Story of Bagpacker to Agra and Jaipur
JAIPUR
& AGRA, INDIA
Sometimes i felt lucky to meet nice people in new country. It seems like there's still have trusted people that can sincerely help without worries. Ok, lets move on to other destination. Our next stop was Jaipur Train Station. Chacha send us to the train station because our train to Agra was early in the morning at 3am. We reached at train station almost 12am. We already dealed with Chacha, after we went back from Agra we wanted him to take us back from train station and be our auto driver for our vacation. He accepted the deal. Cool!! We took his phone number and off he go. We overnight at Jaipur Train Station to go to Agra. The train station were pack of people eventhough at midnight. Most of them sleep at train station. I tell you what, we were so sleepy and tired. My sister and my friend planned to stay few hours at the neaby hotel. Actually i don't mind to overnight at the train station. But, my sister and my friend would like to find a hotel to rest and refresh.
Something weird happen! This part is quite shock and creepy. We went out from the train station and walked across the station in the middle of night. There were many auto rickshaw outside the station waiting for customers. Some of them asked us to ride their auto and some of them offered us a hotel package with auto ride. We don't know which one to believe. We just keep on walking without giving any respond to them. Then, we found a hotel across the street. The hotel looks okay to me. But my friend and my lil sister refused to stay there because the hotel lobby have so many local guys. Maybe they were feeling uncomfortable. So, we walked out from the hotel. Nearby the big road, an auto rickshaw driver came approched us. He said he has a nice hotel just nearby the street and can bring us there. He showed us the hotel's photo. So we said okay and ride his auto. We were really tired and damn sleepy. After reached the hotel, the driver said that we can have a look the room first before booking and pay. I was a bit blur. We were a bit blur and suspicious at the same time. The receptionist told us to follow his man. His man will show us which room we wanted to stay. He brought us to go inside the lift. The lift was really narrow and small. And guess what!! I was a bit nervous in the lift. The man in the lift was facing us and folding his arm in front of the lift door. Seems like he didn't want to let someone in or out. But my sister,my friend and I acted as normal as we could. YUCKKK!! The room was creepy. The walkway corridor also creepy. Gloomy and dark. The room smelled cigarettes. It was bad. He also brought us to other level to see other room. But all are same. The room is bad. Creepyyyy!! The environment is not good. Not nice for girls like us. Well, i guess you'll know what i mean right. Without further a due, we quickly went down and get out from the small lift. We told the auto driver that we didnt want to stay in that hotel and please brought us back to the train station. The driver was a bit mad but we don't care. Finally, we reached to the train station and fiiiuuuuu what a relieved.
The journey of Agra adventure begun. The main purpose of visiting to Agra is non other than Taj Mahal. HOLY GRAIL!!! It will be such a waste to not visit to Taj Mahal if you already arrived to India. It's like once in a life time. Yes, we only wanted to visit Taj Mahal and Agra Fort only because there is nothing much in Agra. So we went straight to Taj Mahal. Taj Mahal was build for 22 years. It was about 20minutes from Agra Chantt. The traffic jam in here was real. Honks everywhere and pack with people & transports. It was a hot day and we were sweating. Then, the auto driver stopped us at the nearby shop and we had to walked few metres to go to Taj Mahal entrance because auto are not allowed to go there. Okay fine....we walked under the hot sunny day and yeeahhh i'm wearing my sweater and sunglass on that day. Because it was hot and i don't want to get tanned or sunburn...LOLL!! There are 4 entrance gates of Taj Mahal. We went to the south gate of Taj Mahal. It is easier than other gates and you could see the full view of Taj Mahal from this gate. From the entrance, i could see the white and sparkle view of Taj Mahal building. It was mind blowing and speechless. It's liked white pearl under the sun! That was my first impression. Then, i took so many photos at every corner and inch of Taj Mahal. HAHAH! Please ignore my excitement..LOL! Well, who wouldn't be excited with one of seven wonders of the world. Beside the Taj Mahal is Yamuna River. I also took some photos and video around the building and river. The river not so clean but it's alright. Taj Mahal was build by Shah Jahan for his wife, Mumtaz. It is a symbol of love between he and his wife. It was made from white marble..fully marble with Islamic architectural. In old days, the building is covered with gemstone and diamonds, but the stones gone during wars. And i also believe that, there are underground secret passages under the building because i saw some doors and gates are forbidden to enter. Furthermore, this building also got underground ventilation. Guess where is it? It is under the floor that we are standing. I noticed that the marble floor do have small holes!! The engineers and architects were brilliant. They knew how to make the building valuable and to be recognized around the world with some special touches and designs. The landscape of Taj Mahal is so grand and wonderful. The building and the landscape is so symmetrical! We spend almost 4 hours in Taj Mahal to explore and checked out any hidden passage or message there.
