November 15, 2006 Jaipur

Pavan and Rita in Jai Gadh, Jaipur
(Photo taken by our guide, Laxman Singh Shekhawat)

November 15th 2006

Neelam left early at 6.30 am. Sunil's brother drove her to the airport.

We had breakfast at Hotel Arya Niwas - Rs 203.06 for Pavan and myself.

We had requested a taxi from Arya Niwas to go to Tonk, but some confusion delayed the trip, so we switched our next day's plans with today. We decided to sight see Jaipur today and go to Tonk tomorrow.

We were given an Ambassador Taxi with Mr Sarawan Singh Pawar as our driver. Not sure about the taxi and the driver, we did not want to make any long term commitments for the rest of the trip. So, we headed out to sight see Jaipur, the taxi seats were covered with white toweling cloth fitted seat covers, and had white curtains in the back window. It was a white taxi with the symbol "Tourist" in a circle with a straight line than ran around the taxi. Honestly, I was hoping this old Ambassador was not our taxi when we came out after breakfast. But, soon we were to experience otherwise.

9.05 am, we went to RTDC hotels to get some more information, but the office does not open till 10 am, and they close at 5 pm. We were planning to stay in some RTDC's across Rajasthan, so wanted to be able to check some of them.

9.20 am, we went to Hawa Mahal (front only) saw the snake charmers, somehow they start performing as soon as they see some tourists/foreigners. Normally they are just sitting doing nothing. That looks terrible. But during this photo shoot, one of the snakes really came too close to me. I had to quickly pull back.

Took photos of some very colorful Juttis displayed in a makeshift roadside shop.

9.33 am Left Hawa Mahal for Amer Fort

We were driven up to the Amer Fort by taxi, did not realize till later that we paid Rs 100 extra for the drive all the way up, but it was definitely worth the money as the climb was too steep for us to cover on foot.

Paid Rs 20 for parking and Rs 100 at the Gate for Entry to the Fort.

There were lots of Langoors and there was one who found a "gende ke phool ki maala" - a garland made from marigold flowers - and ate almost all of it. There is a major rehab going on here too, but despite that there were a lot of people - mostly foreigners - taking pictures. We were told we can get a full view of the Amer fort from Jai Gadh.

11.20 am Reached Jai Gadh, famous for the Jai Top -pronounced as in dope - it is a huge gun carriage, I believe, the largest in the world.

At Jai Gadh, we were escorted by one of their local officials, Laxman Singh Shekhawat. A very passionate Rajput, who was delightful in his narration about the history and the facts about this Gadh. Since the Fort is very simple and ordinary and most things are underground, I asked him what was the need for the undergrounds? He said, Rajput hain na. Some of his stories about Akbar and Birbal was so interesting that I wished I was carrying our camcorder or some audio device to record him. He explained in detail and even was a bit curt with some orientals, he considers all of them "Chinese" and said, hamare upar waar karte hain, phir aakar hamara desh dekhna chaate hain. I politely told him, they may be Japanese or Korean, he calmed down saying "haan haan, woh bhi". He gave us a very good tour of the Gadh and explained in detail each and every room with his constant running commentary. At the end of the trip we took some pictures of him, and one even with me, and Pavan thought he gave him Rs 100 (a little over $2) as tip. He was truly touched, as on leaving us, he said, Saab, till today, no one has given me such a big tip. Sure, he was happy, as Pavan had, by mistake, given him a Rupee 500 bill. Well, he deserved it, as we were really happy with his commentary and entertainment.

I don't think Pavan and I can ever forget Laxman Singh Shekhawat. A true and passionate Rajput.

1.15 pm Reached Tiger Fort. Tiger Fort gets its name from its Maharaja - Nar Singh, it is almost in ruins now, but still well maintained . It is a large Haveli, and the upstairs has narrow alleys. Must have been built for large joint families to live together without getting in each others way, as it had a lot entrances to different quarters from within its courtyard. Tired by now, we wanted to get something to eat.

1.55 Left Tiger Fort to get lunch.

Sarawan Singh took us to Suraj Restaurant, a nice local Rajasthani restaurant, where the food was excellent. The place was packed but we were led to a room in the back where they serve mostly tourists and foreigners. We ordered mineral water and Rajasthani thaalis, a very good experience. After the meal, the manager came by to ask us how we liked the food. We had to wait a while for the food to be served, but the place was packed and they serve fresh cooked food, so it was worth the wait - paid Rs 219 plus tip.

After lunch, we went to Vrindavan Gardens right outside the restaurant. It was not a very impressive garden. It had a view of a big hotel on top, which looked quite impressive.

On our way back, we stopped at the Jal Mahal, which has no Jal (water) and the Mahal is in ruins and under renovations, so no one is allowed to visit indise . But we stopped anyway and took some photos of the Mahal from distance. There were two very happy looking women selling berries and papad, and we got some very nice portraits of them while we talked to them. We did not want to buy anything from them but tipped them nicely for allowing us to capture their portraits on our cameras.

Returned via RTDC information center and got the required information.

Back at the hotel, Pavan tipped Sarawan Singh Rs 100 and were very happy with his curteous and helpful attitude and signed up at the hotel for his services for the next day to go to Tonk.

Back in the room, uploaded our pictures on our laptop and after dinner at the hotel, settled down to view our day's haul. We were very happy with the day's events.