Rajasthan pleasures

I arrived in Jaipur on 25th from not-so-special Agra. The Taj Mahal is a bit of a disappointment to be honest and Agra is a pretty terrible place to be. The Taj is too packed with people to really enjoy its beauty. Kids screaming and running everywhere, Indians rudely fighting and barging into people to get the best photo opportunity. I wanted to go at sunrise to avoid the crowds but – PAY ATTENTION HERE PROSPECTIVE TRAVELLERS – the Taj Mahal is closed on Fridays, so I had to go on a Thursday afternoon (probably the worst time).

There is little to no power in Agra, so every guest house or shop has its own generator in the street. This means the roads are thick with blue diesel smoke for much of the day. The power only seems to be on at night from about 6pm to 9am. I guess the factories and heavy industry surrounding the Taj (and incidentally coating it in sulphuric acid which is eating the marble giving it a filthy yellow sheen) use all the power by day leaving the residents with nothing. I took a rickshaw to the Taj, the driver of which waited for me to come out to take me back to my Hotel. On the way back, he told me he’d show me some fine Mughul Architecture, but proceeded to take me to a carpet factory/shop, then a marble factory/shop and finally a textile factory/shop. At the textile shop I got really angry with him and told him to drive on or I would get out and not pay. When he pulled into the forecourt I got out and walked off. He apologised and we carried on. When haggling the 250 rupees for the trip, I said I’d pay him a tip if he was a good driver. I didn’t give him one and told him why at the end too. At the start, he even showed me a book of westerners commenting how honest and fantastic he was. Needless to say he didn’t ask me to sign it!

Once out of Agra, I quickly understood why people flock to Rajasthan for a taste of India, and I was so happy to arrive here. Jaipur is much nicer than all the other cities i’ve visited so far, with vibrant colours and loads to see. The people are really friendly here too. I met a rickshaw driver, Badlu, who picked me up from the station and took me to my fantastic hotel – The Sunder Palace. Highly recommend staying here if you come to India – best i’ve stayed in so far. The next morning Badlu took me around as much as we could fit into one day – The Pink City, the City Palace, Jantar Mantar, Amber Fort, Jaigur Fort and Galta – otherwise known as the monkey temple with thousands of Macaque monkeys hanging around. He charged 350 Rupees for the day – which is probably a lot for India but tbh – £5 for a guide who was great fun, took me everywhere I wanted to go and didn’t take me to any Marble shops was a good price to pay.

Yesterday I headed out on a tour from Jai Amber Travels, as recommended in Rough Guide, to Pushkar. Pushkar is probably as close to paradise as it gets in India. Rickshaws are banned – so there are no annoying taxi drivers hassling you. The streets are narrow and full of women dressed in incredible colours. None of the shop owners hassle you – they just watch while you browse and take photos as you please. The town is home to 500 temples and a huge lake – which is said to be gifted by Brahma (the founding Hindu God) who dropped a lotus petal which formed the lake in what is pretty much a desert. Oh how sad Brahma would be now – the lake is totally empty. A guy I met, Jhon, the owner of a hostel, said the monsoon had completely failed this year which was the reason for the lake being empty. However, the hotel owner here in Jaipur said the lake had been artificially emptied because of a chemical leak which killed all the fish. Whoever is right, it is sad that such a beautiful place is in such a mess.

On the way back from Pushkar a massive fight broke out on the Bus. Everyone in India is on the take – trying to make money any way they can. Our tour was meant to be a private direct bus from Jaipur to Pushkar, however the driver stopped at almost every bus stop to pick up any old random passenger and pocket some extra cash. Some of the Indian tourists on the bus got really angry when we stopped at one stop, and about 20 people got on. The driver asked all the children to stand up(!) so two dad’s got in a propper fisty cuffs with the driver. I tried to film it but got a bit nervous when the punches started flying that I would get a slap too.

The return journey took 6 hours instead of 4 which was very frustrating, so Rough Guides if you read this, i’d remove Jai Amber from your recommended tour operators (or at least put a warning in there!)

I’m off back to Mumbai now, where tomorrow I fly to Singapore, and on to Thailand on 1st. India’s been a funny experience. Good bits and bad. On reflection, i’ll probably have fond memories, but right now, I can’t wait to board that plane