After a restful sleep we awoke to the sound of peacocks crying outside our hotel. We had arrived in Jaipur after a 5 hour bus journey. Paul had stocked up on Imodium as he had been ill. The initial ride was a bit swervy and bumpy, so much so that the old Indian woman sat behind us puked out of the window. Showing much sympathy I quickly put my earplugs in and closed my eyes to block it all out. Paul moved us to the back of the bus to seats that reclined so that he could get some sleep. The rest of the journey was quite smooth however the air-con was on and off which was not helping with Paul's illness. Our new hotel in Jaipur was great - swimming pool, air-con and the room was beautifully finished and of course wild peacocks lived in the neighbourhood! At last I might see a peacock in flight. Jaipur is the pink city, it was built from scratch from 1727, sponsored by the Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh (after whom it was named) and carried out by an eminent architect Vidyadhar Bhattacharaya. It got its pink colour in 1876, when the Maharaja, another of the Singh dynasty commissioned the paint job in honour of Price Albert who was visiting at the time. The old pink city is walled and gated and houses a grid of streets lined with bazaars. The old pink city is home to various palaces and a grand scale observatory Jantar Mantar. On Friday we walked to the walled city 20 minutes north of our hotel. We visited the main highlights. Hawa Mahal 18th century (palace of winds), intricately decorated with its lattice screened walls. The lattice screens enabled the Royal women to look out at the world beyond - they didn't get out much! Paul has captured some flattering shots of the place. Next was the observatory that we had seen on a TV programme - Sawai Jai Singh (the founder of Jaipur) was quite a boffin and was interested in astronomy and commissioned the building of 5 such observatories around India. It is a collection of tools in stone and marble which can be used to make various celestial calculations. Prof. Brian Cox would say it was very majestic. The Indians would say it is great to climb on and take photos - whatever the signs say. Next was the City palace, part time home to the current Maharaja and Maharani. The Royal apartments are out of bounds, but you can explore the gardens and courtyards. The architecture was not so inspiring but one of the courtyards had 4 magnificent doors representing the seasons. Saturday was one of my favourite days so far. I woke to the familiar cry of the peacocks and went up to the rooftop to see them. One of them was on a neighbouring rooftop above me, so close... I fumbled with Paul's phone camera to catch it in flight and messed it up...What a beautiful creature though...so exciting seeing them. With Paul feeling better, we set off to the Albert Hall - designed by a British architect Sir Samuel Swinton Jacob in the Indo-Saracen style - it is known as the City Museum (trying to shed their colonial history). Not much of a museum but the building is pretty impressive. I suffered yet another touch-up by a young Indian boy - I gave him a rollocking, Paul was about 50ms ahead and didn't hear me...good job really as he might have killed him. I was very respectfully dressed too - very disturbing! Anyway I tried to put it all behind me and we got a bus from the crossroads outisde the Hawa Mahal to Amber Fort/Palace complex. The fort is stunning, set in a valley next to a lake, overlooked by Jaigarh Fort and winding fortification walls on the hills. Paul at last had his visuals to play with. This is what Rajastan is really all about. The photos speak for themselves. I spotted some sleeping monkeys by one of the turrets and alerted Paul to take some shots. Paul hadn't noticed one half-asleep above them and snapped away to the distress of this guarding monkey who proceeded to go into attack mode bearing his teeth and jumping down towards him. Instead of running away Paul decided it would be fun to mirror it and almost got into a fight - this monkey wasn't small either. After wandering around the palace complex for a couple of hours and grabbing lunch we took a winding and steep path at the front of the fort 1.5kms up to Jaigarh Fort on the hill for more spectacular views of the valley. The entrance fee for Amber Fort was covered by the ticket for the Hawa Mahal/Jantar Mantar and Jaigarh Fort's fee was covered by the City Palace ticket - so with a 20RP per head return bus ride it was amazing value. The Jaigarh Fort was not as impressive but the views were worth the climb and the turreted walls overlooked an empty perfectly kept secret garden. Paul found the doorway to it - the words 'No Entry' being just for guidance - and wandered around snapping happily without the crowds. What a great day - groping incident apart. On my last morning in Jaipur I raced upstairs to the rooftop and watched a peacock, he jumped over to our rooftop and walked in front of me, he then hopped up onto the railings and flew down to another rooftop, a bit ungainly in flight but a thrill to watch. 3 hour bus to Pushkar next - Pushkar is another pilgrimage hotspot with temples galore and set on a lake lined with Ghats.