DELHI – AGRA – JAIPUR – DELHI ( part 2)

I lost my Delhi part 2 draft and in no mode to write the entire lengthy explanation thus here is a summary of my trip continued

Third day JAIPUR

To start the day we had toasted bread and jam form with a cup of tea which I took one sip since I’m not a tea person neither am I a coffee drinker. So to start our Jaipur adventure we went to Amber Fort.

Our stop before reaching the hill top of amber fort

It was a long ride up the hill to reach Amber Fort and upon arriving I wasn’t looking forward to tour this place, to us it was a waste of time because it was not well preserved that’s probably why there were not many tourist around. This fort is huge and I believe from the time it was built that is in 1592 till the final days it was used as a fort it sure has magnificent stories to share with its visitors.

The palace overlooking the fort

The only beautiful place in the fort- the garden

But sad to say there were not much information available and this beautiful fort made by white marble and red sand stone looks like a big dump site with rubbish probably at every corner. I was told the amber fort- palace which can be seen from the fort’s tower is a place worth visiting. And I could see there were many tourists there. But we had enough of sightseeing and decided to skip this destination

Entrance fee :- Indian adults INR25
Foreign Adults INR75
Additional charge:- Mobile camera INR50
Video Camera INR200

Hawa Mahal

We then requested the driver to bring us to Hawa mahal which is a pyramid-shaped facade with five stories with 953 small windows. Its a unique structure and its open for visitors. I didn't choose to enter but to just take a photo of the structure from outside. Along the road is s stretch of market but there wasn’t anything much to look at, everyone seemed to be selling similar stuff .





Among the stuff sold around Hawa Mahal

We spend roughly 20 minutes then decided to move on to have our lunch and head back to Delhi. Along the way our driver brought us to another shop that he gets commission from which is something Jaipur is famous for, carpets and marbles. I wasn’t into those thus I had a browse and headed straight to Delhi.

Day four – DELHI

We checked in the same hotel in Delhi but we got a different room but that was not a problem, the now room looked better. We didn’t choose to have breakfast at the inn.... by the looks of it I think it wasn’t safe if you know what I mean : )... so we walked about one minute from our hotel and reached hotel Southern which has a Pure vegetarian restaurant right next to it ( sorry i forgot what its called)... the food was absolutely lovely and the best part is its super cheap! don't worry on what to order because it will just turn out scrumptious Unlike the other restaurants our driver brought us.



I can't remember what I ordered but it was yummy.

Southern Hotel looked pleasant and there were many tourists staying here. Although we didn’t but we had a look around and thought maybe if we were to come to Delhi we would choose this hotel.

Ill include southern hotel's room rates in rupees for your reference :
Deluxe – A.C (Single 1,490 : Double 1,690)
Super Duluxe – A.C with breakfast ( Single 2.290 : Double 2,490)
Executive suite – A.C with breakfast ( Single 2,590 : Double 2,790)
Royal suite - A.C with breakfast (Single 3,690 : Double- 3890)

After knowing Southern hotel’s rate we were curious to know our ‘Hotel’s’ rate and guess what the “receptionist” said......it was INR4,000... It’s a budget hotel and do you think we are that dumb!! I can get a Royal suite at southern hotel... of course I didn’t say that out loud but I was extremely annoyed! Gosh! Lucky it was our last day and we are already checking out.

Enough of our driver bringing us to shops that he gets commission from, we went to Khan Market and Serojini (if I spelled it correctly). Despite our driver telling us that this place is expensive and that we won’t get anything here, we actually got really good bargains and nice stuff to bring back.

Our potato snack INR20 at khan market .. just lovely!

After one happy shopping trip (Finally!!!) We went sightseeing Delhi with whatever time we had remaining. Our stop was to Lodhi Garden, it is an amazingly beautiful garden with a mosque built on its compound. The government should do some maintenance to this very old mosque. Seriously, I think they should really take care of historical places like these. Amazingly the toilet at this garden was clean and we did our prayer at this old mosque (picture below).


We departed to the airport 3 hours prior to departure as traffic in Delhi can be dreadful.

Prayer room at the airport

TIPS:- I would advice everyone to do your own itinerary and places to visit and don’t rely so much on the driver they will surely bring you to places they will get commission from.

Some stuff to bring along that might come in handy:-

Wet tissues/ baby wipes
Prayer mat for Muslims – or anything that you can use to pray at the garden.
Towels:- I was glad I brought my own, even 3 star hotels provided towels that wasn’t satisfactory clean for me
Drinking water:- I brought one box of 600ml x 24 and the amount was just right for 4 days for the both of us
Shampoo and soap:- the hotels provided soap and shampoo but i prefer to use my own



Accommodation

Delhi :- hotel karat 87 inn.
It was ok but I guess you have to bargain for the price . i took a package thus I have no idea on the room rate.
Would I stay here again:- probably not

Agra – initial was Apollo hotel - worst hotel so far, I requested that we change hotel
Hotel Royal Residency
– SO much better, but the restaurant was not clean and the food was like a budget hotel food. eventhough this hotel provided towels but it looked warned out with some stains.
Would i stay here again:- yes


Jaipur – Ashrivad , the guest house is nice and quiet but the toilet is disgusting
Would i stay here again:- Probably not