JIPP TRAVELS

SO – I woke up on my second day in Jaipur with such a renewed energy and excitement. It was such an amazing experience to see the sun cast its shines upon the expansive city of Jaipur at the beginning of the day. I usually come out into the street in the wee hour to see how the locals come about their daily routine in the morning but here in Jaipur, I didn’t really see the necessity of it.In fact, standing on the rooftop of Bombay Hotel was good enough to let me see a great deal of things in and around the neighborhood.

I could hear all kinds of sounds and noises coming from all directions – from the clanking sound of cooking pots to the voices of people laughing and chattering and baby crying which at times intermingled with the starting of engines and honking of cars and motorbikes from down there on the streets. It was such a great moment of absorbing everything from the surrounding.After a simple breakfast at the hotel, we came down to the street to face the world once again – this time with a little bit of negotiation to do. We would be visiting a few places in and around Jaipur today – targeting of course to visit at least all the three main attractions outside of Jaipur City.

It’s always good to be in a group of experienced travelers. A tour guide friend of mine had once said that out of all the tourists that he had to take to his tours in and around Sabah, Italian tourists had always been stingy when it comes to giving out anything ‘extra’.

So, here I am, watching this husband and wife from Italy putting their negotiating skills and ‘stinginess’ to good use and I was so glad that my tour guide friend had actually been right.But then, I would have rolled my eyes up if I never traveled anywhere else before. My travel trips to quite a number of foreign countries especially within South East Asia had taught me how we needed to be resilient when it comes to spending money over anything at all because those who are in the tourism business would always try to find a way or two to squeeze just about every penny off your pants you might end up returning to your country stark naked.

“NO NO NO NO. We’ll go to another Tuk Tuk. We’ve got a lot of other Tuk Tuk (s) around here”, I kept hearing the wife saying whenever her demands were not met.

In the end, one lucky Tuk Tuk managed to strike a deal at 600 rupees for all the three sites which seemed to be good one considering how we were going to divide it among us four later.

But then, we didn’t actually pay for the adventure that we were about to be dragged into. Before we knew, we were already galloping in the busy streets of Jaipur with thousands other so ready to ram into us at any time, any moment if bad luck was ours.And the driver seemed to enjoy seeing our horrified faces as if he hearing us gasping and OMG-ing in terror would give him some kind of ejaculation or something.

I mean, seriously, he’d go totally against the flow of the traffic, right smack in the middle of the road at times and I had to imagine we were actually in the middle of a filming session for some Bond 007 movie or something – just to keep myself from bursting out.

If getting out of the busy streets of Jaipur was such a relief, I am afraid (that) it had to be a short one. I was enjoying seeing the outer part of Jaipur and witnessing all kinds of things that I had never seen anywhere else before but the enjoyment started to turn into something scary when the Tuk Tuk began its ascending journey towards the Jaigarh Port.The road wasn’t like anything that I had probably imagined of riding on. There were sharp turnings here and there and the road was quite too narrow it could barely accommodate two Tuk Tuks going side by side once at a time.

There was no way of telling what was coming up from the other direction but there really was nothing we could do but praying that the guidance angels were still hovering there for us. Seriously, I’ve never prayed so hard in my entire life. LOL.

When we finally arrived at the gate of Jaigarh Fort, it was still scarce with people. Tuk Tuks are not allowed BEYOND the gate unless you pay some extra but of course, we wouldn’t let our adventurous parts go into waste just like that JUST for the sake of some extra dollars.If architectural superiority is what you were looking for, I’m afraid you wouldn’t really get it here at the Jaigarh Fort. The fort itself is actually quite simple, at least compared to some other forts that I HAD and WOULD see here in India but the story of its massiveness is something that you’d probably be coming and bringing home with.

A big part of the fortress had been built to circle around what would have been a beautiful pond if the water had not dried out almost entirely. There was still water in it but it had now turned murky and green I really liked to believe that it was one of those parts of the fort where they’d throw and leave their enemies to die and decay under the scorching sun of Jaipur during the day and in the freezing cold air at night.Of course, to most people, the highlight of the whole fortress lies within the curvilicious body of a very beautiful woman called Jaivana who is always seen wandering off around and flying-kissing at everybody from atop of the hill where the fortress is nested.OK, don’t get excited just yet. To tell the truth, I really think they should have named this thing with something more manly considering the fact that it has that enormous erection on her.Jaivana’s big shaft didn’t actually interest me that much. What interested me more was the beautiful scenery to where it was pointing at.Surrounding the fortress was of course the greenery of the hills, and the Man Sagar Lake could be seen somewhere in the distance as well as part of the Jaipur City. Oh well, the whole combination might be taking my breath away but the best scenery that Jaigarh Fort has to offer had YET to come.Walking towards the other end corner of the fort, I just let myself be blown away by the beauty of the fortress and its surrounding. Every now and then I’d dare myself to get on to anything that would allow me to see more of the scenery which is often blocked off by the walls and all. I mean I couldn’t take a peek through any of these holes and say I’ve seen it all right?