History believed that Shah Jahan wanted to build another Taj Mahal across the Yamuna River. It would be Black Taj. But his son denied his command because to built another Taj will waste more money. Then, his son sentenced him to jail which is known as Agra Fort. So, our next destination was Agra Fort. It also famous as Red Fort because the colour of the building is red. This is where Shah Jahan live for the rest of his life until he died. You could see Taj Mahal from Agra Fort too. It looks big and white! The Agra Fort is so big. The wall entrance is so big. We didn't spend so much time during the visit to Agra Fort. We took some photos and off we go because it was super hot day and plus we were tired because of the train journey. We felt damn hungry and we told the auto driver to bring us to an aircond restaurant because it was a very hot day and we super damn hungry. Then, he send us to a halal restaurant that he knew. The restaurant was nice and the price also was "nice". But we dont care about the price because we were so damn tired and so damn hungry. We ate deliciously and vigorously with full of enjoyment. After filled up our stomach, the driver brought us to see gemstones & diamonds shops, silk & sari shops and souvenirs shops. I didn't but anything in Agra because Agra is quite expensive than Jaipur. So i decided to shop at Jaipur instead. My sister did buy a gemstone pendant there after dealing with the shop owner and he gave my sister the cheapest price. But the boss was not so happy..HAHAA. Maybe he didn't get any benefit from the price given. After done shopping and site seeing in Agra, we prepared to go back to Jaipur around 6pm. We were super exhausted. We slept throughout the journey to Jaipur. We reached Jaipur at 11.30pm and straight to our hotel.
Same incident happened. The auto driver that fetched us wrongly send to other hotel. He send us to creepy small hallway. We were exhausted and no energy to argue with him anymore. We just told him please bring us the right hotel by referring the location on google maps. Few minutes later we reached to the hotel and checked in to our room. Thanks to the manager who gave us super big room with aircond in return. We went to bath and slept until 10am because our new adventure begun at 11am tomorrow. Its Jaipur timee!!! We took our breakfast at hotel. The breakfast was so delicious. It was vegetarian breakfast. For your information, you don't need to worry about the food in India. majority of them are vegetarian. So it is very easy to find vegetarian food. We enjoyed having our breakfast at the hotel. The staffs were very nice too. The hotel is Surya Villa Heritage Home Hotel. Pretty and nice location. It is far from the honk noises and i had a nice sleep here..plus delicious vegetarian food. Yes, they'll serve vegetarian food for every breakfast. That's how Indian life. We get ready to explore Jaipur and waited Chacha to pick up at hotel. Few minutes later, he arrived at our hotel but that's not Chacha. That was his son. We were a little upset because Chacha not came but its okay. Let see how his son behave.
Jaipur is located at Rajasthan. It is city of kings. That's why Jaipur got many type of forts and palaces. Jaipur is also known as Pink City because most of the buildings are light red to pink colours. Our journey started from the north part of the Pink City. We told our auto driver to go from north and finished to south of the city. Let me list out the places that we've visited.
The day before going back to Malaysia
1. Amber Fort - the most famous fort in Jaipur because this was the shooting location of box office hindi film Bajirao Mastani. The fort is so damn big and such a beauty. It supposed to be surrounded by a lake but the lake is not exist anymore. We climbed up to the fort and the view was so awesome!
2. Sesh Mahal - this is also known as palace of mirrors. The palace is inside the Amber Fort. It is mind blowing. The architectural and the arrangement of mirrors were so detail and so great! Sometimes i just couldn't understand why the engineers and architects from old days were brilliant eventhough their technology were limited. I'm so impress!
