Our guest house in Jaipur is great. The room is huge and there was a man painting ornate detail around our door frame when we arrived. We looked out of our window the afternoon when we arrived and watched camels go by, pulling carts, chipmunks and parroquetes in the trees opposite and about 20 monkeys playing in the trees opposite too. There is also a great rooftop restaurant at the hotel, which gives you a great view.

The next day we had arranged for a rickshaw for the day, to take us around the city and some of the main sites. This only cost about 5.60GBP for 7 hours. He took us through onto the Pink City, which is walled and gave us both a garland of pink roses to wear (making us really stand out as tourists and attracting various insects!) We went to see a hanging tower, then to the City Palace. We just took photos from the gates of the palace as it was quite expensive to enter. We then walked across to Jantar Mantar, the Astrolonomical observatory, which was outdoors and contained many huge, old instruments for measuring time etc. This was cheaper, so we went in! As we came out of here, Graham saw a snake charmer. This was on his list of things to do/see in India, so he sat next to the 2 guys whilst their 3 cobras rose. Graham also got to wear their hat and to stroke one of the cobras. They then wanted us to pay them 200Rupees! But we gave them 50R) and left.

When we got back to the rickshaw, the driver was talking to a Japanese girl (who he was trying to chat up!) so she came with us to our next place too (there were now 5 of us in the rickshaw, as we had 2 drivers). We went to another palace, a little further out of Jaipur, which was greta, and only 42p each to get in.

They then took us to see material and clothes being made, at an ethical factory which was set up by many people around the world to help the poorest people in Rajesthan, by giving them work. We got a tour of the different stages of cloth making, then I had a pair of trousers made for me. They delivered them to my hotel later that day and it only cost me about 4.80GBP. We then went to see the water palace and finally to Nahargarh Fort, which also had a palace inside. Again this was only 42p each to go in, but it was a very long, steep walk to get to it, as the rickshaw could only go up so far.

They also took us to the train station, so we could book our next train to Ajmer for Sunday 28th. Having booked this, we were then advised that Ajmer was not a good place for foreign tourists! We only planned to stay 1 night anyway, as we were heading for Pushkar, which is only 10k from Ajmer, so we have decided to go straight to Pushkar now! The rickshaw drivers tried to take us to a Birthday party, but by now we were very tired and our legs ached from walking to the fort. So, we managed to get them to just take us home!

The next day we took a cycle rickshaw to the Albert Hall museum. This is the main museum in Jaipur, and was designed on the Albert Hall and Prince Albert, Prince of Wales, laid the first stone. This cost only 1.40GBP each to get in and was great. After this we went to the zoo, as it was next door. This also cost 1.40GBP each, but was not so good. We did get to see 4 tigers though (including a white tiger), just a shame it had to be in a zoo, but there are so few left that it is rare to see them out in the wild. We seemed to be the only foreign tourists in the zoo, and soon became a tourist attraction. We must remember never to sit down anywhere, as peolpe start coming up asking to take your photo! After this we went to see the Hawa Mahal (Windy Palace) then walked through some of the bazaars, then took a cycle rickshaw home.

Today we have had a relaxing morning. I have given Graham a haircut, it looks great! Just sat in the entrance of the guest house and there is a man going up and down the street shouting (not sure what) but it sounds like the Monty Python sketch "Bring out your dead!" Going to go back to the Hawa Mahal today and hopefully go inside, then try to get a rickshaw to take us to monkey temple this evening, as we leave in the morning for Pushkar.

We really like Jaipur. It is busy, but not so much as Mumbai was. The rickshaws and cycles also try to ask for tips, but I have adopted the saying that we're English, so we don't tip! It's still hot during the day here, but the evenings are a little cold, which is nice for a change. It also means that I get to wear some different clothes now!

Maggie x