You should never ever leave the Jaigarh Fort without covering the Palace Complex part of it. I didn’t do any shit of research on Jaigarh Fort so I could only imagine what I have missed out on if I went there alone.

Welcoming us at the entrance was this beautiful God creation called Camel. It wasn’t my first encounter with a camel for sure – I’ve seen some of them at the national zoo in KL, then I’d seen more of them in Agra and later in Jaipur – but it was for sure my first time landing my hand on one. 

Then there was a museum somewhere nearby the entrance but photography is not allowed inside so I’ve got nothing much to show to you. There were arms and weaponry exhibitions and historical facts on Indian early ventures out into the outside world and all.

Erica had been eager to show us where her hometown is located in Italy so thanks to the maps that they had at the museum, she finally managed to do just that.Good thing about being the only foreign visitors within that portion of the complex at that time was the availability of the janitor to show us around and become our impromptu tour guide. He was so nice to lead us to a series of rooms and chambers and once-secret passageways and I had to be amazed by the complexity of the whole structure and all.

If Osama was hiding here, the American would have to drop another Big Boy to get him killed. Otherwise, he’d live long enough to mastermind the bombing of Empire State Building.Whether the palace was part of the fort or the fort was part of palace –I really don’t know how I could have put it in the right terms. It has just about everything for a palace, even complete with dining room for the ladies and all. And there was a beautiful garden, which was surprisingly so well-tended and nicely maintained.

Still, I wasn’t really impressed by what the palace had to offer WITHIN itself. Of course the historical values that it bears could make it a perfect contender for a place in the UNESCO World Heritage sites list. What impressed me most was the view that it offers from its long stretch of veranda. Hell, jeez. I had never thought I’d see something so breathtakingly beautiful for a view like this in Jaipur.

The beautiful town of Amer which I had mistakenly thought as Jaipur at first occupies most of the valley which is flanked by beautiful ranges of mountains on both sides. Of course a little bit down there was the Amber Palace and looking at its grandeur from the veranda of Jaigarh Fort was boiling up the excitement in me even more knowing that we’d be right day later. And if you think you can only get to see a great wall in China, think again. In fact, the wall that they have here in Jaipur is nothing short of length I couldn’t even see the end of it from where I was standing.

After deciding that the janitor deserved some token of appreciation for what he did for us, we collected among ourselves some rupees to be given to him. I don’t exactly remember how much the total amount was but I remember Erica declined when I offered another 50 rupees to add up to what we had already collected.

“That’s too much”, she said while pushing my hand aside. LOL! Don’t you just love Italians? I could have saved half of the money that I’d spent in India if they WERE with me right from the beginning til the end of the trip. You know how I’m so bad when it comes to sticking to my budget.

With all the things that Jaigarh Fort had to offer, it wasn’t a surprise that we actually spent more time there then we had intended to. By the time we returned to the gate, the Tuk Tuk driver was all RED in anger, telling us that we had kept here waiting for too long.

Of course it was NOT something you wouldn’t expect from a Tuk Tuk driver here in India. We had made the deal clear that we’d pay 600 rupees for him to take us to 3 places in Jaipur – The Jaigarh Fort, Amber Palace and the less-favored Nahargarh Fort and then back to Jaipur city. There was no time frame set for the tour although I was quite sure we did say ‘It might take the whole day’.

But then, I have come to realize through my experiences in the past that one of the most popular techniques that they use to gain more from you is by putting you in a state of guilt. They’d put you in such a sorry state as if what they are doing is more than what you have bargained for.

But then, you should never ever show any sign of sympathy because the slightest gleam of it (sympathy) would open up a room for them to charge you more – and quite more than not a case of overcharging will ensue.

Believe me, they are they are gonna come back to their friends and brag about that EXTRA money that they had siphoned out of your pocket later in the day. “Those stupid tourists”, they might as well describe you to their fellow Tuk Tuk drivers. Imagine the reverberating laughter that comes with it. LOL!

And it had actually proved to be so true. We told him that we’d cancel out Nahargarh Fort because of the time constraint and it didn’t make him any happier. You see, what he wanted was more $$ not less KMs. Of course we wouldn’t fall for it. We knew he had to take us to Amber Palace or he wouldn’t get a single penny from us. There’d be more than enough Tuk Tuk drivers who were more than happy to take over his coveted crown of ‘The Chosen One’.

If visualizing the Amber Palace from a higher standing point of view was already OMG-ing enough, nothing could prepare me for electrifying sensation that ripped right through me when I saw it closer.LOL! I know I might sound a bit exaggerating (I like this word. heh), but I couldn’t think of any perfect word to describe how amazed I was the moment I stepped out of the damn Tuk Tuk and looked up at the imposing structure that stood right before me.

I mean, seriously. Who says that the best palaces can be found nowhere else but in Europe, Europe and Europe alone?