We were warned before arriving into Jaipur - the capital city of Rajasthan - that tuk tuk drivers at the train station would hassle us, trying to get us to go to the hotel where they'd earn commission for bringing customers to them. This happens at most train stations in India to be honest, with many drivers insisting the hotel we've booked has closed, or is "not good," so we'd be better to go with them. So, it was nothing unusual to be greeted by men literally jumping on us the minute we stepped off the train saying they were here to collect us… When we couldn't find anyone who actually knew our names though, we used the station telephone to phone the hotel to send for someone to pick us up.

Sounds simple enough, but it's hard to describe just how noisy, dirty, smelly and overcrowded the stations are in India. People lay across the filthy platforms - and on any available space really - with what seems like their entire worldly possessions sprawled around them (Indians NEVER travel light!). There is a constant flow of men pushing huge wooden carts full of god knows what up and down platforms to load freight trains - they yell at people to move or get squashed as they go. As usual, everyone wants to sell you something, shouting out like they're at Camden market…. Chai, water, crisps, locks, Ben10 calendars, unidentifiable Indian food… Then there's the crowds of people who NEVER use the footbridge to cross over the platforms - instead they throw themselves on to the tracks and tread through sh*t (literally - and mostly it's human), rats and filthy sludge before clambering up (with their worldly possessions) the other side. Worryingly, this is often done with trains approaching, but the trains here are so big, heavy and old it is actually possible to run faster than them so we've seen no near misses…. Yet. Oh and despite there being toilets at most stations, no one cares to use them so it's not unusual for the man, woman, or child next to you to suddenly squat and drop their trousers (or heave up their sari's) to do their business in the middle of the station…

Needless to say, navigating the madness with our huge backpacks is draining so it's all the more frustrating that we have to deal with the constant hassle from rickshaw drivers as well but eventually we got to our hotel, the Hotel Pearl Palace Heritage. We'd mulled over booking this one for ages, and even the day before we had doubts over whether we should rebook somewhere cheaper. At a whopping 2000 Rupees a night (about £20) it was one of the most expensive hotels we'd booked. But walking into our room, any doubts were instantly erased. It was a boutique hotel and each room was designed differently to represent different regions and eras of the state, Rajasthan. We were in the room that was made to look like a fort, (as if we wouldn't see enough of those!) so it was covered in sandstone and had a royal looking bedspread and curtains - and it even had a balcony. The bed was huge, with big pillows, and we had Sky TV, wifi, and a gorgeous bathroom with a western toilet and rainforest shower. It was like heaven, and there was no way we were moving, especially now that we both had nasty colds.

After a few hours rest we ventured out to a nearby rooftop restaurant hoping to catch our first glimpse of "The Pink City" below. It turns out that most (and not even all) of the buildings are actually painted more of terracotta orange so it wasn't as impressive as we thought. But the food was nice, and the restaurant was decent too so we relaxed there until heading home for an early night.

The next day we ventured into the pink (orange) city, briefly popping into the Central Museum on the way which was built by the British during the Empire. Walking around inside, we could have been in England.

After that we stocked up on some Bombay Mix from a street vendor, and made our way to the city's famous bazaars (markets). They were nowhere near as hectic as we thought so we enjoyed just wondering around, and decided anything could be bought there - wooden ladders, phones, clothes, shoes, pots, pans, jewellery… Even the kitchen sink, let alone everything under it. As tourists though we're made to pay skin tax on everything so we decided to keep our money in our pockets and headed to the Hawa Mahal. This is a strangely delicate five-storey building plonked in the middle of the noisy bazaars built in pink sandstone. It looks like honeycomb because of it's tiny windows and mini balconys. It was built by one the Maharajas - Jai Singh - in the 18th Century for the women of the royal household to nosey at the goings-on outside which Nat thinks is an excellent idea. We climbed up inside for great views of the nearby City Palace and other sights in the city.

After that we went to Jantar Mantar - which we're told means abracadabra. It's an ancient observatory, which was also built by the same Maharaja because he was apparently keen on astronomy (and also very rich!) It was basically a bunch of very random instruments that measure stars and things built in stone.

We wrapped up the day at the City Palace, which is still home to the former royal family. We wondered around rooms you might expect, like armourys etc, and were pretty miffed when one of the security people who was all dressed up in a turban and traditional clothes offered to take our picture and then demanded money. We get this all the time outside, mostly from kids, who cheer "photo, photo" at us and insist we take their picture and then try and get money, or chocolate, out of us afterwards. It was a little strange to see a man doing it inside a place like this though… especially one who worked there! The Palace was lovely though and it even had a gift shop with fixed prices and no skin tax!

The next day we went to the ancient Amber Fort, which is just outside Jaipur. It was pretty tough climbing up the huge hill it was on in the searing heat, whilst still suffering with colds, but it was worth it. Built in yellow sandstone and marble, it once housed the royal family and had lots of secret areas and passageways so the Maharajas could visit their many wives in secret. There were also elephants roaming around which was quite nice to see.

Strangely we bumped into an Australian guy there who we'd previously met back in Agra. We had a samosa with him there before heading onto another nearby fort, called Jaigarh Fort. This one was a military fort so it was more basic, but the views were just as good.

As we'd hired a tuk tuk for the day we asked our driver to take us to see some traditional block printing being done afterwards. We hoped to go to a farm that was in our guidebooks, but instead he said it was closed so took us to another place in the city. It was nice, but it was obvious that he was earning commission off anything we bought (sigh) and we couldn't be sure how genuinely handmade the items were, so instead we left and headed to the place we wanted to go the next day to buy two gorgeous, hand printed cushion covers for a couple of quid. We know we have no bed, or sofa, or even a house for them, but Nat couldn't leave India empty handed….

After haggling with another tuk tuk for ages (we now refuse to pay over the odds and simply walk off if they don't give us a fair price) we got dropped off at the bottom of a huge hill which we walked up to reach yet another fort called Nahargarh Fort. We decided not to pay to enter as it seemed pretty basic and derelict inside, but the walk was nice and the views were lovely so it was a nice place to wrap the city up before our night train later to the desert city further West, Jaisalmer. We're hoping it will be a pleasant relief from the polluted cities.