren't allowed into the temples as tourists we decided to do a wee camel ride today.  We had a lazy morning followed by a long lunch at one of the roof top restaurants overlooking the lake.  We are really thankful that we decided to only do a one hour camel ride and I'm not sure my legs could have taken much more.  They were really sore from clenching so tightly through fear of falling off! A girl at our hostel said she did a two day trip into the dessert and she actually did fall off! She was showing us her hoof shaped bruise from where it stomped on her! It's been a nice relaxing couple of days here...of to Jaipur tomorrow.