Jaipur

Friday 14th November (Wendy)
After arriving quite late we headed up to the roof top restaurant in the Pearl Palace. It was quite busy and Allan noticed a girl waiting for a table on her own. I asked her if she wanted to join us and she did. Hannah was travelling and doing some volunteering. She had just qualified as a vet and was volunteering with “Help in Suffering“, a charitable organisation similar to the one we visited in Udaipur. We arranged to meet up the next evening.
Saturday 15th November
Our first day in Jaipur and we had booked a rickshaw driver for the day. Yusef arrived at 10.30am to pick us up and we headed to the Central museum. We were getting tired of museums, palaces and forts so we were less than enthusiastic. Walked around quickly and headed to the Hawa Manal. This was built inside the old city walls using the famous pink sandstone. It was constructed in 1799 for the royal ladies to observe life in the city through the small windows. We also visited the City Palace and the Royal Gaitor. The Royal Gaitor is the site of the royal cenotaphs. Its located outside the city walls and was very quiet considering we are in the busiest town in Rajasthan. After visiting a few textile shops and tailors we went home empty handed. We certainly were not in the mood for shopping and bartering. We headed back had 20 min sleep before heading out to see our first Bollywood movie. We met Hannah and her friend Helen (also a vet), had noodles off the street and headed to the famous Raj Mandir Cinema. It cost 70 rupees (less than a pound) for a 3 hour movie. Bargain!!! The cinema was decorated so distastefully is was actually quite cool. It had a certain wow factor. The movie was quite good and we pretty much understood what was happening. People cheered, clapped and the babies cried whilst parents used their mobile phone. It was a great experience but we decided to head home during the half time interval. An hour and a half of Hindi tunes is plenty.

Sunday 16th November.
We had a slow morning, having a leisurely breakfast and reading our books. We headed into the old city for Allan to have some shirts made. After shopping we headed to the Sun Temple which is high on a hill overlooking the city or should I say smog!! This area has around 6,000 monkeys so we armed ourselves with some peanuts and started the climb. The Monkey temple was on the other side of the hill nestled in the valley. The sheer volume of Monkeys was quite intimidating however they would take a peanut quite politely from your hand. Near the Monkey Temple there were 2 swimming pools. The male one was ok but the female one was full of rubbish and the surface was a breeding ground for mosquitoes and looked rancid!
We collected Allan’s clothes and ate at the hotel. Tomorrow we head to Ranthambore National Park for some fresh air and some peace.