Memorable Trip to The Pink City - Jaipur in Rajasthan

I was planning a trip to Jaipur from very long time. Finally I got a chance to visit this beautiful city. I already reserved my tickets and hostels 1.5 months before because my trip was planned during a long weekend.

Backpack Tip - 

# Booked a ticket in sleeper class and saved almost 700 INR rupees on one side journey. The climate was good so traveling in sleeper was not a problem. 

# Booked The Pink Turban Hostel through makemytrip.com, got 45% discount on the rent. 

# I borrowed my uncle's bike for 2 days and saved a lot on transportation.

# Cabs in Jaipur are cheap specially Ola, Uber. Always a better option than taking an auto for a ride.

Places to See in Jaipur

Jaipur is also called Pink city as the whole city walls are colored in Pink color. The city is divided into two parts-

1. Chardiwari - This is the old city developed by the king of Jaipur. All the historical places are present in Chardiwari. If you want to see the real Jaipur then you need to visit Chardiwari.

2. The remaining city - The new Jaipur developed by the government.

Jalmahal - 

Very nice place in Jaipur. Located in the middle of a lake. You can see many foreign birds here at Jalmahal. 

Free entry. Boating is not allowed. All you can do is to enjoy the view of Jalmahal and can click some amazing pictures. This place is open 24 hrs of the day.

Jalmahal Palace in the Middle of Lake in Jaipur Rajasthan

Nagargarh Fort - 

One of the most amazing fort in Jaipur. This place has a feel. This place is mainly popular because of two things i.e. An amazing out of the world view of Jaipur City from the top and shooting location of Rang De Basanti movie.

Fort open till 5:30 pm in the evening. There is an entry fee to visit this fort. There is a restaurant outside the fort which opens till midnight. You can enjoy an amazing midnight view of Jaipur city from there.

Cannon used in old times in Battle at Nahargarh Fort, Jaipur

Terrace view of Nahargarh Fort Jaipur

Amazing Sunset View from Nahargarh Fort

Rand De Basanti Movie Shooting Location - Nahargarh Fort

Amazing View of Pink City Jaipur City from Nahargarh Fort

Road Going Down to Chandpole Market from Nahargarh Fort 

Hawamahal -

One of the most popular tourist attraction in Jaipur. I have seen this in books and poster all my childhood but never got a chance to be there. Finally, I managed to be there. It was World tourism day when I visited this place.

Hawamahal view from Inside

Jaipur City View from Hawamahal Top

100+ Year Old Manual Camera outside Hawamahal, Jaipur

Local market - local markets are really popular here among the tourists, Specially the traditional clothes and accessories. Prices are reasonable high for tourists so you have to negotiate for a good deal.

Jantar Mantar - 

One of the best place for people looking for a scientific place. Saw various time instruments here. 

City palace - 

This place is for those people who are interested to know more about the ancient Indian Kings, Specially about the lifestyle of King of Jaipur City and their family. 

City palace is owned by private organization and entry fee is 100 rupees for Indian tourists and 500 rupees for foreign tourists. Extra charges for camera. Mobile camera is allowed with no cost.

Front Building view of City Palace, Jaipur

City Palace Jaipur

Me Walking Around City Palace Ground

Jhoomar in City Palace

Puppet Show in City Palace, Jaipur -

This puppet show in city palace is really popular. There are some Rajasthani artist showing this puppet show on public demand. Watch the puppet show videos below:

There are traditional clothing shops available at City palace. You need to bargain to get a good deal.

Ganpati Visarjan Dancing Group -

Met a group going for Ganpati visarjan on our way to Amber. Terrific people. Superb dance.

Amber Fort -

Amber is the most popular fort in Jaipur. The government has maintained this property really well. Located around 10 kms outskirts of the city. You can get so many public transport to this location.

Entry fee is 100 INR for Indian tourists.

Amber fort in Jaipur

Mawtha Lake in Amber Jaipur

Gang of Brothers - Me and My Friends

Sound & Light Show at Amber Fort

Daily timings for this sound and light show is 7:30 pm (In English-200 INR) and 8:30 pm (In Hindi - 100 INR). A must watch if you are in Amber. 

Amber Fort view in Night - Fully Colored in Lights - Picture 1

Amber Fort view in Night - Fully Colored in Lights - Picture 2

My overall trip to Jaipur was full of fun. I would suggest every traveler visiting Jaipur to visit all these places. There are many other places which are not covered in this article. 

Comment below if you have any query or suggestions.

8 Reasons Why Staying in Backpacker Hostels is Amazing

The first question that comes into mind while traveling to any place is - "Where I'm gonna stay?". The first option comes into anybody's mind is a hotel. But if you are looking for fun, meeting new people, parties, know the local culture & people better blah blah things than hotels are not the right place for you.

Here I am sharing few experiences a person can have while staying in a backpackers hostel.

1. Meeting New People from Around the World

Most of the backpack travelers opt for the backpacker hostels, because living in a hostel is always fun. You can meet new people, can talk about your journeys, share your travel stories, travel experiences, make new friends etc.