3. Jaigarh Fort - this is more like the Great Wall of China. Looks almost the same but a bit smaller. The function of this fort is more to war. The location is around the mountain near to Amber Fort. It seems like surrounded the Jaipur area. I think this is a great strategy in wars. Besides that, the city of Jaipur itself is surrounded by many gates or i can say it as entrances because you will be welcomed by these gates or entrances to get inside to the Pink City. On the way to this fort, our auto driver stop by the road to see the Jaipur view and Jal Mahal from the top of mountain. OMGGG i could see Jal Mahal from here and it looks cute and tiny..LOLL!
4. Nahargarh Fort - this fort is very interesting. The engineers and architects must be thinking out of the box! Actually i am so excited to go to this fort because i've done the research about it. That's a story behind this fort. A king that had many wives. And each wife got their own mansion. Those mansions inside this fort. And each mansions is connected to King's corridor only. Only the King could walk through this corridor and others were forbidden including his wives. The wall painting in this fort were made of food. It is food painting colour. Totally mind blowing! The colour paints were made from food!!! Unbelievable. Those are still in a good conditions. I also could see the Pink City on top of the fort rooftop. Like all!!
5. Jal Mahal - this is a palace on top of a river. We can see the Jal Mahal near the big road on the way to Nahargarh Fort. The palace is no entry. We only could see some part of the Jal Mahal structure and the rest levels are underwater. I couldn't understand why they build the palace in that way. Maybe there's something under the river and totally secret i guess...~
6. City Palace - this palace also famous for film shooting which is Jodha Akhbar hindi film. The palace is at the center of Pink City. This is where the current King's of Rajasthan family leave till now. Yes, they are still exist but not too expose. Tourist can visit inside the palace, but only some part of it. The other part is forbidden by the king's family. As i said before, all palaces and forts were brilliantly designed. Same goes to the City Palace. Based on my opinion, City Palace is more to modern days style and not too ancient.
7. Hawa Mahal - Yes, we did came to this palace for second time. This time was day time visit. Hawa Mahal also can be referred as Palace of Windows. There are many windows in this palace. The Kings builds many windows for this Queen to see the indian celebration by the road because queen is forbidden to gout from palace. Another brilliant idea right! Oh don't forget, this also got famous shopping spots too.
The final day before leaving Jaipur
8. Jantar Mantar - stars or zodiac place. This is more to astronomy or astrology museum. This was build long longg time ago where people calculate and check the time and months upon the stars. There are many zodiac signs and they are unique. Besides that, we also can measure the actual timing from here. It is totally accurate!!! TOTALLY ACCURATE TIME GUYSSS!!! I'm so speechless and shocked! From the sun and mathematics can know the current timing. People in old days were so brilliant and genius guys! I wished to learn from them.
9. Raj Mandir Cinema - I just walked by in front of the cinema only. I didn't plan to watch any movie while travelling. It is an old cinema but already renovated. Cool.
10. Johri Bazaar & Bapuu Bazaar - These are the busiest shopping place in Jaipur. During our stays in Jaipur, we went to both bazaar everyday..HAHAA!! There are variety items from clothes, silks, saris, souvenirs, local food, sweets, chai walla (tea), carpets, cushion covers, bedsheets and many more.
11. Albert Hall Museum - This is the best spot to enjoy with group of sparrow. AWESOME ever! In fron of the museum got so many sparrows and is very famous place for wedding photoshoot or video shooting. During our time there was a couple to do their wedding photoshoot but i think we kinda interupted them because we were having so much fun chased the sparrows. We were surrounded by sparrow birds. Actually, we didn't go inside the museum. The structure of the musuem is more appealing to look at rather than inside of museum..*grin*
12. Central Park Jaipur - This is just beside the Jawahar Circle. It is a park or green garden. Just a normal park at the city of Jaipur. There were souvenir shops at the central park too.
13. Jawahar Circle - The most beautiful design i've ever seen in Jaipur! It is located near to Jaipur airport around 10minutes. Love the colourful designs alot!! This place is popular for instagram photo too.
