We’ve been in Jaipur for 4 days now, which leaves me with rather a lot to tell. That said I’m trying my best to keep these entries short and readable. So, here goes.

Jaipur is the third corner of India’s Golden Triangle, our two previous destinations being the other two corners. The city itself is huge but the old town is surrounded by pink walls with most of the buildings are inside also painted pink. On Sunday we went into the city palace which was reasonably impressive, followed by the Royal Observatory which is full of large astronomy / time telling type things. The most impressive of which was a huge sun dial (some 15-20 metres high) which can tell the time accurate to two seconds.

While admiring Jaipur’s prime landmark, the Hawa Mahal, a shop keeper started talking to us in Spanish. We were chatting about general tourists in Jaipur for about 15 minutes before he managed to draw us into his shop. Espe ended up buying a pashmina (shawl) and we asked about getting silk sleeping sacks made up. I left feeling reasonably happy having haggled the price down for said taylor made sleeping sacks. It took me a little while to realise that we’d been done over. We were paying western prices and the whole point of buying the sleeping sacks in India was to save money. Espe was even more annoyed having bought a Pashmina at tourist prices that she didn’t really want. Yes, these are expert salesmen. They know all the tricks.

On the Monday we decided to try and escape the hustle and bustle by walking up to one of the city’s surrounding hills to a fort with palace within. It wasn’t until we reached the top that we realised just how big the city is. The tourist center is surrounded as far as the eye can see. A very much needed relaxing day. Tiger fort, is relatively untouched by tourists, and is all the better for it. I was far more impressed by this than the city palace we saw the previous day.

Tuesday was spent running around, chocking on pollution and generally getting a big headache. First we went to the station to try and arrange our tickets. At the information desk they do not give any useful information, while at the ticket desk when inquiring they will arrange you a ticket without asking if it is actually what you want. Unfortunately for us the two best options for getting down to Cochin were both fully booked (and with no one able to explain how the waiting list works we chose not to risk it). So instead we have two trains. The first to Mumbai is small 18 hour journey. The one from Mumbai to Cochin goes the long way and takes a whopping 32 hours. Along with a 9 hour wait in Mumbai it will take us until Sunday to get there. This is less than ideal, but the tickets were thrust at us before we even figured out what was going on.

After the station fiasco we went back to the shop to collect our silk sleeping bags. They were nicely done, but in reality not what we wanted. Given the price we’d agreed on (not far off western prices) and some problems with the quality of the silk we were not at all happy. Somehow, Espe managed to argue the price down by 1000 rupees and get a refund on a pashmina that she was pressured into buying previously that turned out to be damaged. I’d figured we only get a like for like replacement and few hundred rupees off the sleeping sacks at most. Hell knows no fury like the scorn of a women.

Today we went over to a Hindu Temple named Monkey Palace. The place is truly wonderful. For the best part of our time there we were the only tourists and so got the full attention of the religious residents. This place was a true peace haven, separated from the chaos of Jaipur by a rocky hill. When leaving Espe became the main attraction with Indian boys queuing up to be photographed with her.

This afternoon we had another new experience. A Indian film in and Indian cinema. Full to capacity (1500 people) there was quite an atmosphere. I really enjoyed all three hours of it. The film was tacky and cheesy in places, full of stereotypes with fantastic music. Despite not understanding any Hindi the plot was simple to follow and the odd English phrase here and there helped out. Any of the Harrow lot who have seen “Vivah” could you add a comment to explain why the mother in the bride’s house was so angry all the time.

Last post for a while. Got a long train journey ahead.