Jaipur, the pink city, is a gritty, contrasting city where the great walls of the old city divide a modern day India and all it’s mobile phone stores and fashion shops from seemingly more traditional street scenes of Indian textiles, handicrafts and jewelry. The walls of the old city represent what was once a walled pink city containing the 200-300,000 inhabitants of Jaipur, including the Maharaja and the royal palace, which is definitely worth a look when visiting. Population growth over the years though has meant that the wall is only visible in glimpses due to the expansion of city buildings and the need to inhabit a little over 3,000,000 people today.
Fortunately there are some relatively peaceful areas in parts of Jaipur and a little area called Kabir Marg, just 5mins from the train station, has been the place to the lay our head. From Kabir Marg it has been relatively easy to visit tourist sites and shopping areas. We have found that the cheapest and easiest way to see Jaipur in a short amount of time was by taking a full day trip with a rickshaw driver that our hotel had organised for us. It only cost us about AUD$13 and it was worth it because our driver told us where to be careful with our bags, a bit of history and the distances we covered was quite long. Be careful though because some rickshaw drivers will take you to textile shops or drive you further and ask for more money (apparently our rate was fixed by govt, even though he told us to say it was being metered if we came across a police check…).
The main attractions that are worth seeing around Jaipur are; the Hawa Mahal (a temple that the maharajah would attend), the Royal Palace (where the royal family still reside), Jantar Mantar (a world heritage site and once the maharajahs personal astrology park), Amber Fort (a huge fort on the outskirts of Jaipur, equipped with walls running the length of hillsides), and of course the famous water palace (built by the maharajah, which utilises water as natural air conditioning during the heat of summer, it’s also seen in the movie 007 Octopussy).
After a full day seeing the sites of Jaipur we were pretty ready to head back to the hotel, as today was also the day that India succeeded in breaking us down, chewing us up and spitting us out…
We had been coping pretty well with all the hassling from touts, rickshaw drivers, etc but our full day of sight seeing in Jaipur seemed to be particularly annoying. Maybe it was the constant requests by Indian tourists to take our photo (most of the time we were very rudely asked, as if it was our obligation) or the constant haggling for purchasing items (it seems browsing is not an option for tourists, only buying). We would suggest that if you are planning a DIY trip to India prepare to meet only a few genuinely friendly people (especially in the touristy areas) as most people treat tourists as a commodity and are only talking to you because they want your money (even the few nice Indian people we met told us that this is the case, so I’m glad we are not just paranoid). The next day was spent seeing M.I. road, the main shopping and services area and we couldn’t leave before trying a famous sweet Lassi from Lassi Wala, a very cool little roadside shop which has served plain Lassi in terracotta pots since 1944.
And that was Jaipur for us. It ended up being a good introduction to Rajasthan and only 4 hours from Agra by train. We have noticed that the landscape has changed from flat to a kind of mountainous, desert like view and there are a few changes in architecture and culture like the presence of camels heaving heavy trailers amongst the traffic and turban clad snake charmers playing their flutes to sinister looking cobras.
Tips for Jaipur
– Get yourself ready for photo requests at tourist sites and go with it (even though it may seem REALLY weird and kinda creepy) or prepare to be hastled a lot!
– Hire a motor rickshaw for the day, it works out a lot cheaper than individual trips
– Buy a composite ticket for the major sites in Jaipur, you save about 2-300 INR and it is valid for 2 days
– Visit Lassi Wala for really, really good Lassi. The shop is on M.I. Road, the sign says ‘since 1944’ and the street number is 312 (there are lots of fakes).
The Adventures of Lames McFuzzy 