The best part is the food, buildings and views of course. Majority of Indian are vegetarian. So all hotels mostly will serve vegetarian food. Those food were delicious and i like a lot! My new experience by train from Jaipur and Agra was a bittersweet. India is full of incredible places to visit. But it seems not too easy. For those who wanted to explore India by themselves, please prepare your mental and physical. Make sure those are fit enough. I really mean it. Especially MENTAL. It need a tough mental to experience India. Please bear in mind to all foreigners. INDIA is the key to be an expert traveler! And i'm proud and thankful to feel this kind of experience as a backpacker.
The unforgettable experiences
still fresh in my mind.
The
journey to India was extremely an unforgettable experience. I went to India on April 2019. I've prepared this
vacation liked 3 months before. I did bought the flight ticket last year but i
properly managed to plan this trip about 3 months before departure. Obviously
you have to do that when you are travelling. But, it is different when you
travel to India. If you wanted to travel to India as a bagpacker like me, these
are the lists involved:
-
Flight ticket (i bought a promo ticket at AirAsia of course. Only AA can give
the cheapest ticket price)
-
Visa to India (Malaysian need to apply ETA to go to India. I applied the visa 2
months before departure because an early application is very important due to
some traveler got late respond regarding the ETA)
-
Itinerary / Activities Plan (This is a must. This is part of main preparation
for me when i go travel. I prepared the India's Itinerary during my visit
there)
-
Transportation (Mostly i used public transport when i explored India such as
train, bus and auto rickshaw. Don't forget to book your train ticket 3 to 4
months early because the train ticket at India is selling damn fast!)
-
Accomodation (I prefer to stay in 1 hotel when i go travel because i don't like
to pack and unpack my stuffs. It will waste my time. When travelling,
do manage your time wisely. I booked hotel 3 weeks before travel)
-
Money changer (Forsure i will go to money changer that have the lowest rate
ever..LOLL! Always got it)
For
your information, i went to Agra and Jaipur. I arrived to Jaipur airport at 8pm
local time. I traveled to India with my friend and lil sister. We were the
Charlie's Angles there. Three girls who traveled to India as a bagpacker. I've
read in many blogs, they said that it is not easy to travel to India as a
bagpacker because scammer is everywhere. BUT, if you survive as a bagpacker
style in India, then you can survive to travel anywhere around the world.
Alright, we take that as a challenge! Nevermind. India is famous with Uber and
Grab but i preferred to use Uber because it is more cheaper than Grab. After
arrived the airport, we used airport wifi to book an Uber because there is no
simcard stall opened at night in the airport. Then, we asked the Uber driver to
send us to our hotel but he send us the wrong hotel. It was creepy because the
hotel that he brought us was at a very small hallway. Then, we told him to
u-turn and use the google maps to find our hotel and finally we managed to
reach our hotel with safe and sound. It was a big relieved! Fiuuuu..~~
Actually,
we did not check in the hotel at that night. We were supposed to check in
tomorrow. We only requested to the receptionist to keep our luggage and belongings
for 1 night. He agreed and we were thankful for that because our next
destination to see the Jaipur city at night. Then, we book another Uber to
bring us to Jaipur city. We also asked the Uber driver to be our full time
driver while we were at Jaipur but he denied. He told us to book auto rickshaw
driver because it is easy, convenient and cheaper. It's alright then. He
dropped us at Hawa Mahal, Jaipur. Hawa Mahal is a beautiful palace in the
middle of Jaipur city. It was very beautiful and i love the architectural
structures and the light decorations. Those things made the Hawa Mahal stands
out more! After enjoying and photographing the beauty of the palace, we planned
to find a simcard phone but we couldn't find any shop nearby. Guess what?? An
indian uncle with his auto rickshaw, suddenly stopped his auto near the Hawa
Mahal. He greeted us and he knew that we were tourist. He offered to bring us
to see Jaipur city at night with cheap price. Of course we said YES!!! He
showed and explained us several monuments.
Then,
we told uncle that we wanted to buy simcard and we didn't know where to buy.
