Well good morning.
Today we are in Jaipur (जयपुर).
We're visiting the Pink City.
Neither of us is wearing pink.
No we were color coordinated for Jodhpur the Blue City but yeah I don't think we have anything
pink in our wardrobe.
Nothing pink.
Maybe we'll pick something up today as a souvenir.
Um but yeah today we have signed up for a full day tour from 9am to 6pm.
And it is basically a bus tour that is going to be taking us to the main highlights in
Jaipur (जयपुर).
So busy day.
And we don't have a lot of time in Jaipur (जयपुर) and this is a city I visited
several years ago and I did this tour and attractions are really spread out here so
I think this is going to be a good way for us to see everything along with my parents.
And yeah, we don't we only have one really full day to do this.
So yeah we are trying to cram in a lot today.
So yeah let's get started.
Alright the bus is here.
Let's go.
So we are finally off the bus.
We drove around for about an hour picking up people.
A little longer than I was expecting and we have arrived at our first stop.
It is Laxmi Narayan Temple.
A bit of a complicated name.
And we only have 15 minutes here.
So we've got to run around and visit this quickly.
Also known as Birla Mandir, this is a Hindu temple, dedicated to Vishnu and Lakshmi.
While Hindu deities are depicted inside the temple, the outside walls showcase figures
from different faiths.
Oh this 1st stop was quite rushed.
We had 15 minutes but they force you to leave your shoes outside and pay for them.
So it is like 5 minutes to drop them off because there is a really long line.
Then maybe 5 minutes to actually visit the temple and then another 5 minutes to collect
your shoes and rush back to the bus.
So yeah, I hope the whole day isn't like this.
But yeah I'm not too impressed so far.
So Sam paid to go in to the temple.
Actually well I just had to pay for the shoes yeah.
1 Rupee.
Didn't exactly break the bank.
What did you think of it?
Yeah, it was an interesting temple.
It is really large obviously marble and white.
And inside you can't take photos or videos so unfortunately I can't show you what it
is like inside.
Womp womp.
We then hopped back on the bus, drove past the Albert Hall Museum, and continued to the
next stop on our itinerary: Jantar Mantar (जंतर मंतर).
The name Jantar Mantar (जंतर मंतर) translates to ‘calculating instrument’,
and it is a collection of 19 structures that date back to the 18th century.
These instruments were used to predict eclipses, track stars, and measure time.
So we are currently visiting Jantar Mantar (जंतर मंतर) and we're having
a bit of hard time keeping up with our guide.
But from what we gather this is basically like an observatory and it was used to track
the movements of stars and planets and the sun and to study everything related to astronomy.
So there is a lot of like really cool instruments.
There is like these weird constructions so we're going to show you some of that.
Is our guide around?
From there it was just a short walk to the City Palace.
Like most of the city, the palace is also painted pink, which is the colour of hospitality.
This was done in 1876, to welcome the Prince of Wales and Queen Victoria when they did
their India tour.
Inside the palace complex, you can visit a museum and the armoury, or just walk around
snapping photos.
So Sam ditched the tour group to go shopping.
I did because I've been like in the past I collected hats and I still do but these days
I'm collecting polo shirts.
And India has the coolest polo-shirts.
This is like the um Jaipur different colors.
I saw a very similar shirt of like an old polo shirt in one of the museums and it looks
so much like this.
So I'm really happy to get this colorful one.
And then of course Jaipur (जयपुर).
Jaipur is the pink city.
Oh la lah.
I can't to wear those.
So I've already got Jodhpur and yeah I'm going to keep collecting them.
Hopefully I can get one in Kolkata as well.
That is going to be coming up soon.
So we have ditched the guide for now but he knows we're going to meet him at the exit
and this is so much better.
We're just walking around freely, enjoying the city palace and check out these colors.
Everything is pink and outlined with white designs.
It is really really cool.
So yeah, I'm having a good time even if I'm not enjoying the tour necessarily.
We have ended up at a place called Shopping Paradise.
I'm pretty sure we're only here because the guide gets commission.
So he's trying to force everyone to come in.
Even though some people have already been shopping.
So yeah.
Not impressed.
So we are now at the Jaigarh Fort (जयगढ़ क़िला).
This is again a very quick visit.
So we basically have 20 minutes to see as much as we can.
Uh, you get some pretty cool views of the area.
But the landscape is quite barron.
Uh, so yeah we're just going to have a quick walk around.
From the Jaigarh Fort (जयगढ़ क़िला) it was a short drive to Nahargarh Fort and
Palace.
I wish I could tell you we got to see a bit of the palace, but as you’ve probably already
noticed, the theme of the day was rush, rush, rush, so we grabbed a quick bite of food and
carried on.
Hungry.
I am.
So we got pav bhaji (पाव भाजी).
I think that is what it is called.
I'm guessing the pao comes from the Portuguese influence.
Pao is bread in Portuguese.
And the bhaji came with cheese.
I don't even know what this is but it has got melted cheese on top.
Should I add some red onions?
Sure.
I'm going to have some onion breath all day.
And Sam is sitting next to me.
So lucky me.
How is that?
Mmmm.
Tasty.
It is like a sloppy Joe.
Indian sloppy Joe.
That is a good way of putting it.
So we just finished lunch and now we're visiting Nahargarh Fort and Palace.
We're just wandering around aimlessly because the guide has disappeared again.
We didn't want to eat at the restaurant he was taking us to.
Um because it was really expensive so we had a fast food instead.
Um, yeah right now we're visiting one of the old step wells and it is pretty cool.
People would have liked to climbed down the stairs to go fetch water.
You can see that behind me.
And yeah we only have a few more minutes left here so we're going to try and see as much
as we can before we move on.
But the tour is almost over.
I think we only have like 2 or 3 more stops for today.
And then that is it.
We then hopped back on the bus to go visit our third fort of the day: the Amer Fort (आमेर
क़िला).
On the way down, we got a quick glimpse at Jal Mahal, the Lake Palace, which sits in
the middle of Man Sagar Lake.
We noticed there were men with row boats, so if you visit with a bit more time, that’s
an activity to consider.
Next stop of the day is the Amber Fort (आमेर क़िला).
It is a little backlit at the moment.
But there you have it in the background and there is Sam taking some photos.
What do you think?
This is your second time here.
Well we've been to quite a few forts today so we decided not to take the jeep all the
way up.
Instead we noticed there was some nice light coming down from the ground level and from
the lake.
So here we are.
We're exploring it this way instead.
By foot.
Making friends Audrey.
Yes.
Who is this.
My new friend.
My pup.
Hello fur buddy.
Hello pup.
Hello fur friend.
The little fur friend.
Fur friend is feeling shy.
Hello fur friend.
Hello.
Hello fur friend.
The rest of the day went downhill quickly when our guide started making commissioned
based shopping stops that weren’t on the itinerary, so we just stopped filming, but
we got back into Jaipur (जयपुर) well after dark.
Well it is now time to wrap up our time in Jaipur (जयपुर).
Yeah, so confession time.
We're actually in Agra right now.
Whoops.
Got on a train yesterday.
Uh the day after our tour we just chilled out.
We didn't film at all because the tour was kind of exhausting.
It was.
It really was.
It just ended up going on for an hour and a half longer than it was supposed to and
it was already a long tour.
And it was mostly shopping stops at the end.
Yeah, so like in terms of because there is all of the different forts so spread out it
is not a bad way to see them but at the same time you are very rushed and you go to so
many different places I almost think doing it independently would be a little bit better.
That would be our tip.
But anyways yeah the adventures here in Agra are about to begin so do follow us for that.
Bye.