Jaipur

A quick post for Jaipur, as we had just a night here on our way to Jaisalmer. We found the city busy and hostile for walking around (even by Indian standards!) There are very few traffic lights in Jaipur, even on huge multi-lane intersections. We usually go for a safety-in-numbers approach and squeeze ourselves in amongst a bunch of locals to cross the road. Traffic lights apparently have dangers of their own – one traveller we talked to was electrocuted and knocked to the ground by a live wire hanging from a light! In the end we gave up on the unpleasant walk to the Old City and jumped on a bicycle rickshaw to go the rest of the way.

We visited Jantar Mantar, an observatory complex built by a Maharaja in the 18^th century. The largest instrument was a huge sundial that could measure time to the closest two-second interval. It was nice to have a quiet place to wander, but most of the descriptions were a bit lost on us.

Our other sightseeing destination was the Galta Temple (or Monkey Temple). Here the touts are not rickshaw drivers but priests – happy to show you around their Hanuman temple for a large “donation”. We even had to dodge a woman’s arm as she persistently tried to put a bindi on us as we walked past (we already had two bindi at that point!)

The Monkey Temple gave us a great vantage point over the city and it was nice to have a walk up the hill. We weren’t tempted to buy the monkey feed – we’re not sure why you’d want a pack of rabid monkeys chasing you for food!

We left Jaipur on another sleeper train, bound for Jaisalmer – the desert city. We go straight from the train to an overnight camel safari in the desert. It’s Christmas in a few days and, as you might guess, India isn’t big on Christmas. We did manage to buy some Santa hats in Jaipur though, so we’re all set for our own festivities!

Written by Craig Drayton and Sally Robertson