Saturday, 3/28/09 Jaipur, India

Arrived at old Jaipur and Amber Fort. Paren (taxi driver) drove all the way to the base of the fort via 1 lane alleys and brick roads. Many old brick buildings in ruins- road too!

The views from the upper walls were spectacular. The palace is massive and we don't even come close to visiting all the open parts of it, let alone the closed parts.

We tried "ice cream" on a stick but it was nasty so no more of that.

After Amber Fort, we left to drive way around to Jaigarh Fort, which is way up the hill from amber. It is just as big as Amber I think. Views here are more spectacular because of the altitude in relation.

There is a building down below where the king Jai used to hunt lions from the roof.

Right from there is another building that looks like it acts as a dam and so has water in a lake next to it.

The wall seems to go on for ever around the city and the forts.

We left Jaigarh and headed SW towards "new" Jaipur. We stopped at Jal Mahal which is a palace that seems to be in the middle of a lake (Man Sagar). We got out to take some pics. A guy followed us most of the time wanting us to buy his (crude) violin like instrument which he was pretty good at playing. Ranveer bought a helping of cut up really long skinny cucumber. They tasted like them too. Tracey was interested in the instrument and Manoj and her tried tit out but couldn't agree on price which started at 100 rupees. In the end, Manoj called him back and Tracey ended up with it for 80 rupees or approximately $1.50 US.

We left Jal Mahal and went to where the hotel where we had reservations, but Ranveer was not impressed. So we left and found the Golden Tulip, which was similar in quality to the hotel in Noida. Then we checked in and relaxed for a couple hours.

We left the hotel around 7 or 730 and drove through streets looking for Indiana Restaurant. When we found it, we sat at a table right next to group of 3 guys playing drum, singing, and playing harmonium (looks like the cross between a keyboard and an accordion). There was also a girl dancing (Rajistani folk dance). Ranveer and Tracey took pictures and we saw they did not serve "drinks", so we left to find a bar.

We went to a bar in the Maurya Hotel which was nice because, at first, we were all alone. Tracey and I had old monk with Pepsi. Ranveer and Manoj had blenders pride and Royal Staff whiskey respectively with Pepsi and water. Manoj and Tracey had 3 and Tracey was "on her way". Ranveer and I only had 2 and I was pretty tired at first but got a second wind somewhere. With drinks, we had french fries and masala peanuts (incentives :) and masala papad, which is like tortillas with spicy, non juicy, salsa. We left here and went to a restaurant (CM Regency) out in the shopping district. We were led upstairs to an air conditioned area. Ranveer argued with them because they were requiring us to purchase 4 meals and none of us was all that hungry. We left there and went next door to a similar room upstairs and ordered 2 combination plates with several different tins full of rice/liquids/sweets etc along with breads. Manoj and I talked about cars, trucks and tractors as they drove by on the street below. We left and went back to the hotel. Once there, I called home and talked to Cathi to let her know we had made it to Jaipur ok. I set alarm for 830am and went to sleep around 12 midnight.