DATELOG WED 31 DEC

Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan, and was built 388 years ago as a planned city by the ruler Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II. Sawai is a title given to him by the Mughal Emperor which means "one and a quarter" and is awarded to those of unusual brilliance. Amongst other things, he spoke seventeen languages, oversaw the construction of Jaipur and built five astronomical observatories around India.

Jaipur is known as the Pink City and is an international centre for trade in gemstones.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaipur
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/india/rajasthan/jaipur

Our hotel is the Hari Mahal Palace and it is a fantastic heritage hotel. Our rooms are up a considerable number of winding stairs but our three rooms were on the own level and had their own reception area where the kids all hung out.


















The rooms all had marble floors and were quite sizable - two nights here so we are happy to be off the road for a while. The hotel also has an awesome collection of old photos including maharajas on safari.

The day started with breakfast in our hotel before we headed off in the bus about 9AM. We had a tour guide and we started the day with a visit to the Amber Fort. This is the same age as the city and overlooks the city.






















































The hall of mirrors:



























The Amber Fort was the Maharajas residence, where he lived with his twelve wives and 97 concubines. Further up the hill and looking even cooler is Jaighar Fort - the actual military encampment of the time and remaining today as the private property of the 16 year old King of Jaipur. It has its own "Great Wall".

















After the Amber Fort we headed off to the Elephant Village which is a special zone with lots of stables for the elephants. We were supposed to be going to Elefantastic where we could play with the elephants for about three hours. Unfortunately when we got there they told us it had been cancelled due to the death of the owners grandfather. This was a HUGE disappointment as the kids (and Joe) had been pretty pumped up about this one.

Driving back into town we stopped at the Water Palace, where we also saw a short street magic performance by a nine year old boy who doesn't go to school.









We then stopped at a little state enterprise craft centre where we were herded through seven different shops before we could leave. The jeweller was very informative and the group got some nice stuff. Joe bought a tailor made suit (ordered at 15:30 New Years Eve and delivered at 7:30 on New Years Day).

Other shops included bronzes, linens, clothes, comforters (doonas). Joe was very tempted to buy two life size bronze lions (originally US$20,000 but down to US$14,000). The ones that got away!

We finished off our touring day with a stop at Jantar Mantar, the astronomical observatory built by Jai Singh II. We got there just before admission closed at 16:30 and we had about 40 minutes - it was quite fascinating.



















The world's largest sundial - accurate to 2 seconds!


















Another 40 mins for girls clothes shopping and then we got back to the hotel about 18:30. The hotel was hosting a big New Years Eve bash and so we went off to get ready for kick-off at 20:00.

We got down there at 20:00 and we were probably the first guests to arrive. The setup was very attractive with big outdoor marquees (with coloured fabric linings) and a dance floor and stage. The entertainment was not awesome, and included:
An elderly violinist
Various house disco music
A incomprehensible collection of felicitations
A Bollywood presentation
A fashion parade
A live singer

It was all a bit odd really and the main dinner didn't start serving until 22:00. We were all a bit tired and everyone ended up back in their rooms before midnight.

Here are the tiger shirts:









I don't have a photo of the two May girls in their new Indian outfits but will try to get one as they looked awesome too !

Location:Jaipur (Rajasthan)

DATELOG TUE 30 DEC

Today was a day that I had been eagerly awaiting, and one that generated at least six extra hours in the bus - Tiger Safari at Ranthambhore National Park!

Rathambhore National Park is 392 square kilometers and includes the former private hunting grounds of the King of Jaipur. Further details on Ranthambore:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranthambore_National_Park

The guy who runs this company is a friend of our local family contact Sharon, and he left his old job to follow his passion and run his own tiger safari business - his website tracks tiger sightings and numbers throughout the park:
www.tigerwalah.com

Anyway, we assembled at the hotel at 7AM for tea, coffee and biscuits. We got picked up not long after in our twenty seater open top safari truck - the other option is a six seater jeep. It was VERY cold, especially on the open road when the truck could speed up a bit. The most welcome street sellers I have seen were the guys selling beanies and gloves outside the entrance to the park!







Each vehicle is allotted a specific sector that they are allowed to tour - we got sector 5 along with about six other vehicles that we saw intermittently. The safari lasts for about 2.5 hours inside the park. Sadly for us - no tigers today!

This is a common occurrence, and our guide mentioned that because there is plenty of water at the moment the wildlife can get a drink anywhere. When it is drier the prey are more concentrated and the tigers slightly more predictable.

We did see tiger footprints, birds, peacocks, spotted deer, antelope, monkeys and a jackal!














































































It was sad not to see a tiger but it was still a great experience. I have included a tiger photo so you aren't disappointed too!







Here is also a video of someone who saw more tiger than they wanted at Ranthambhore - probably best not to tell Bern about this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqzkEYf6YEU

After this we went back to the hotel for breakfast, before packing up and heading off around midday. I'm a bit hazy on actual travel times as I am a bit behind on the blog but I think we got into Jaipur and our hotel around 4PM.

We had dinner at a local restaurant onsite, saw a puppet show and some local dancing, and retired to bed!

Location:Ranthambhore (Rajasthan) to Jaipur (Rajasthan)

DATELOG MON 29 DEC

Today was mainly driving. We set off from Agra about 10:30 and drove almost non-stop for 5.5 hours. The decision not to stop anywhere was made largely due to our fear of public toilets and our exacting food preparation standards.







