Jaipur: History still lives around us(Part-1)

Day 1 (part-1)

It was month of December,and we all were thinking to go somewhere on a trip this time. I have never been to any hill station in my life but I can feel it in my mind that my heart lives somewhere in there. I feel this way,may be because I have watched so many movies, read lots of books and articles that shows and presented the mountains so beautifully and in such a mesmerizing lively way that anyone could feel the same as I do. This hunger will not die unless I go to those mountains.

When I was asked for a suggestion on where to head,my fingers tracked down places like Dharmshala, Missouri, Nainital,Manali and Shimla. Though I always knew we couldn't be to any of them as it was already December end and winter was getting colder day by day. We had a kid to look after so we could not take that chance to go to any cold place in winter's. We were in Gurgaon so we all agreed on the name of Jaipur. On the name of Jaipur we started cracking jokes like lets go to Akbar's In-law's place Amer first then to Akbar's place in Agra. Our trip was stretching in 4 days and 3 nights. We were about to leave Gurgaon on 22 December and leaving Jaipur on 25 December. In these days we had thought to visit in city places like Hawa Mahal, Jantar Mantar, City Palace, Albert Hall, Jal Mahal, Isarlet, markets etc. And forts standing on the Ridge of Aravali. We were planning to head towards Pushkar also if possible.

Jaipur is close to Gurgaon so our journey from Gurgaon to Jaipur was to run on tracks. It takes hardly 4-4:30 hours to reach there.

We had to catch our train at 5:20 in morning. We left home around 4:50 so yes we were already late. Our cab rider told us that he will make us catch our train anyhow. He rode the car real real fast. We reached at station on 5:20. We didn't know by then if we had missed our train or not. We started waiting. 10 minutes passed,there was no trace of our train. Now we had realized that we had missed our train. Sad. We had started figuring out what to do next and in mean while a Ranikhet Express came there. It was also going to Jaisalmer via Jaipur. Somehow we hopped in that crawling train. From that very moment our simple and quite trip changed in to adventurous trip. We were now travelling in a Slipper Class that too without l ticket, without any blanket. It was so cold in there. Our ticket was in AC class so we didn't carry any blanket or any extra woolen. Our whole train journey passed in cold, shivering,talking and in taking tea. We had not expected to start our trip this way.

Thanks to God this chilling train journey has been finished now. We reached to Jaipur station. Jaipur station's architecture is very simple.

There was no effect or sign of Royal History of the city. But yes this time of year is peak season of Rajasthan Tourism and we could see it around us. There were people all around us. Our local cab rider told us this time whole north india lands here. And it was true and visible. Looking around on way to hotel we had observed that local ladies of Rajasthan were out of trace. This area of city was looking like any ordinary city.

We reached our hotel around 1’o clock. We have found a room of our choice as we here before Christmas. In Christmas week to New year week almost all hotels in Jaipur get fully packed. Reaching in room was a life saving experience. We got fresh one by one and then headed outside for lunch. Today we had planned for visiting near by places as it was already noon.  

We went to a lavish restaurant named GTR. We had a fine dining there. Staff was very humble and polite. The atmosphere there was very calm. Food was classy and mouth watering. The representation and serving of food was superb. GTR is slang for Grand Trunk Road. As the name suggesting itself,GTR serves cousins from Kabul  to Chitgong. They have tastes that traveled 2600km. Starters were too delicious. Tandoor prawns, Tandoor Mushrooms, grilled Caramel pineapple slices were just wow. They all were just making us feel more hungry to explore and taste more options. We had spend quite a time there.

We left GTR at 3 pm. We were discussing out side the restaurant to what to do next. In the mean time an auto driver came to us and told us to go with him. He will take us to Nahargarh Fort, Natwar ji temple, Radhika Garden and market in INR 800.
We had not done any prior homework regarding this trip so we trusted that driver( I suggest to everyone to do a proper homework about the place you are going to visit) and started our journey towards Nahargarh Fort. When we were climbing on the mountain  road,we saw ways to Jaigarh Fort and Amer Fort. They were in the way of Nahargarh Fort. Till now we had understood that we have veen fooled by this driver. We could have cover these three forts tomorrow in a single day. But we decided to keep calm.

He took us to a place,whice was an open small land on the road side. It was the view point of Jal Mahal. You can get the best view of Jal Mahal from here,if you have that sight and high end camera. Jaipur city was looking like a Valley from here. It was beautiful seeing them from here.
In next 15-20 minutes we had reached to the Nahar Garh Fort.

Stay tuned for NaharGarhFort