I joined a full day package tour together with some 40 local Indian tourists for a tour of Jaipur (population 2.7mil - 6 hrs by bus from New Delhi) , the capital city of Rajasthan. Jaipur is also called the Pink City (pink means hospitality). Rajasthan is a desert state and my Indian friends had recommended that I should visit Jaisamer and Pushkar if I am making a returning trip to this place in the near future.
I woke up at around 6.00am and was picked up at the hostel for my day tour to Jaipur. It was drizzling, and some bus seats were wet due to a leaking bus roof at the back. The tour bus left Pahar Ganj at around 7.00am. Today was the longest day tour I had ever experienced in my life in comparison with the various tour packages I had taken in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong in recent years. The day tour lasted for 19 hours from 7.00am to 2.3oam by the time I arrived at my hostel ! Dinner time was close to 11.30pm ! You had to have a lot of stamina and energy to sign on this sort of tour package in New Delhi - unbelievable !
My one day package tour covered visits to 1) Amber Fort 2) Hawa Mahal 3) Jantar Mantar 4) The City Palace 5) A mosque in the outskirt of Jaipur. For the tour price I paid, it was really a value for money.
1) Amber Fort (entrance fee Rs40=Rm3.60) is located 11km from the town. Tourists could take an elephant ride to the front entrance for Rs500=Rm45 (4 persons). As I joined a local Indian tour group and I looked like a Tibetan Chinese, I was able to get away by paying the local rate for all the entrance fees to major tourist sites today - foreign tourists paid 3-4 times more.
Amber Fort was built in 1592. We spent around 2 hours in this fort visiting the Diwan-i-Am (Hall of Public Audience), Jai Mandir (Hall of Victory), Sukh Niwas (Hall of Pleasure) & the Anokhi Museum of Hand printing. The large courtyards, unique garden, pointed roofs & semi-round marble columns, wall mosaics and reddish pink buildings - I just felt great after visiting this 410 year old fort built by a Maharaja.
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2) Hawa Mahal (Palace of the Winds) in Old City (Pink City) - This place was under renovation at the time of our visit so I was not able to take a good picture of the 5 storey honeycombed sandstone structure. It was built in 1799 for ladies of royal families to watch the life and festive processions of the city. Prior to visiting the Hawa Mahal, our bus passed by and stopped at a lake side and I took a picture (below) of this pink magnificent looking building :
3) Jantar Mantar (astronomical observatory - 1728) - I paid a fee of Rs60=Rm5.40 for entry. India's most meticulous instruments ever made in contribution to the field of astronomy - a great achievement !
4) The City Palace - I paid Rs40=Rm3.60 for entry. We spent 3 hours in this place visitng the Mubarak Mahal (Welcome Palace), Maharaja Sawai Mansingh Museum, The Armory, Diwan-i-Am (Hall of Public Audience), Diwan-i-Khas (Hall of Private Audience), Pitam Niwas Chowk ( gates of the courtyard representing the four season , peacock gate etc )
5) My last visit - a mosque in the out-skirt of Jaipur. Also visited an emporium selling fabric, carpets and a shoe shop.
" You have to conserve your energy to take on this 23 hour day tour to Jaipur ! Your eyes will turn pinkish the next morning. Thank you for your hospitality - a great experience for first timer to India "
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