Jaipur

Pearl Palace Heritage Hotel

The train ride was disappointing to the point of being miserable. It was too short a journey for a sleeper car, and the bed was less comfortable than a sleeping bag on a peat bog. Lesson learned – don’t book a first-class sleeper coach on a short journey.

In delightful contrast, however, the hotel we stayed at was exceptional. Each room at the Pearl Palace Hotel is themed. Ours was inspired by the Buddhist complex, Sanchi, and looked stunning. The hotel punched way above its 3-star rating by a significant margin.

Jaipur City

Jaipur is very pink. Why so? Because it is the law.

More specifically, Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh ordered the city to be painted pink, viewed as the colour of hospitality, to welcome the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) in 1876. And the preservation of the city’s colour was subsequently enshrined in law. The hue is actually more terracotta than the Barbie pink depicted in some Instagram posts. This subtlety works exceptionally well and provides a lovely consistency to the city.

The Hawa Mahal was built by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh to allow the royal household ladies to ogle at the comings and goings of the city without having to mingle with the rabble. The views on one side are of the Jantar Mantar (more on that later) and on the other of the Sireh Deori Bazaar.

As we were passing the Sireh Deori Bazaar, we got talking to a young fella who clearly wanted to practice his English (we stand out here like the proverbial sore thumb). He told us that a cheaper option to climbing the nearby landmark tower would be to go around the back of the shops, climb a set of steps and see the city from up there. And, ignoring the risk of death from the stairs trying to shake themselves free of the building, he was right.

Our first destination with our guide, Guarav, was for a traditional Chai tea made in the traditional way – not by a Starbucks barista. This was surprisingly good.

Amber Palace

Next was towards the Amber Palace (or Amer Fort), constructed in 1592 by Raja Man Singh. The rest is on Wikipedia.

On the way, we spotted an elephant going towards his wedding duty.

And stopped at the Panna Meena Ka Kund

This step well is one of the most photographed places in Jaipur, and it’s easy to see why. There are approximately 100 of these in Jaipur, but this must be the most visually stunning.

Cows are ubiquitous in India, so why not use the byproduct? It burns well, apparently.

Then, we entered the Amber Palace, where we were greeted by this incredible musician. There’s not much in the way of words here because the photographs show it all.

Gaitor Ki Chhatriyan – Royal Crematorium

It’s hard to find a deeper explanation of the Gaitor Ki Chhatriyan other than that it’s where the royals were cremated. Probably the best explanation is on https://www.jaipurstuff.com/gaitore-ki-chhatriyan-exploring-jaipurs-royal-cenotaphs/

Elephants, Lunch and the Jantar Mantar

Here’s another elephant on the job:

Gaurav took us for lunch before we headed to the Jantar Mantar. Only a few rupees but excellent food – and somehow I didn’t manage to dye my T-shirt.

Here’s an extract from Wikipedia:

The Jantar Mantar is a collection of 19 astronomical instruments built by the Rajputking Sawai Jai Singh, the founder of Jaipur, Rajasthan. The monument was completed in 1734.^[1][2] It features the world’s largest stone sundial, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.^[1][3] It is near City Palace and Hawa Mahal.^[4] The instruments allow the observation of astronomical positions with the naked eye.^[1] The observatory is an example of the Ptolemaic positional astronomy which was shared by many civilizations.^[1][2]

And to add our take to it – it’s an amazing place to stroll around and is fascinating, if not frustrating, to try to work out how things work.

A Cinematic Interlude and the Monkey Temple

The Raj Mandir is allegedly the largest single-screen cinema in SE Asia. It is also a well-known landmark and looks like a lavishly decorated cake. So, with nothing else to do on our second day in Jaipur, we booked tickets for the morning show to watch Pushpa 2 – in Hindi.

We couldn’t understand anything that was being said, but we got the sentiment. The cinema-goers here are fully invested in the experience – think attending a football match – so it was a livelier experience than anticipated. It was definitely worth going. And later, when we got back to Delhi, we watched Pushpa one in English to retrospectively understand what was happening.

Galtaji Temple (Monkey Temple)

We heard about the Monkey Temple so many times from so many people that we persuaded ourselves to go.

It’s an odd place, though. The tuk-tuk drivers have the journey up to the temple stitched up tighter than a backstitch. Taxi drivers have to stop at the base of the hill to the Galtaji Temple to hand over their cargo of fresh tourist meat to the local tuk-tuk drivers, whose job is to extract as much money as possible for the ride up there. I can’t remember how much we paid, but it was a healthy discount on the initial bid.

There’s more on this place on t’internet, but we found it very odd indeed.

I think at this point, we were offered a photograph with a monkey on our shoulders. For good luck, he said. We said no.

The only downside of the hotel is that it does not have its own restaurant. Breakfast is available, but dinner is not. To compensate, they offer free transportation to a sister hotel, which has a great restaurant. But the restaurant is outside on the top floor of the hotel, and it was freezing – as witnessed by the blankets and rictus smile in the photograph below.

And the next morning, it was time to leave. I pre-ordered an Uber for the ride to the train station, which arrived bang on time.

Then, we headed towards our platform via the Touriest Facility Centre.

Next stop Delhi for an overnight stay before flying to Amritsar.