7th Febuary 2005 - Jaiselmer to Jaipur 13 hours

As the train had to travel through the desert the interior of the train ended up resembling a sand pit within the first hour of the journey. Anyway arriving in Japiur it was obvious straight away that it was a big city as the station was chaos at 5am with hoards of rickshaw drivers pouncing on you as soon as you stepped over the sleeping bodies and out of the station. After being in the relaxed environment of Jaiselmer the crazy, chaotic, noisy, polluted Indian city of Jaipur knocked me sideways.
I had my first ride in a cycle rickshaw which I would thoroughly enjoyed if I didn’t feel so sorry for the old guy cycling, I felt like getting off and pushing. As well as being cheaper and more environmental the cycle rickshaw wallahs look like they need the business more than the taxi or auto rickshaw drivers. The poverty is impossible to ignore in Jaipur. There are so many under fed, filthy dirty young children running around in rags begging and sorting through rubbish. I think my emotions towards the poverty were enhanced by the fact that I was reading ‘The City of Joy’. This is a heart wrenching book about the poverty and hardship in Calcutta.
Visiting the city palace presented a more pleasant side to Jaipur. The buildings are a dusty pink colour like a lot of the building you see around the city. There was also a lot of renovation work going on which is always a positive thing to see especially when India has so many neglected buildings that form part of their long history. As this was our last stop in Rajasthan I couldn’t leave without purchasing some jootis shoes, which are traditional Rajasthan pointed toed shoes. They are hand made from camel skin and some look like Cinderella’s lost slipper.