Jaipur

A busy road in the centre of Jaipur
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When we stepped off the train in Jaipur it quickly became clear that, like Agra, this would not be a relaxing place to stay. Within seconds we were surrounded by a large group of men all shouting hotel names and ever decreasing autorickshaw prices. We decided to calmly ignore them and walk to our hotel. 10 minutes later in the extreme heat with our entourage still in tow and frequently blocking our path, Vicky shouted "If your hotel and rickshaw were free, we still wouldn't take them because we don't want them. Do you understand". After another 5 minutes we had only one follower left so we accepted his hotel business card just to get rid of him and then tried to work out where we were. For the rest of the journey to the hotel we were pestered by dozens of autorickshaws and cycle rickshaws who often followed us along the road for minutes at a time, blocking our path at every junction.

The huge sundial at the Jantar Mantar
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We were grateful to arrive at the hotel and retreated to our room to try and relax. It was a reasonably sized double room which in typical Indian fashion had enough beds for at least 6 people. In the afternoon we decided to be brave and left the hotel to to go to a nearby restaurant. It was a revolving restaurant at the top of a modern hotel. It sounds pretty tacky but actually it was really nice and the food was surprisingly good. However, the staff obviously didn't understand the purpose of a revolving restaurant and many of the window blinds where lowered obscuring the otherwise excellent views. After such a nice meal we were feeling more optimistic about Jaipur and decided to head into the old town. Taking pity on the rickshaw drivers who were so desperate for custom, we got in one and asked how much it would be to go to one of the monuments but he would only quote us for a whole city tour for the entire afternoon and wouldn't stop wittering about all the shops etc. Eventually we got out of the rickshaw and he agreed to take us to our chosen destination but then deliberately tried to drive past it and onwards for his tour! By the time we got to the old town all the sights were closing, so after a short walk around the shops we tried to get an autorickshaw home. Unfortunately, after we started driving it became apparent that the driver didn't know where the hotel was as he kept asking for directions from bypassers. We didn't mind this but did take exception to him then raising the price we had agreed on, so had to leave the rickshaw and walk instead!