Today we made it out of the hotel a little earlier than yesterday. We had a little way to travel as today we are off to Amer to see the Amber Fort.
Nearly every auto driver in Jaipur must have asked us if we wanted them to take us to the fort. However, we just jumped on the local bus at the railway station, followed by another at Hawa Mahal. Easy and a lot cheaper!
The Amber Fort was a magnificent sight perched on top of a hill. Next to it stood another fort, Jaigarh Fort. They were surrounded by a huge wall that looked a little like the Great Wall of China. We had a good look around both forts, took lots of photos and walked some pretty steep roads to the top of the hill.
There were great views from the top of the wall; the town of Amer, the surrounding countryside and lots of really old Hindu temples. There were some huge wooden doors and plenty of souvenir shops. Inside the Fort area there was a rather exclusive restaurant, a chance to ride a Segway and loads of 'cartoon' electric cars. None to our taste so we explored Amer to find food!
Amer was a little lacking on the food front but after managing to buy some fruit and an emergency packet of crisps, we did actually find a restaurant. Parathas filled with paneer and cauliflower followed by daal fry and chapatis.
The bus stopped outside the restaurant and whisked us away to Jal Mahal, the Lake Palace, in a rather cramped standing kinda way. We disembarked right in front of the palace and were welcomed by stall after stall of Maharaja dressing up clothes and people itching to take our photos whilst wearing them. We passed and took photos of the palace set in the centre of the lake. It didn't appear that you could go inside the palace but there were a few boats available for lake tours.
The bus back to the central area of Jaipur was crammed but we squeezed into the available space. We jumped off at Hawa Mahal and went straight for chai. Once refreshed we walked amongst the bazars on our way back to our hotel. The traffic on the main road was busy and the fumes from the cars, buses lorries and autos ... Horrible!
At the end of the street we are staying in we have a great little momo (dumping) stall, where we ate before retiring to the hotel roof top terrace with an ice cold Thumbs Up (Indian Cola). Thumbs up is made by Coca Cola and each shops sells both. We are still trying to figure out the difference as both taste the same!
Nearly every auto driver in Jaipur must have asked us if we wanted them to take us to the fort. However, we just jumped on the local bus at the railway station, followed by another at Hawa Mahal. Easy and a lot cheaper!
The Amber Fort was a magnificent sight perched on top of a hill. Next to it stood another fort, Jaigarh Fort. They were surrounded by a huge wall that looked a little like the Great Wall of China. We had a good look around both forts, took lots of photos and walked some pretty steep roads to the top of the hill.
There were great views from the top of the wall; the town of Amer, the surrounding countryside and lots of really old Hindu temples. There were some huge wooden doors and plenty of souvenir shops. Inside the Fort area there was a rather exclusive restaurant, a chance to ride a Segway and loads of 'cartoon' electric cars. None to our taste so we explored Amer to find food!
Amer was a little lacking on the food front but after managing to buy some fruit and an emergency packet of crisps, we did actually find a restaurant. Parathas filled with paneer and cauliflower followed by daal fry and chapatis.
The bus stopped outside the restaurant and whisked us away to Jal Mahal, the Lake Palace, in a rather cramped standing kinda way. We disembarked right in front of the palace and were welcomed by stall after stall of Maharaja dressing up clothes and people itching to take our photos whilst wearing them. We passed and took photos of the palace set in the centre of the lake. It didn't appear that you could go inside the palace but there were a few boats available for lake tours.
The bus back to the central area of Jaipur was crammed but we squeezed into the available space. We jumped off at Hawa Mahal and went straight for chai. Once refreshed we walked amongst the bazars on our way back to our hotel. The traffic on the main road was busy and the fumes from the cars, buses lorries and autos ... Horrible!
At the end of the street we are staying in we have a great little momo (dumping) stall, where we ate before retiring to the hotel roof top terrace with an ice cold Thumbs Up (Indian Cola). Thumbs up is made by Coca Cola and each shops sells both. We are still trying to figure out the difference as both taste the same!