Uncle brought us to Jaipur bus station. That bus station is full of people and many
shops. We didn't know which shop sell the simcard. So, uncle help us to find a
shop that he used to know. As usual, local people showed weird face to us
because we were tourist and kinda different from them...and as always we will feel
awkward but we don't care at all because we used to get that feeling when we
travels. This is what you'll get when you travel in a small group
and bagpackers. But, its okay. We can blend and acted friendly with them, but
not too friendly because they might think "something else" especially
in India. So, my advice is just go with the flow but knows the limit! Finally i
got to buy the simcard. The problem is i couldn't activated the simcard on the
spot and need to topup after the phone number is activated. An indian guy came
to us and offered a help. He was really nice and friendly. He also knew our
uncle driver..HAHAa! He called uncle as Cha Cha, it means Uncle in hindi. I
forgot the guy name. His age is around 20++ something. He brought us to meet
his friend and asked Chacha to wait for us. His friend helped us to activate
our simcard on the spot!! Damn it's awesome!!! Finally we can use the simcard.
Nice right! Thanks alot to the guy and his friend. They were so friendly and nice.
He also told us which place to visit in Jaipur and Agra.
Sometimes i felt lucky to meet nice people in new country. It seems like there's still have trusted people that can sincerely help without worries. Ok, lets move on to other destination. Our next stop was Jaipur Train Station. Chacha send us to the train station because our train to Agra was early in the morning at 3am. We reached at train station almost 12am. We already dealed with Chacha, after we went back from Agra we wanted him to take us back from train station and be our auto driver for our vacation. He accepted the deal. Cool!! We took his phone number and off he go. We overnight at Jaipur Train Station to go to Agra. The train station were pack of people eventhough at midnight. Most of them sleep at train station. I tell you what, we were so sleepy and tired. My sister and my friend planned to stay few hours at the neaby hotel. Actually i don't mind to overnight at the train station. But, my sister and my friend would like to find a hotel to rest and refresh.
Something weird happen! This part is quite shock and creepy. We went out from the train station and walked across the station in the middle of night. There were many auto rickshaw outside the station waiting for customers. Some of them asked us to ride their auto and some of them offered us a hotel package with auto ride. We don't know which one to believe. We just keep on walking without giving any respond to them. Then, we found a hotel across the street. The hotel looks okay to me. But my friend and my lil sister refused to stay there because the hotel lobby have so many local guys. Maybe they were feeling uncomfortable. So, we walked out from the hotel. Nearby the big road, an auto rickshaw driver came approched us. He said he has a nice hotel just nearby the street and can bring us there. He showed us the hotel's photo. So we said okay and ride his auto. We were really tired and damn sleepy. After reached the hotel, the driver said that we can have a look the room first before booking and pay. I was a bit blur. We were a bit blur and suspicious at the same time. The receptionist told us to follow his man. His man will show us which room we wanted to stay. He brought us to go inside the lift. The lift was really narrow and small. And guess what!! I was a bit nervous in the lift. The man in the lift was facing us and folding his arm in front of the lift door. Seems like he didn't want to let someone in or out. But my sister,my friend and I acted as normal as we could. YUCKKK!! The room was creepy. The walkway corridor also creepy. Gloomy and dark. The room smelled cigarettes. It was bad. He also brought us to other level to see other room. But all are same. The room is bad. Creepyyyy!! The environment is not good. Not nice for girls like us. Well, i guess you'll know what i mean right. Without further a due, we quickly went down and get out from the small lift. We told the auto driver that we didnt want to stay in that hotel and please brought us back to the train station. The driver was a bit mad but we don't care. Finally, we reached to the train station and fiiiuuuuu what a relieved.
