Jaipur

Hello. We've been in Jaipur for the last few days - the last corner of the Golden Triangle (along with Delhi and Agra). And so far by far my favourite city in India. Its a really nice place - atmospheric old 'Pink city' (yes, all the buildings in the old part of the town are painted pink - well, terracotta orange really), but some newer bustling modern bits too. And a really nice hotel for peanuts. Altogether a relaxing stay.

We've seen a lot of the centre of town, including the City Palace and Howa Mahal (Palace of the Winds), but we plan to come back here in a week or two so have left a few things to see for then (its on route to Urdipur, a town built more or less on a lake about 200 km south of here). Next we're off to Jaisalmer - an old fort town in the West of India in the middle of the desert. We plan to leave by sleeper train tomorrow night - I just hope this one doesn't break down on route!

Jaipur Pictures

In the Pink City - cows compete with motorcycles and rickshaws in the busy streets as usual. The strange 2D Palace of the Winds - so the King's consorts could see the street, with no-one seeing in!

Jaipur City Palace: fantastically carved buildings and gateways (and hugely over the top decorations to the rooms inside).


In one courtyard there's a weird open marble hall in the middle. This has no walls, but contains 2 giant solid silver pots (nearly my height) and crystal chandeliers (complete with pigeons roosting on top!)

Agra

We came into Agra, the second leg of the ‘Golden Triangle’ yesterday, on a train leaving Delhi at 06.15am. Painfully early start, but on the plus side on the train we were served breakfast – which scarily consisted of a strange potato thing in breadcrumbs, bread with jam, and a do-it-yourself tea kit – tea bags, sugar and creamer complete with a little flask of boiling water! Weird.When we got into Agra we visited the Fort in the centre of town yesterday, which is big and impressive, with beautiful views of the Taj Mahal over the river. And lots of monkeys chasing each other around the walls! Then of course today we went to the Taj itself. Another early start (groan) as it’s supposed to be best in the early morning light (and there are fewer tourists). I think the best word to describe it is elegant – big too. And very well preserved at the moment compared to the other monuments of its class we’ve seen (such as Angkor Wat and the pyramids – but the Taj Mahal is a lot newer).It was great wandering around, and then wandering the 2km or so back to the hotel. We did get hassled by a few touts on route of course (mainly rickshaw or tuktuk), but to be honest these touts are amateurs compared to those in Egypt! Nowhere near so annoying or persistent! Anyway, better go, as we have to book train tickets to our next destination – Jaipur. Speak to you all soon.

Agra photos

The Taj Mahal (with a very small Vicki in the arch!)

Monkeys at Agra Fort, Taj Mahal in the distance

Delhi

Hello! This is my first entry on this trip, in a grotty internet café in Delhi. Perfect.

I must admit we haven’t exactly rushed much over the past few days – well, we really needed a rest. After working hard over the last few weeks to finish all our various commitments, moving house to London and Wales from Cambridge, and loosing at least two nights sleep in the process we really needed a break. So we’ve spent a good deal of our first few days in India just sleeping!

We arrived in the early hours Tuesday morning, and checked into the ‘Godwin Deluxe Hotel’ in Ram Nagar – a region close to the main New Delhi Station, just next to Paharganj (cheap backpacker land), and about a kilometre north of Connaught Place (the centre of the business district where expensive hotels live). Its definitely one of the more lively areas of town – cows occasionally wander down the street outside the hotel, or bullock type things pull carts – attempting to compete with the rickshaws, taxis, and tuktuks (called autoricksaws in India I believe). Oh, and there appears to be some sort of festival on – one which involves throwing colour at people and lots of banging drums at 3am! They’re hitting them again at the moment – must go outside and have a look.

When we weren’t sleeping, we’ve wandered around town a bit too – around Paharganj and some of south Delhi. North and south in this city are like black and white. The North is much older, poorer, dirtier, whereas the south was constructed by the British (by mass destruction of the old city it seems), and is green, quite, calm, with lovely parks and some ancient Taj Mahal – type tombs scattered around. Certainly a contrast (see photos).

We plan to move on from Delhi tomorrow – not because we’ve seen enough here, but as our flight itinerary dictates we have to come back then we should leave some things to see then! We’re catching the train to Agra at 6.15 in the morning (groan) and expect to spend a few days there before going on to Jaipur to complete the ‘Golden triangle’. And then we’ll decide what we fancy doing next!

Delhi Pictures

A really grand tomb in South Delhi - prizes for anyone who can name it as we've forgotten how to spell it!
India gate at Dusk - with a photogenic tree in the way

The Government buildings at dusk, near the Raj Path to India Gate
A local (cow) near the railway station
The same, grand Tomb in South Delhi - it's meant to be almost as good as the Taj Mahal. We'll tell you soon.

A not quite so grand tomb in South Delhi. WIth scafolding. I can't remember the name of it either though!