The sanctuary of Jaipur

Teresa and I had been in India for about 2 weeks when we made our way from Agra to Jaipur. By that time the sensory overload was beginning to wear more than a little on us both. We had enjoyed seeing the Taj Mahal, but we happy about leaving Agra behind us.

And then there was the train ride from Agra to Jaipur.

We were very proud that we had managed to negotiate the train system relatively well from Delhi to Agra, but the trip to Jaipur was going to be 4 hours long (instead of 1.5 hrs) and it would be a night time train (instead of daylight), and the train wasn't scheduled to arrive in Jaipur until mid-night.

I'm not ashamed to say, that in hindsight, we had bitten off more than we could chew. In theory it was simple... arrive at the station, wait about 30 mins, board the train, read and play cards for a couple of hours, and then be picked up at the Jaipur station by a car from our hotel... easy.

Well unfortunately the practice was nothing like the theory. First, the train was 90 mins late and we arrived at the station about 60 minutes early, so a simple 30 minute wait turned in to 2+ hours, and the Agra train station wasn't as clean or well kept as the New Delhi station, and the people looked a little less friendly (we saw several men carrying what looked like hunting rifles). Not to mention that everyone seemed to be obviously staring at me and Teresa (but mostly Teresa). Second, as we waited on the platform for the last 15-20 mins for the train to arrive, the power occasionally failed plunging the platform in complete darkness. Fortunately we had a small flash light, but it was a very uneasy situation being the only foreigners as far as we could see, and our nerves were already on edge from the long wait.

Finally the train did arrive, but the night train was much less clean than the short ride from Delhi, and our fellow travelers didn't seem as polished or worldly or friendly as the city folks traveling from the capital city.

Regardless of all this Teresa and I survived the journey by playing cards and keeping to ourselves, and trying to smile and say a cheerful 'Namaste' when we had the opportunity. The 4 hours seemed more like 8, and needless to say we were grateful to be off the train when we finally arrived.

The last straw was when we arrived in Jaipur (at close to 1am) there was no hotel car anywhere to be seen. Apparently there had been some mix up with the platforms and unfortunately the hotel driver couldn't find us... it seemed our trials were not yet over.

But little did we know our luck was about to change, and Jaipur would prove to be a much needed escape from the madness.

Our first break came at the station, when amongst the chaos and hustle and bustle of people coming and going we connected with Janu (Shabbir Khan). Initially Janu appeared just like one of the usual hawkers trying to get us in to his car and we fully expected he would try some trick to get us to his, or his brother's hotel.

But instead he was very patient, courteous, and appeared genuinely interested in our plight. He offered us a very reasonable fixed price to get us to our hotel, despite the fact that we would have been willing to pay considerably more given that our choices appeared limited at one in the morning, then he proceeded to call a few friends to confirm the hotel location and never once tried to talk us in to some other hotel.

The only selling he did was to show us a number of written references he had from previous clients, that he kept in a small note book, and let us know that we could look him up on the internet if we wanted more confirmation of his credentials (which we subsequent did, and confirmed).

We used Janu's services for a number of trips during our Jaipur stay and we would highly recommend him to anyone visiting the area... he also arranges airport pick-ups from the New Delhi airport, and drives to Agra on the way to Jaipur (which I would recommend over the train). He also conducts tours of the Rajasthan region, which would be great fun. So please feel free to give him a call on 0091-9929 152 946 or email him at shabbirkhan4u2005@yahoo.com.

The second thing that went our way that early morning was the hotel, the Royal Heritage Haveli, Jaipur. Once we arrived at the hotel we were greeted and shown to a lovely room, with a couple of complementary bottles of cold beer... just what we need to sooth our nerves.

Later that morning the staff were very apologetic for the misunderstand at the station, and because things at the hotel were a little quiet the owner (Pradip Singh) offered to upgrade us to one of their larger suites, if it was to our liking... and it was.

The Royal Heritage Haveli is a true oasis of calm, and the facilities and service rivaled that of any 5 star hotel we had stayed at. The operator/owner (Pradip) has been meticulously restoring this old 1850's hunting lodge for the last 4 years, and while there is still some light construction on-going it is easy to feel the past glory of the royal residence in every brick and stone.








The breakfast also wins our award to the best breakfast of the trip, and the happy hours were both entertaining and well supplied. One evening he Pradip put on a beautiful romanic dinner for two by candle light at the pool, and Teresa and I couldn't have been happier.

Jaipur itself is also a very different city from Delhi and Agra. The old city has a pleasing sense of structure to it, and the people seem to have a little more time to sit and relax and explain things to you. We had a very interesting visit to a custom rug manufacture and learnt a great deal about the real rug trade, not the fake rug trade usually put on display for tourists.

Jaipur also has the Amber Fort, which I think is amongst the best places I've seen in India. It's a fun place to visit because it's one of the few places you can just freely stroll around the myriad of passageways leading from courtyard to courtyard, and the freedom tends to give you a much better appreciation of the scope and complexity of the architecture.








We visited a few other places in and around Jaipur, like the the palace of the winds (Hawa Mahal), the royal observatory, the monkey temple, the city palace, and the floating palace... but to be honest Teresa and I would have been happy to spend the whole 4 days at the hotel... it was that good.














As it was we decided to extend an extra night, because we couldn't stand the thought of returning to New Delhi again for our last night in India... not after our Jaipur sanctuary.

Tripadvisor: Reviews Royal Heritage Haveli, Jaipur