Joe's decision to "help out" the driver by using Google Maps took us on the road even less travelled (onto the dirt and through a couple of villages) but we arrived nonetheless around 16:00 at our hotel The Pugmark.

Our original intention had been to do an afternoon safari on arrival and then a morning safari the next day - the reason being that the tigers have a fair bit of space to get around in and you often don't actually see them during the safari. In any case they didn't book the afternoon one due to the extensive travel time so long story short we had the afternoon to relax.

The resort greeted us with mango juice on arrival and we were shown through to our basic but comfortable rooms. The resort did have a nice pool area and we sat up there as the evening cooled and had a drink and a chat.

As it got dark they fired up some outdoor fires and we moved down to the lawn for a further drink (and pekorah) before dinner.







Dinner was a fairly basic buffet but all good.

After dinner I stopped by the souvenir shop and Xavier and I picked out fabrics for some overnight, hand-made shirts!

Then off to bed for a good nights sleep before going tiger hunting!

Location:Ranthambore National Park, Rajasthan

DATELOG SUN 28 DEC

We assembled at the Mascarhenas apartment at approximately 9AM, and got underway shortly thereafter in our Toyota Tempo 10 seater minibus.
Headed out on the highway and shrouded in fog for most of the journey. Driving on roads in India is worth a post of its own which hopefully I will manage shortly.




We arrived at Agra at about 13:30 and checked into our hotel - the Hotel Clarks Shiraz. Once again Sharon has made an excellent selection - this is a very English Raj style hotel with timber panelling and marble floors. It also included both dinner and breakfast so that was also good.
This hotel, like our hotel in Delhi, also has bag scanners and metal detectors on site. I am not sure when these became a standard item over here but it is presumably related to incidents such as this:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Mumbai_attacks
Check-in took a while but we were able to drop our gear off, freshen up and head back out to see the Taj Mahal about 14:20. Somewhere along the way we picked up a freelance tour guide who obviously had some form of working relationship with our bus service. He turned out to be very helpful in a number of ways, speeding up queues, providing historical info and taking photos.




In order to protect the Taj from pollution the entire surrounding area is emissions restricted. This means you part your car a fair distance away and take a electric cart down to the entrance. Foreigners pay 750 rupees ($15) for access, locals pay 20 rupees (40 cents). However the foreigners get a better deal with:
* electric cart ride
* bottle of water
* shoe covers
* MUCH shorter queues












We were there on a Sunday and it was packed ! You could not describe it as a place or serenity or reflection (largely because of the number of people) - but there is no questioning it's beauty, magnificence and architectural significance.
You can learn more about it here:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taj_mahal
But, in a nutshell it was built by a Mughal (Mongol) Emperor as a mausoleum to demonstrate his love for his deceased third wife. He spared no expense, and, as a result, was effectively overthrown by his son and placed under house arrest for the last eight years of his life.

So I guess one man's uncompromising tribute to love and beauty is another mans nutbag vanity project!




Still, the world is a richer place for it and I am grateful it has survived many threats since its construction almost 400 years ago. It continues to face ongoing environmental challenges such as pollution and damage to the underlying water table.




After this we headed off back to the hotel around 17:00 for dinner and bed.

Location:Agra, Uttar Pradesh

DATELOG SAT 27 DEC

After getting to bed around 05:30 local time (11:00 MEL) we got up around 10:00 to partake of our included breakfast at the hotel.
Food was good and service was also good. They have a mix of local foods as well as standard continental and hot breakfasts.
Everyone else was still asleep at their respective residences so we just went back to our rooms for while and read / snoozed for a while.
Sharon came and picked us up about 15:00 and we we to visit the Mascarenhas family (see separate entry).
After a very pleasant afternoon there we set off for Mass at the Cathedral at 18:00 - although our driver was late and traffic heavy so we didn't arrive until the homily.




After dinner we headed off to Connaught Place which seems to be one of the "go to" places for shopping and restaurants. Some confusion as to exactly where the restaurant was so we went around in circles for a while.
Dinner was very nice and was to celebrate the 47th wedding anniversary of James & Jocelyn.
Our restaurant was Berkos which is Chinese / Thai. Food here is quite cheap - main serves were between $5 and $7 each.
After this we retired got the evening - tomorrow we start our four night side tour by minibus.

Location:New Delhi, National Capital District

Not Happy Jan

Looks like a long haul peeps !

All times are Melbourne:

09:50 - Arrive at checkin counter
12:15 - scheduled departure time
13:30 - revised departure time
20:10 - scheduled arrival to SING
21:15 - scheduled departure for DELHI
21:30 - actual arrival into SING
23:50 - our new flight to
BANGKOK
??? - new flight from BANGKOK to DELHI
07:15 - arrival at DELHI

Slightly tiring - here are three Mays to cheer you up

On the Plane

We have two separate booking codes so Ronin and Zig are the lucky two who get to sit up the front with Joe !

The flight was just under eight hours so everyone got in at least two movies !

Location:In The Sky Over Australia

Boxing Day @ Tullamarine

OK, so far so good.

Everyone has made it to the airport with plenty of time.




James is feeling much better so hopefully he will also continue on the mend.

Coming up - an eight hour flight to Singapore !

Location:Melbourne Airport