The Golden Quadrilateral road to Jaipur is very good !! Can do 90-100 km/hr …. We ate at A1 – Plaza of Reliance and found the food fresh ….
21st November 2007 (Wednesday)– ChittaurgarhOn the way we stopped at Chittaurgarh Fort – It is fabulous .. can easily plan to spend the day there with a picnic basket … !!! We found it gorgeous .. definitely a must see …. We wished we had more time than the 2 hrs we spent there ! :):)
Jaipur Driving/Roads
We thought Pune driving is crazy .. Jaipur opened our eyes … nobody stops at a red light [ Unless the police is present ] !! :):) Since u might be the only one to stop chances of being hit from behind are high .. ! :) If u can, stay away from all vehicles .. they do not mind touching ur vehicle with theirs while passing … it is a common occurrence ! :):)
Driving to sight seeing places is easy in Jaipur .. just take the Tonk Road from any point in the city and you will find offshoots from it to the landmarks … :) Even to the highway out of Jaipur … Easy ! :) And you will easily pass Hawa Mahal 2-3 times in ur rounds ! :):)
Be careful while parking at Jaigad… and ensure u park so u can get out … ppl park left right center … ! :) Roads to Amber fort are winding again and don’t panic in a jam .. 2 buses manage to pass on a cycle track if though they may take 15 minutes to do so …. :)
Ppl are still helpful at Jaipur .. may be not to the extent of Udaipur but still very nice …
We thought Pune driving is crazy .. Jaipur opened our eyes … nobody stops at a red light [ Unless the police is present ] !! :):) Since u might be the only one to stop chances of being hit from behind are high .. ! :) If u can, stay away from all vehicles .. they do not mind touching ur vehicle with theirs while passing … it is a common occurrence ! :):)
Driving to sight seeing places is easy in Jaipur .. just take the Tonk Road from any point in the city and you will find offshoots from it to the landmarks … :) Even to the highway out of Jaipur … Easy ! :) And you will easily pass Hawa Mahal 2-3 times in ur rounds ! :):)
Be careful while parking at Jaigad… and ensure u park so u can get out … ppl park left right center … ! :) Roads to Amber fort are winding again and don’t panic in a jam .. 2 buses manage to pass on a cycle track if though they may take 15 minutes to do so …. :)
Ppl are still helpful at Jaipur .. may be not to the extent of Udaipur but still very nice …
22nd November 2007 (Thursday)– Jaipur
Visited the Hawa Mahal first .. ( Jantar Mantar is close by too ) .. heard it was built on a 6.5 inch foundation … scary to climb it ! :):) It looks beautiful in pics … not very imposing in reality but appealing nevertheless .. ( The artisan’s hands were cut off after building this …. ) To capture its front view you have risk a limb literally … it is right in the middle of the Pink city market ! :):) Car parking is tough here …
Guides are polite and don’t keep looking at their watch and their rates are reasonable .. All guides suggest you shop at Rajasthan Shilpa Gram .. they are very good at this and in fact lead u there in their tour so keep ur wallet in ur car if you don’t want to shop !! ;) It is easy to spend on something u may never use … :):) They go to the same school of marketing I think .. their spiel is exactly the same ! :):)
They do say that these places have been opened to provide employment for genuine artisans ( by members of the royal family) and provide visitors genuine articles at reasonable(?) cost … We have not validated this… but it might be worth taking a chance with these goods … We found that within the Pink city it was not easy to bargain at the local shops … :):)
At Jaipur depending on who you speak to – different places become most important to visit … Opinions are multiple (aren’t they always ?? :) ) so u may want to decide on ur places before u get completely confused ! :)
Visited the Hawa Mahal first .. ( Jantar Mantar is close by too ) .. heard it was built on a 6.5 inch foundation … scary to climb it ! :):) It looks beautiful in pics … not very imposing in reality but appealing nevertheless .. ( The artisan’s hands were cut off after building this …. ) To capture its front view you have risk a limb literally … it is right in the middle of the Pink city market ! :):) Car parking is tough here …
Guides are polite and don’t keep looking at their watch and their rates are reasonable .. All guides suggest you shop at Rajasthan Shilpa Gram .. they are very good at this and in fact lead u there in their tour so keep ur wallet in ur car if you don’t want to shop !! ;) It is easy to spend on something u may never use … :):) They go to the same school of marketing I think .. their spiel is exactly the same ! :):)
They do say that these places have been opened to provide employment for genuine artisans ( by members of the royal family) and provide visitors genuine articles at reasonable(?) cost … We have not validated this… but it might be worth taking a chance with these goods … We found that within the Pink city it was not easy to bargain at the local shops … :):)
At Jaipur depending on who you speak to – different places become most important to visit … Opinions are multiple (aren’t they always ?? :) ) so u may want to decide on ur places before u get completely confused ! :)
23rd November 2007 (Friday)– Jaipur
Visited Jaigad Fort – it is huge … a palace within the fort opens from an unassuming door and we wrongly thought it was small place … but it just goes on and on !!! :):) Huge ! Might easily lose the way ! :) We saw a small puppet show inside …
There is a cook at Jaigad fort who was once the Maharaj’s cook and while the food that is served in his place is good .. we felt the price was too much for the kind of seating arrangement he had .. again the guides .. try to lead u to a place to shop here … :):) with the same marketing spiel of course ! :):)
Amber fort is beautiful …. the jaali work is very intricate and fine-looking … found it very picturesque …
Sheesh Mahal within it …. is very attractive in its details … Lots of peacocks are easily visible on the way to Amber Fort and back … Amber fort is very strict wrt its timings … 6 pm it closes down … sharp …
Royal family is even now treated with a lot of respect and reverence ..
We feel Jaipur city can be covered in 2 days …. But abt 3 hrs for every fort / palace to be visited… seems required …
24th November 2007 (Saturday)– Jaipur
Went to Jantar Mantar – would definitely suggest a guide here [ See if u can get one from outside .. they are cheaper ] … cannot understand anything otherwise …. The huge sun dial was very impressive …
Parking is expensive here – 50 Rs ! More than MG Road / Camp in Pune …
Lastly went to Chokhi Dani … Good dances , most ppl suggest 8pm -12pm as good time to go .. but we recommend 6pm – 10 pm .. Dinner was yummy … their sweet khichdi was really good … I think it is better to try to get a camel ride outside since here it is only a 2 min affair ! :) Still that did not stop us from taking a camel ride inside ! :):)
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