2025 Jan-India Thu 2. Jaipur.

A huge day was planned, and a huge day it turned out to be.

The sites visited today were:

1) Amber Fort.

2) Jaigarth Fort. 

3) Panna Meena ka Kund.

4) Jal Mahal.

5) Royal Cenotaphs including Sawai Jai Singh ll Tomb.

6) Shri Garh Ganesh Ji Temple.

*Another tour guide stuff up. The tour guide failed to advise the tour group of the ticket options for the sites in Jaipur. One would deem this to be an important note when your group comprises of foreign tourists that have a free day for self-guided sightseeing. 

a) There are three options for composite tickets. Each composite ticket groups the sites differently. This can save you some money if the groupings cover your sites.

b) I chose the City Palace Composite ticket option (by luck) as it had the City Palace. I had to purchase a single entry for the Amber Fort Palace visit. 

d) Jaigarth Fort was on this composite ticket (and not on the other composite tickets). 

e) As my mandatory sites to visit were Amber Fort Palace and the City Palace, I was always going to have to pay for a main ticket somewhere. 

f) I wouldn't have minded visiting Nahargarth Fort, but I wouldn't have traded it for Jaigarth Fort on the composite ticket. I wasn't interested in visiting the Jantar Mantar in Jaipur as I had visited the one in Delhi. However, the Jaipur one looks much better.

I started off the day early with an Uber motorcycle ride from the hotel to Amber Fort. I arrived pretty early before the huge crowds arrived. The huge crowds started arriving by the time I left the Amber Fort for Jaigarth Fort. 

What annoyed me about the Amber Fort was the incorrect advice I received from the staff at Amber Fort. There is a tunnel that joins Amber with Jaigarth, but it is not a tunnel that you could walk. It is only for information. But when I asked how to get to Jaigarth, the staff had very little clue! 

Only a guide advised me that I needed to exit Amber and head up and around the side of Amber to access the road/path to Jaigarth. It was easy once you know, but signage could be much better. Not to mention...staff that cannot provide simple advice should be fired! They do this job day in day out...poor staff that do not know the basics of their tourist attraction surroundings should not be workingat touristattractions. Hire staff that have a basic clue, and who are motivated, instead of drones that sit on their butts all day long. Give the job to somebody that cares a little. 

Once I found the correct direction, it was good to stretch the legs for a short 20min walk up the hill to Jaigarth Fort. 

Jaigarth Fort was the true highlight of the day! It was huge and it was not overly-restored. So many opportunities for pictures. You got to go around everywhere to see all the views. What was surprising was the extent of wall fortifications that surrounded the hilltops, and how they joined up to limit penetration gaps across the city.

I have never been to China to see the Great Wall, but when I looked at the walls of Jaipur city, it reminds me of what the Great Wall would be like. It impressed me. 

After Jaigarth Fort I walked over to Panna Meena ka Kund. It was not the best stepped-down square well I have seen on this trip. It was nice but it was not huge. It was good to have a sit for a short period...before the crowds arrived. I didn't spend more than 15mins here. 

It got very busy very quickly. I had to walk a bit before I could get an Uber motorcycle to accept my ride. When the ride arrived it was straight over to Jal Mahal. Jal Mahal was disappointing! You can only view it from the water's edge. It was not worth stopping as I had to then get another Uber motorcycle booking. 

Off I went to the Royal Cenotaphs including Sawai Jai Singh ll Tomb. I was not expecting  much but I was pleasantly surprised. It was a very nice highlight.

When I left the entry of the Cenotaphs I noticed some people walking up a steep section of the fort wall. Naturally I decided to head up as well. An elevated position is always good for taking photos. When I reached the first bend on the wall I saw it continued onwards...which meant that I had to continue onwards. This finally ended at the Shri Garh Ganesh Ji Temple. It was great to get the heart rate pumping and the views were great all the way up. It wasn't that high but short and steep.

I decided to walk from there to Tal Katora Lake. By the time I got there you could not see the lake as there are buildings all around the lake. Only a couple of vantage points but the gate were closed. Could only take a couple of sneak pictures. 

Trying to get an Uber motorcycle from here was tough. Many cancellations. I walked to a zone that was not Uber restricted (the Uber app has restrictions on where you can have a pick-up). 

It was a huge day. It was good to get back to the hotel for a download of all the photos.