The
clock showed 1am. I found a train station hotel or rest and go service by India
authority. We thought this is quite interesting and believable. So we decided
to stay for 3hours in the temporary hotel. This hotel was way much better and
comfortable. We took a bath and power nap before we start our train journey to
Agra. We had a nice sleep there. Our train at 4am but we need to get ready around
3.30am. So we packed our stuffs and checkout from hotel. I couldn't believed
that i ride a train in India. Train is the most important and famous
transportation in India and India is world's number one in train
transportation. 24/7 nonstop! *big applause* and here it comes. Our train is
arrived. The train ticket to Agra is quickly sold out. We managed to bought the
ticket online 1 month before departure. Our ticket is from Jaipur-Agra
Chantt-Jaipur. That"s the only ticket left during that time. The disappointment
happened when the local people in the train didn't seat based on the ticket
number. Bear in mind, this is what happen when you travel to India. The local
people dont like to follow rules. So we end up sharing a seat together. We
couldn't rest or sleep in the train. Just imagined! We were like owls and the
next day we got panda's eyes. Panda's eyes arrived to Agra a bit late due to
train's issue. The train suddenly stop for almost 1 hour in the middle of
nowhere. I have no idea what was happened because i am so damnnn sleepy. I just
looked outside the window without any feelings. The local people sang songs in
the train for their entertainment but i couldn't understand them. Because i'm
sleepy and tired and i don't even care what they were doing. A family offered
us snacks because they saw us restless and no energy. Just like i said before,
there is still have nice people in this cruel world.
We
arrived to Agra around 8.45am. We were tired but happy at the sane time. We
were happy that we arrived to our destination safely. Seems like riding a train
were torturing us. It was a busy morning in Agra Chantt Train Station. I
enjoyed the view, the local people and the blue train. Yes, the train is blue
colour. The view made me remember the hindi movie or tamil movie that i used to
watch. When we reached the front gate of Agra Chantt train station, many tour
guide approaching to us to offer the best tour deal to visit around Agra. Of
course before travel, i will do detail research about the places that i'll
wanted to visit. When travel to India, we need to becareful with scammers. Yes,
India is famous with that, especially in Mumbai, Delhi and Agra. I'm concerned
about that but, i'm not afraid to travel here because of that issue. A few
minutes later, we found a tour guide under India authority. We decided to join
him besides the price is same with my previous research from other blog before.
He brought us to see Agra by his auto rickshaw for 1 day tour only.
The journey of Agra adventure begun. The main purpose of visiting to Agra is non other than Taj Mahal. HOLY GRAIL!!! It will be such a waste to not visit to Taj Mahal if you already arrived to India. It's like once in a life time. Yes, we only wanted to visit Taj Mahal and Agra Fort only because there is nothing much in Agra. So we went straight to Taj Mahal. Taj Mahal was build for 22 years. It was about 20minutes from Agra Chantt. The traffic jam in here was real. Honks everywhere and pack with people & transports. It was a hot day and we were sweating. Then, the auto driver stopped us at the nearby shop and we had to walked few metres to go to Taj Mahal entrance because auto are not allowed to go there. Okay fine....we walked under the hot sunny day and yeeahhh i'm wearing my sweater and sunglass on that day. Because it was hot and i don't want to get tanned or sunburn...LOLL!! There are 4 entrance gates of Taj Mahal. We went to the south gate of Taj Mahal. It is easier than other gates and you could see the full view of Taj Mahal from this gate. From the entrance, i could see the white and sparkle view of Taj Mahal building. It was mind blowing and speechless. It's liked white pearl under the sun! That was my first impression. Then, i took so many photos at every corner and inch of Taj Mahal. HAHAH! Please ignore my excitement..LOL! Well, who wouldn't be excited with one of seven wonders of the world. Beside the Taj Mahal is Yamuna River. I also took some photos and video around the building and river. The river not so clean but it's alright. Taj Mahal was build by Shah Jahan for his wife, Mumtaz. It is a symbol of love between he and his wife. It was made from white marble..fully marble with Islamic architectural. In old days, the building is covered with gemstone and diamonds, but the stones gone during wars. And i also believe that, there are underground secret passages under the building because i saw some doors and gates are forbidden to enter. Furthermore, this building also got underground ventilation. Guess where is it? It is under the floor that we are standing. I noticed that the marble floor do have small holes!! The engineers and architects were brilliant. They knew how to make the building valuable and to be recognized around the world with some special touches and designs. The landscape of Taj Mahal is so grand and wonderful. The building and the landscape is so symmetrical! We spend almost 4 hours in Taj Mahal to explore and checked out any hidden passage or message there.
