Horrible Journey to Jaipur

Nous nous levons à 5h45 (oui c'est trop tôt) pour prendre le train vers Jaipur, nous arrivons à la gare 30 min avant le départ (:o)  où nous apprenons qu'il a 30 min de retard :( Malheureusement ce retard grandit de minutes en minutes pour au final finir avec 3h30 de retard... 4h d'attente sur le quai pour 5h de voyage. Mais cela nous permet de rencontrer quelques français et partager nos expériences.
Nous dormons dans un sympathique B&B avec une dame très gentille, après une expédition à travers la ville pour retirer de l'argent nous allons manger notre premier repas de la journée (j'ai dis "pas épicé"!) et allons dormir après cette journée épuisante.

Le lendemain après un petit dej à base de riz, d'omelette et de de sorte de crêpes, nous allons à Amber Fort et nous passons l'après midi dans le centre historique survolant les bazars et visitant les palais. Jaipur est surnommé la ville rose grâce au couleur des bâtiments de la vielle ville, beaucoup de couples indiens viennent passer leur voyage de noce ici.

Agra Fort

Jal Mahal

Les singes ça mangent des bananes

City Palace

Hawa Mahal

Pensée du jour: la prochaine fois on prend l'avion

We got up at 5:45 (yes, far too early) to go to the rail station for our train to Jaipur. We arrived half an hour before our train was due to leave (possibly the first time since I've known Guillaume that we've not had to sprint through the station/airport/city to get the train/plane) only to find that the train was in fact delayed by 1 1/4 hours... So we settled down to wait on the grim, smelly, noisy platform. The delay kept getting longer and longer; when the train eventually arrived it was over 3 1/2 hours late. But at least the train arrived, and only five hours until Jaipur! :'(

When we finally arrived in Jaipur (thanks Ofgem for the money to spend on Kindle books and Buchi for the travel pillows...) we went to a lovely B&B run by a very educated and well travelled lady (she loves the south of France but doesn't really like Paris). After dumping our bags we trekked across town to get to an ATM and then back to find somewhere to eat. The noise of the roads and the fear that at any moment someone might just run us over was exhausting and it was a blessed relief when we finally arrived at the restaurant. Unfortunately the food (our first meal of the day, unless you count a cereal bar for breakfast and a bag of crisps for lunch. I don't.) was incredibly spicy (even I found it a bit much and Guillaume couldn't manage to eat his 'mild' food). We were definitely ready for bed after such an exhausting day. 

The following day we went to the Amber Fort on the hills outside Jaipur (our driver was a bit put out that we hadn't hired him for the whole day and so berated us for a good few minutes on how we weren't in Jaipur to scrimp and save...). Although maybe less impressive than the Agra Fort, it was still pretty spectacular. And we got to see elephants. The mirror room in one of the many palaces inside the fort was incredible - thousands of tiny mirrors set into the walls to reflect the light, along with inlaid jewels and stained glass. The women's quarters were also pretty ingenious - they had a small channel running through the floor to carry cold water, refreshing the room as it went as well as aromatic grass screens moistened with water that released perfume and cool air as the wind blew through them. Nifty. The decorated main gateway was pretty impressive too, and there were interesting friezes of elephants and birds (and naked couples having a lovely time) above the windows. 

In the afternoon we wandered through the bazaars of the historic old town and visited the City Palace (where the Maharajah and family still live) and the Hawa Mahal, where we saw a group of men throwing bananas from the markets at some very eager monkeys. Although less hectic than Agra, Jaipur is still busy, noisy and dirty, with the palaces oases of calm. Old Jaipur is known as the Pink City because of the colour of the buildings and lots of Indian couples come here for their honeymoon. 

Thoughts for the day: next time, let's take the plane; Guillaume really needs to find some food soon.