2. Party All Night 

Yes, parties. Many hostels arrange theme parties & celebrate festivals with the travelers. Giving you a chance to go out and enjoy with people from different cultures & countries. These parties are actually so much fun & you get to know people and their culture better. 

3. Travel in a Group

If you are traveling solo and looking for a company, hostels are the best place to find one. Like you, there are many solo travelers so make a group, go out and have fun.

4. Know the Place Better

Hostel managers are the best persons to tell you more about the city and nearby attractions. They are very well aware of the all good places and can make a low cost arrangements for you.

5. Enjoy Amazing Facilities

Play games - carrom, fooseball, table tennis, badminton, basketball & many other games

Read books - access library and read books

Access free Wi-Fi

Bar & Canteen - many hostels provide bar & canteen facilities, so enjoy drinks & food anytime.

Swimming pool - stay in pool with a drink in your hand. Life couldn't be better than this.

Enjoy you stay in dorms - dorms are really cool place to stay. Imagine, you have 5 people from 5 different countries sharing dorm with you.

No Curfew - Go out anytime, come anytime nobody will stop you.

Lockers to keep your stuff safe.

6. Cook you food

I loved this idea of cooking breakfast & food in the hostel. It saves a lot of money and makes you feel like home. If you are lucky, you may get a chance to eat some amazing food & dishes from a different country cooked by some other traveler.

7. Make new friends

One very cool thing about hostels is that people staying there are very easy to talk. During my stay in Jaipur, pink turban hostel. I met a couple from UK, and a girl from Ukraine, guy from Germany & many other people. Their stories were awesome. They shared their experiences, we shared ours & It was fun.

8. Cheap & easily affordable

Hostel stay is very cheap as compared to stay in a hotel.

I stayed for 195 rupees (~$3 USD) per day stay. My flat rent is ~$5 USD per day. LOL.

I suggest you should use various aggregator sites (in India) like makemytrip.com, goibibo.com or any other and use the heavy discounts they provide on their bookings.

My Hostel Experience - 

On my Jaipur -Amritsar trip, I stayed at Pink Turban hostel in Jaipur. It was my first ever stay in a backpacker hostel and it was amazing. Me and my friend really enjoyed this. We met many travelers from U.K., Ukraine, Vietnam, Germany, South Korea etc.  We stayed there for only 1 day but it was worth.

While doing bookings my friend was not interested in staying in hostel. He was not aware of how cool these hostels are these days so he asked me to book a hotel in Jaipur but somehow I convinced him to stay in a hostel in Jaipur.

At the end of trip, he was totally changed. I still remember his words, "we would have booked a hostel in Amritsar also". Because our stay in a hotel in Amritsar was really boring and it made me feel sick.

Check this video of The Mad Monkey Hostel in Cambodia. This is really cool. Watch this and get the feel of a backpacker hostel.

In this article, I have mentioned whatever I know & have experienced about the hostels and why I love staying there. Rest is your choice. You wanna stay in a boring hotel room alone or wanna chill all the time and make your holiday memorable.

Comment down below about your hostel stays and tell us more about your journeys.

Why Travelling is the Best Thing and Everyone Should Travel?

source - starecat.com

An amazing Chance to explore the mother nature - our earth has so much to explore and we all have one life, only one life so why not spend it in exploring nature rather then being busy all the time in earning money and doing monotonous jobs everyday.

Explore the world & people - I'm sure you all are aware of different types of people sharing space on this earth together. Ain't you get bored of meeting same people everyday. Go out and explore amazing people around the world, what they do, how they live, their lifestyles, cultures etc. 

Make new friends - real friends I mean. These days we all have Facebook., Whats App and so many other messengers to make friends and chat with. We all have hundreds of virtual friends, But give it a thought, how important that friendship is. In this virtual world, all that matters is the number of real friends you have. So go out, meet people, know more about them, tell them about your life and cheers a drink for your friendship.

Learn new languages - going different places and talking to the natives in their language is really an amazing thing, isn't it? Learning the language for communication is much better experience than learning the language of software.

Know your limits - come out of your comfort zone. Have you ever tested your limits? No, then test them and see how good you are in taking decisions and how you would react in different situations among different people. You will get to know yourself better.

Food - different types of food, drinks etc.

I'm sure this travelling experience is far more better and richer then the experience you get in a monotonous 9 to 5 job. 

Now compare these 2 lives -

1. Going office everyday, doing almost the same thing for some third person, coming back home, eating sleeping and repeating the same schedule.

OR

2. Get out of your comfort zone, pack your backpack and leave for any destination in your mind, take a bus or train or airplane, live in backpacker hostels, know more about their culture, values, lifestyles, go to clubs, dance, try adventure sports, meet the locals & live with them, try different food, make new friends, learn their language, or you can say just fly like a free bird in the sky.

When you'll be 70 yrs old, counting the last days of your life, that time you will be happy to have these experiences in your life. You will have thousands of things to share with your children or grandchildren. In the end, may be you are not rich by money but trust me my friend you are rich by experiences.