Jaipur

We had an incredibly busy two days in a Jaipur which is the capital of Rajasthan. We predictably started with a visit to the Amber Fort. The fort is massive - it is very impressive and has some beautilfy detailed buildings.  As the fort was on top of a hill you could pay for an elephant ride to the top, which we didn't do, we walked up.  We spent ages at the fort exploring all the rooms and taking in the views.  

It was lunch time and we had the best lunch at a vegetarian restaurant called LMB.  I am hooked on malai kofta now!  Nath likes to gauge a restaurants authenticity by seeing how many locals are eating there - LMB was full of locals so we knew we were on to a good thing (& thanks to lonely planet for the recommendation).

After restocking energy stores we went to the magnificent palace of the winds (Hawa Mahal).  It looks amazing from the outside looking up from the road.  It was built so women of the city can look out the windows of the palace and watch street parades below without being seen by men. As you wind your way closer to the top the passageways get narrower - to the point that at the top my shoulders were to wide and I had to walk sideways. 

Day two of Jaipur sightseeing included the city palace, which was not as cool as the fort, but still worth seeing. 

We then went to an observatory called Jantar Mantar but neither Nath or I were impressed with it as we are not into astronomy and star signs.  We axed the observatory for a nice restaurant where we had some cold coke and curry to celebrate Nath's birthday.  As it was India's Independence Day we were not allowed to buy beer! From here it was a short train ride to Agra (6 hours!).

So far we have not had much luck with transport arriving on time.  The last three trips we have taken have been an hour to an hour and a half late, even though they mostly departed on time! Luckily all our hotel pick ups have still been waiting for us but it makes us feel that we need to tip them extra for waiting. 

We have moved east across the country and the weather is getting hotter - 38 degrees today!