Out And About

Thanks to the packet of Sour Cream & Onion Walkers crisps and carton of orange juice that James had bought me I was feeling much better. I managed to get a fruit salad down me chops at breakfast which put me back in the game. We had one more day to explore Jaipur and we knew we had to make the most of it.

First on our agenda for the day was the City Palace. We walked through the streets of Jaipur to get there and unfortunately didn’t see anything of note on the way there. Maybe it was because we had had a bit of a bad start to the whole Jaipur experience, but I wasn’t getting the warm cosy feelings that I got from Delhi or Agra.

When we found the beginnings of the palace, within the red fort walls of the pink city, we took a couple of photos of the famous palace front from the street. There was a couple hanging round outside taking pictures themselves and then asked us if we could take one of them. They were well dressed and their English was very good, possibly with an American twang, and when James had snapped them the guy approached to get his camera back and started a conversation with us. The usual questions headed our way and once again our spidey-senses were beginning to rumble. We had heard about the gem scam in Jaipur whereby they take you to a shop and show you precious gemstones but when you give them the money they switch the gems and give you fake ones. We were on red alert for this and made our excuses to carry on our way. Even if they weren’t scammers we didn’t really have the time or inclination to hang around and chat.

Jaipur Palace...with "scammers" just out of shot 

Once inside the palace we were greeted to a snake-charmer, showing off in front of a group of tourists. He seemed pretty good at his job but we weren’t going to hang around for when he finished and would be asking for money. The palace was great inside and we were treated to a few little museums and displays around the place. There wasn’t a huge amount to see there in all honesty and we weren’t allowed into the palatial chambers, but it was still good just to say that we had done at least something in Jaipur! We grabbed a quick bite to eat in the café and then set about trying to get a tuk-tuk up to the fort that overlooks the city.

What a charming man!

The taxis and tuk-tuks are supposedly pretty cheap in Jaipur so we were looking for around 100 Rupees for the journey, although it seemed quite far on the map. A persistent rickshaw driver kept asking us where we wanted to go, but we didn’t even tell him as he would’ve taken 2 days to get us there as it was all uphill! We managed to find a tuk-tuk guy that would take us for 100 Rupees, but after 20 metres along the way he tried to get us to pay 150. Basically, he just didn’t want to go all the way up there and have to come back under his own steam. After a slightly heated debate I barked 120 Rupees to just get us there and he begrudgingly set off.

That is until we got onto the main street where he stopped again to point up to the fort and claim that it was very far away and the fare should be 150. We ignored his pleas and forced him to carry on the journey. It was a long way, and as we climbed the hill we decided to accept his offer of 300 for a return journey, mainly because we didn’t know if there would be any other tuk-tuks up there and we didn’t want to get stranded up at the fort. That seemed to cheer him up a bit.

We walked round the fort and there were spectacular views all round. Unfortunately we had chosen the same day to visit as a load of idiots who were running round the place screaming and shouting. Some of them would also request photos of/with us which we posed for, but under the proviso that they would be quick. After exploring the buildings we took a walk around the walls and the surrounding area and were again accosted by people trying to guide us round the area. One thing I will remember about Jaipur is that they are persistent little fellas.

James saw a tuk-tuk for the first time...

On the journey back down the mountain road we happened to stop by a group of 5 people who appeared to have tried to walk back, but were now too tired and needed a lift. After a brief discussion and a few pleas from the kids we allowed them to clamber on and we all set off back down the mountain. We got to the bottom and dropped them off and then carried on back to the palace. He had been trying to get even more money out of us on the way back but after getting the little extra fare he was happy to get his 300 Rupees from us.

The fort on the hill

As my energy levels still weren’t back to normal we made our way back to the hotel to crash out for a while. In order to ensure we didn’t encounter any more food bugs we found a nearby Pizza Hut and that was our destination for dinner. OK it’s a bit of a cop-out but we are so close to the end it’s like conceding a goal in the 95 minute, so we want to make sure we make it through to the end in good health.