History believed that Shah Jahan wanted to build another Taj Mahal across the Yamuna River. It would be Black Taj. But his son denied his command because to built another Taj will waste more money. Then, his son sentenced him to jail which is known as Agra Fort. So, our next destination was Agra Fort. It also famous as Red Fort because the colour of the building is red. This is where Shah Jahan live for the rest of his life until he died. You could see Taj Mahal from Agra Fort too. It looks big and white! The Agra Fort is so big. The wall entrance is so big. We didn't spend so much time during the visit to Agra Fort. We took some photos and off we go because it was super hot day and plus we were tired because of the train journey. We felt damn hungry and we told the auto driver to bring us to an aircond restaurant because it was a very hot day and we super damn hungry. Then, he send us to a halal restaurant that he knew. The restaurant was nice and the price also was "nice". But we dont care about the price because we were so damn tired and so damn hungry. We ate deliciously and vigorously with full of enjoyment. After filled up our stomach, the driver brought us to see gemstones & diamonds shops, silk & sari shops and souvenirs shops. I didn't but anything in Agra because Agra is quite expensive than Jaipur. So i decided to shop at Jaipur instead. My sister did buy a gemstone pendant there after dealing with the shop owner and he gave my sister the cheapest price. But the boss was not so happy..HAHAA. Maybe he didn't get any benefit from the price given. After done shopping and site seeing in Agra, we prepared to go back to Jaipur around 6pm. We were super exhausted. We slept throughout the journey to Jaipur. We reached Jaipur at 11.30pm and straight to our hotel.
Same incident happened. The auto driver that fetched us wrongly send to other hotel. He send us to creepy small hallway. We were exhausted and no energy to argue with him anymore. We just told him please bring us the right hotel by referring the location on google maps. Few minutes later we reached to the hotel and checked in to our room. Thanks to the manager who gave us super big room with aircond in return. We went to bath and slept until 10am because our new adventure begun at 11am tomorrow. Its Jaipur timee!!! We took our breakfast at hotel. The breakfast was so delicious. It was vegetarian breakfast. For your information, you don't need to worry about the food in India. majority of them are vegetarian. So it is very easy to find vegetarian food. We enjoyed having our breakfast at the hotel. The staffs were very nice too. The hotel is Surya Villa Heritage Home Hotel. Pretty and nice location. It is far from the honk noises and i had a nice sleep here..plus delicious vegetarian food. Yes, they'll serve vegetarian food for every breakfast. That's how Indian life. We get ready to explore Jaipur and waited Chacha to pick up at hotel. Few minutes later, he arrived at our hotel but that's not Chacha. That was his son. We were a little upset because Chacha not came but its okay. Let see how his son behave.
Jaipur is located at Rajasthan. It is city of kings. That's why Jaipur got many type of forts and palaces. Jaipur is also known as Pink City because most of the buildings are light red to pink colours. Our journey started from the north part of the Pink City. We told our auto driver to go from north and finished to south of the city. Let me list out the places that we've visited.
The day before going back to Malaysia
1. Amber Fort - the most famous fort in Jaipur because this was the shooting location of box office hindi film Bajirao Mastani. The fort is so damn big and such a beauty. It supposed to be surrounded by a lake but the lake is not exist anymore. We climbed up to the fort and the view was so awesome!
2. Sesh Mahal - this is also known as palace of mirrors. The palace is inside the Amber Fort. It is mind blowing. The architectural and the arrangement of mirrors were so detail and so great! Sometimes i just couldn't understand why the engineers and architects from old days were brilliant eventhough their technology were limited. I'm so impress!
3. Jaigarh Fort - this is more like the Great Wall of China. Looks almost the same but a bit smaller. The function of this fort is more to war. The location is around the mountain near to Amber Fort. It seems like surrounded the Jaipur area. I think this is a great strategy in wars. Besides that, the city of Jaipur itself is surrounded by many gates or i can say it as entrances because you will be welcomed by these gates or entrances to get inside to the Pink City. On the way to this fort, our auto driver stop by the road to see the Jaipur view and Jal Mahal from the top of mountain. OMGGG i could see Jal Mahal from here and it looks cute and tiny..LOLL!
