Jaipur

Rambagh Palace Hotel

Yesterday started with a 6am train ride to Jaipur. Of course, this is way too early, but the train was nice and the scenery of fields and ranches was a much-needed change from Delhi's stressful atmosphere.

Apparently, if you go to Jaipur, you're supposed to see a Bollywood film in some world-famous art deco theater. The tour guide spent about 20min trying to convince me I needed to go see a 3hr movie in a foreign language with no subtitles, but I wasn't taking the bait. Instead, I headed off to the Polo Bar and Steam Bar at Rambagh Palace Hotel. (The bar visit came after a late lunch of chicken curry, rice, bread, and some coffee; it was delicious
                                                                                       and and wiped an entire $1.00 off my net
                                                                                       worth.)

Amber Fort

 The Rambagh Palace is the place to stay in Jaipur. It is the old palace of the royalty, and with rates starting at $600/night, you're guaranteed a rif-raf free experience. The Polo Bar is a great old-school bar with deep wood and great leather chairs (and delicious gin cocktails). But the Steam bar took the cake; most of the drinking takes place in refinished luxury rail cars. With 45 acres of land surrounding the spot, the CONSTANT horns were a distant memory.

Now, I don't want my loyal readers to get the idea that I loved Jaipur because there's a hotel that made 

Lake Palace

 me feel like an English duke. At 1mm people, it is 95% smaller than Delhi, and roughly 95% better. Plus, the Amber Fort, City Palace, Lake Palace, and Observatory were great places to visit. Finishing up the day with a cocktail at Jaigarh Fort while watching the sunset over Jaipur was also great.

Tomorrow comes the Taj Mahal.

Observatory - largest sundial in the world

View from Jaigarh Fort bar