Pushkar to Jaipur and Amber Palace

Courtyard, Amber Palace

We were told yesterday by our hotel manager that the restaurant associated with our guesthouse would make a special arrangement for us to enjoy another spectacular masala dosa before we departed for Jaipur. 7:30am they said. Just ask the guesthouse staff they said. When 7:55am rolled around and there still wasn't anybody about for us to order our brekky from we went knocking on their door. A groggy voice answered and said, "sir, ten minutes." Apparently he didn't have our breakfast as a priority and was not intending on starting work before absolutely necessary. We have found this is often the case...the boss is trying to maintain a good impression by adhering to your needs but the staff they employ do not have the same ideology.

We wandered across the road and tried the restaurant where our food had come from for the last few days (served at our guesthouse) but it was still closed. We returned to our room and, not long after, a face was put to the groggy voice from earlier. We placed our breakfast order and waited. And waited. And waited. Thankfully we anticipated that the approximate cooking time that we were quoted yesterday of five to six minutes was a joke and that half an hour was more likely. Finally our dosas did arrive and were just as amazing as yesterday. My coffee eventually turned up too and today, I got to put my own sugar in, so I enjoyed a caffeine high rather than a sugar buzz.

Once full we asked to pay our bill and requested to see our bill from last night's dinner as we weren't shown it then and we knew we'd been overcharged. The staff knew it too because when they delivered our bill for the room and laundry they, without prompting, altered it to take into account the amount (or close enough) that we'd been overcharged last night.

We packed up Big Red and got on the road. We wound our way up and over Nag Pahar, the snake mountain, and through Ajmer town. We rode quickly when we noticed there had been an accident and things were getting very heated as more and more people crowded the scene.

Trucks ruled the road once we made it through some small villages and onto the national highways. Cars tried to weave between trucks taking little notice of motorbikes as they did so. We did our best not to come in contact with a truck and made good progress towards Jaipur on the four lane highways. Along the way we saw an overturned truck which would make the fourth or fifth truck accident we had seen just this morning. And they hadn't been minor accidents either. We counted ourselves lucky that we hadn't actually seen an accident happen yet but rather have only ridden past minutes after.

As we got closer to Jaipur, the traffic density increased and the driving got more and more erratic as camel drawn carts, cycle rickshaws and horses joined the mix. Chris struck out at a few veering cars but, thanks to Google Maps, we made it through the city and out the other side in one piece. By the time we made it out though I was hot and stressed enough to be on the lookout for second hand bike shops that may like to purchase Big Red for more than a camel.

We asked prices at a couple of hotels out of town and settled on Hotel Lake Palace, bargaining the room down to 1200 rupees, less than half the price originally asked. The room has a rug which is the closest thing to carpet that we've seen in a long time so we were really sold from the get go.

View of Maota Lake from Amber Palace

We dumped our things and headed out to explore. We filled our tummies with vegetable pasties (just like a spicier version of home) by Man Sagar Lake while a lady set up in front of us and kneaded some dough. We made a quick get away before she did anything else strange and headed for Amber Palace. After a few arguments with people trying to tell us where to park we settled on paying the ten rupee parking fee rather than causing any more hassles for ourselves.

Hall of Victory, Amber Palace

Turkish Baths, Amber Palace

We bought out tickets for 200 rupees each and went exploring. Amber Palace is a maze of tiny rooms, staircases, balconies, intricate latticework screens and large courtyards. The place was teeming with visitors but we did our best to explore the dark, forgotten corridors that led mostly to holes in the ground we assume were once toilets. The views from the balconies and windows provided stunning views of Jaigarh Fort and its walls.

Turkish Baths, Amber Palace

After we a while, every corridor seemed to lead back to a balcony we had been on before so we took that as our queue to leave, descending the smooth stone driveway and back to Big Red. We paid our ten rupees and were soon on the short journey back to our hotel.

The large showerhead gave us high hopes for our showers. Showing, like sleeping, has become more important and more difficult than we had ever imagined. The water was lukewarm at best and once Chris got out the power went out so we had a new battle to fight. And we weren't the only ones complaining which made a nice change. For the money we paid we expected electricity, hot water and wifi and at this moment had none of these facilities. After much arguing, and much waiting, the power was turned back on but sadly the water did not warm up any.

We utilised the wifi (in the restaurant because, of course, it wouldn't work in our room) then went on a hunt for dinner. The three restaurants within walking distance all had their doors open but said they were 'closed' or just generally showed no interest in serving us. Back to the hotel we went, taking in views of the lake and a lake palace reminiscent of that in Udaipur as we did. After a long day neither of us were dealing well with the constant stares people were giving us. Everything seemed more irritating today as we held back and tried not to yell at anybody...again. I did have one small outburst at some guys who thought it appropriate to stop in front of me and have a great big stare while Chris was parking Big Red early today but I feel it was totally called for.

We enjoyed two decent thalis at the restaurant in our hotel and then tried to sleep. This was made difficult by the fact that I had somehow managed to leave my most treasured possession in Pushkar...my earplugs. Oh, and the fact that for some strange reason our bed had a line of red neon lights surrounding the mattress and do did the TV. The ones around the TV were unfortunately permanently switched on. We piled and draped towels over the lights in an attempt to at least limit the red-light district vibe our room was giving off.