4. Nahargarh Fort - this fort is very interesting. The engineers and architects must be thinking out of the box! Actually i am so excited to go to this fort because i've done the research about it. That's a story behind this fort. A king that had many wives. And each wife got their own mansion. Those mansions inside this fort. And each mansions is connected to King's corridor only. Only the King could walk through this corridor and others were forbidden including his wives. The wall painting in this fort were made of food. It is food painting colour. Totally mind blowing! The colour paints were made from food!!! Unbelievable. Those are still in a good conditions. I also could see the Pink City on top of the fort rooftop. Like all!!
5. Jal Mahal - this is a palace on top of a river. We can see the Jal Mahal near the big road on the way to Nahargarh Fort. The palace is no entry. We only could see some part of the Jal Mahal structure and the rest levels are underwater. I couldn't understand why they build the palace in that way. Maybe there's something under the river and totally secret i guess...~
6. City Palace - this palace also famous for film shooting which is Jodha Akhbar hindi film. The palace is at the center of Pink City. This is where the current King's of Rajasthan family leave till now. Yes, they are still exist but not too expose. Tourist can visit inside the palace, but only some part of it. The other part is forbidden by the king's family. As i said before, all palaces and forts were brilliantly designed. Same goes to the City Palace. Based on my opinion, City Palace is more to modern days style and not too ancient.
7. Hawa Mahal - Yes, we did came to this palace for second time. This time was day time visit. Hawa Mahal also can be referred as Palace of Windows. There are many windows in this palace. The Kings builds many windows for this Queen to see the indian celebration by the road because queen is forbidden to gout from palace. Another brilliant idea right! Oh don't forget, this also got famous shopping spots too.
The final day before leaving Jaipur
8. Jantar Mantar - stars or zodiac place. This is more to astronomy or astrology museum. This was build long longg time ago where people calculate and check the time and months upon the stars. There are many zodiac signs and they are unique. Besides that, we also can measure the actual timing from here. It is totally accurate!!! TOTALLY ACCURATE TIME GUYSSS!!! I'm so speechless and shocked! From the sun and mathematics can know the current timing. People in old days were so brilliant and genius guys! I wished to learn from them.
9. Raj Mandir Cinema - I just walked by in front of the cinema only. I didn't plan to watch any movie while travelling. It is an old cinema but already renovated. Cool.
10. Johri Bazaar & Bapuu Bazaar - These are the busiest shopping place in Jaipur. During our stays in Jaipur, we went to both bazaar everyday..HAHAA!! There are variety items from clothes, silks, saris, souvenirs, local food, sweets, chai walla (tea), carpets, cushion covers, bedsheets and many more.
11. Albert Hall Museum - This is the best spot to enjoy with group of sparrow. AWESOME ever! In fron of the museum got so many sparrows and is very famous place for wedding photoshoot or video shooting. During our time there was a couple to do their wedding photoshoot but i think we kinda interupted them because we were having so much fun chased the sparrows. We were surrounded by sparrow birds. Actually, we didn't go inside the museum. The structure of the musuem is more appealing to look at rather than inside of museum..*grin*
12. Central Park Jaipur - This is just beside the Jawahar Circle. It is a park or green garden. Just a normal park at the city of Jaipur. There were souvenir shops at the central park too.
13. Jawahar Circle - The most beautiful design i've ever seen in Jaipur! It is located near to Jaipur airport around 10minutes. Love the colourful designs alot!! This place is popular for instagram photo too.
The best part is the food, buildings and views of course. Majority of Indian are vegetarian. So all hotels mostly will serve vegetarian food. Those food were delicious and i like a lot! My new experience by train from Jaipur and Agra was a bittersweet. India is full of incredible places to visit. But it seems not too easy. For those who wanted to explore India by themselves, please prepare your mental and physical. Make sure those are fit enough. I really mean it. Especially MENTAL. It need a tough mental to experience India. Please bear in mind to all foreigners. INDIA is the key to be an expert traveler! And i'm proud and thankful to feel this kind of experience as a backpacker.
p/s: Checkout my travelling photos in https://web.facebook.com/LIMIPHOTOGRAPHY
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