HIMALAYAN TALES #10: JAIPUR
001. Jaipur was our first taste of Rajasthan and embodied everything I ever imagined of a typical Indian city. Endlessly chaotic and colourful! Sightseeing and being a cliche tourist is what we did during our few short days in Jaipur. The streets in the city are CRAZY and walking on foot to explore the area can be pretty overwhelming. Luckily rickshaws are everywhere and super cheap if you are prepared to haggle. Being budget backpackers, we would usually always choose to walk to places and explore but trust me that in Jaipur a rickshaw is your best option. Also, apologies in advance for the photos in this post. My camera battery was flashing red on the ONE day we hit up all the attractions and I had to shoot on auto and quickly turn the camera off after each shot oops (see: how NOT to tourist 101).
002. There are SO many architecturally beautiful monuments and attractions to explore in Jaipur. If you have a few places you want to stop at, I highly recommend hiring a rickshaw driver for the whole day. It should cost around 500-600 rupees, and you won't have to worry about haggling or finding drivers at every place you visit. My absolute favourite place we visited was Amber (pronounced Amer). The fort/palace is just INSANE! It is the most beautiful piece of architecture I’ve ever had the pleasure of wandering around and getting lost in. The town of Amber itself is also super lovely to explore, just a short walk down the hill from the fort. The stepwell and a handful of temples are fun to check out (plus totally free!). The Hawa Mahal was my other favourite pick. Sadly we didn’t get to hang around long because our driver couldn’t park BUT I highly recommend hanging out at one of the upstairs cafes directly across the road for extra killer views. The City Palace was another stop we checked out, but honestly we were a little underwhelmed and didn’t think it validated the price. A word of warning-some of these places can be pretty pricey to enter for a backpacker. If you’re on a budget I would suggest doing your research and investing your money into the places YOU really want to visit and are interested in.
003. While in Jaipur we stayed at a little place called Jwala Niketan. It was cheap, walking distance to the bus station and the guy who ran it was super friendly. Plus it was across the road from Mohan’s Restaurant, a cheap and delicious Indian place that we dined at for most of our meals. We found affordable food in Jaipur was a little bit harder to find in comparison to other Indian cities. Breakfast was mainly fruit bought off the side of the street and our favourite Indian place for the rest of our meals. We also checked out a place called Anokhi Cafe a couple of times. It’s pretty pricey but sometimes you just NEED a fresh, healthy salad to balance out all the curry and roti.
004. Jaipur was a whirlwind of chaos, colour and beauty. The Rajasthani architecture, culture and buildings were mind blowing. After a couple of brief days we packed our bags and headed onwards to Pushkar, a much smaller town that was a little more our pace.
Lena x