We visited Agra twice and both times we stayed at the Tourist Rest House.  Both times our room was reasonably clean and more or less quiet.  The rooms are set around a pleasant courtyard where you can get food.  There is internet access available as well.

Both times our windows wouldn’t shut.  Since it was winter, this meant that the room was really cold.  It also meant that mosquitoes and other bugs could easily get in. 

We had our own private bathroom with shower.  It had hot water and decent water pressure.  The bathroom was clean enough. 

The staff were fairly friendly and were happy to store our bags while we explored after checking out. 

At this point, we headed back to Agra.  We wanted to use our train pass, but the only class available on the overnight train was the Sleeper class, and we didn’t really want to rough it that much. Instead we hired a driver, and it was one of the scariest drives of our life. The road was extremely rough, and filled with cows, people, other livestock…  The driver kept getting lost and was driving extremely aggressively.  Although amazingly it wasn’t till we were finally approaching Agra that he got a flat tire.

We stayed at the Tourist Rest House again, but we’re not sure why – it hadn’t improved since the last time we were there!  Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t? 

It was all worth it though. We saw the Taj Mahal  in the wonderful morning light, on a beautiful sunny day and we were one of the very few people there.  We spent several hours just soaking it in and enjoying the chance to take in all the amazing details.

Then we had lunch at McDonald’s – where there are no Big Macs (Hindus don’t eat beef) and half the menu is labeled
vegetarian.  Including the fries (which are made with beef flavoring in most of the world).  Awesome.  Very expensive, though – the sundae cost as much as it would in the US.  But it was certainly an experience – Wendy has nothing to eat at McD’s back home!

In the afternoon we took the train one last time back to Delhi.

Our next destination was Jaipur. We were able to take an overnight train. We arrived at Jaipur early in the morning, and the auto-rickshaw drivers and touts were all over us. Sick of the whole thing, we took a very long walk (getting lost several times) to the hotel. 

We were staying at Atithi Guest House. The hotel room wasn’t that clean, but in their defense, the cleaning crew had cleaned the room in a hurry while we waited, since we arrived early in the morning.  The room was quiet, though and the owner was able to arrange a car and driver to take us to Agra.   

We visited the City Palace.  It was built between 1729 and 1732, and is one of the main draw cards for Jaipur.  Unfortunately the sights were not that exciting and we cruised through pretty fast.

The Jantar Observatory is right next to the City Palace.  It was a somewhat interesting diversion with it’s Escher-like structures.  It is the largest stone observatory in the world and is one of the Maharaja Jai Singh’s most conspicuous additions to Jaipur.

The Hawa Mahal (Palace of Winds) has a beautiful facade , but there isn’t anything inside it except for a good vantage point to watch the hustle and bustle of the street below.  It was built in 1799 as a comfortable retreat for Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh. It’s designed to catch the breeze.

We tried to eat lunch at LMB restaurant.  It was recommended by our guidebook.  Unfortunately it was terrible food, and service to match!

We visited Amber Fort which can be seen from almost everywhere in Jaipur.  It was built for residential purposes (not defensive), up high on a hill overlooking the city.  Again, the main sights had been sadly damaged by graffiti (including some dated from the previous day!) and explanatory signs were non-existent.  Neither the Lonely Planet nor the Let’s Go provide maps, and their description consists of such location information as “elsewhere in the palace’”…

We tried to do more shopping but didn’t really find much and we decided to clear out of Jaipur a little early – it wasn’t what we’d hoped for – the shopping was supposed to be great but it really wasn’t and there are way too many tourists so they’re really pushy. 

So, we got a car and driver to take us to Agra so we could see the Taj without racing. 

In Udaipur we stayed at Hotel Gangaur Palace, near Gangaur Ghat.  It is very clean, and in a beautiful building – a 250 year old haveli.  A haveli is a house with a central courtyard.  It’s really nice and the thick old walls kept us warm at night and still cool during the day.

The room is quiet and the linens are clean.  The bed is reasonably comfortable.  Our room had a private bathroom.  The shower was clean, and there was enough hot water with good water pressure.  The central courtyard is beautifully decorated. 

There is a roof-top terrace where you can watch movies.  There are two different ones shown every night.  Like pretty much every hotel in Udaipur, Octopussy is always one of them.  (Part of it was filmed in the Lake Palace in Udaipur).

While not the cheapest place you can stay, for $18 you get great value for your money. 

Happy New Year!  We rang in the new year in style at Ambrai Restaurant.  They had a really nice outdoor buffet last night, right on the lake and overlooking the Lake Palace here in Udaipur.  There were a ton of fireworks all around us and not just at midnight, either!  We almost got lost getting there when the power went out (a common occurrence), but we were prepared with our flashlight.  

There are no easy train connections to Udaipur – they’re in the middle of a major gauge conversion program.  We took a flight on Air India, and it was a comfortable short hop.  It was on time, but apparently delayed flights are quite common.

The airport in Udaipur is an hour out of the city and there is a pre-paid taxi stand.  We shared a ride with someone to reduce the price.  We’re staying at Hotel Gangaur Palace – an old haveli (house with a central courtyard) which is 250 years old and has been converted into a hotel.  It’s really nice and the thick old walls kept us warm last night and still cool this morning.

Did a whole bunch of shopping and a little sightseeing – the crafts and particularly the textiles are beautiful here.  If  you’ve seen the Indian wallcoverings with the mirrors and embroidery in them that’s from Rajasthan – the area of India that we’re in.  So it’s fun browsing through everything.

We went to see a temple yesterday.  Shree Jagdish Mandir Temple which is a  17th century temple in the middle of the Old City dedicated to Vishnu’s avatar Jagannath. 

Today we just finished touring the City Palace and then we went on a short boat ride around the lake.  Very pleasant.  The weather is beautiful, sunny and warm – Wendy’d be in shorts if any of the other women were wearing them!

We visited a horrible puppet museum -Bharatiya Lok Kala Mandal Folk Art Museum – where we took photos of graffiti drawn right on

the main exhibits…We’re off to do more shopping, and hopefully pick up something nicer to wear tonight for dinner at the Lake Palace.  Good thing that Ian kept the email reservation – they’ve more than doubled their rate, but they’re agreeing to honour the price they quoted him in email – yeah! 

The Lake Palace is the one that was featured in Octopussy – it was built on an island in the middle of the lake but it takes up the whole of the island – giving the effect of a palace that’s floating.  It should be a special way to ring in the New Year!