Palace on Wheels - Jaipur, Shopping Hell

We are finally back in Delhi, after Palace on Wheels (PoW) trip around Rajastan, so I have chance to do more posts. I have just set up posting by Email, of which this is my first attempt - so lets see. We joined the train after wrestling with our cab driver with whom we booked for a tour of Old Delhi, Chandri Chowk, Red Fort, Ghandi's memorials, the Hindu Temple, but who insisted on taking us shopping- jewelry, art, carpet and furniture emporium and we just got out of going in the Tea Store. Still it consumed a few hours until we joined the train at 4:30. The train is an oldish set of carriages holding 110 guests, 8 to a sleeping carriage with two kitchens and 2 restaurants and a bar & lounge carriage. Our accommodation had twin beds and a sink, toilet & shower set up. All pretty functional but not much space in the wardrobe. We shared the carriage with what we called the "Russians" They were a young married couple - Nataly and Pavel ( LIn thought his name was paddle) and their respective parents. Nataly's parents were Russina jews who had gone to US via Israel, she was a NY doctor and he was a big civil engineer. The husband's parents were from Kiev and spoke no English.

The PoW people group you up for your tours - we were the pinkies, cos of the pink PoW badges we had. They were a smashing bunch of people, but more about them later. After a strangish dinner of about 10 courses starting with Euro cuisine and ending with Indian, we got to bed. Mel was right - it was a real rock and roll job in the old carriages. Sleep was difficult..

Our first day was in Jaipur, the capital of Rajastan, over 5million inhabitants, 395 per sq km - got the picture. We went to several palaces - Palace of the Winds in the high street, next to Woolies and then on to the Amber Fort, where we rode up the hill on Elephants. After the Delhi taxi, Lins nerves were shattered. She didn't recover until after the G&T's that night.. The fort was a smashing place, really nice. We then went to lunch in a really plush hotel and were given the full treatment with red carpet and indian band welcome, flowers sashes and the bullet hole between the eyes. We got to grip with a bit of culture and the Hindu Gods. Apparently Shiva married Parvati and they had Ganesh - he had an elephants head and rode around on a mouse. It must have been a great disappointment to Mum & Dad, but he turned out to be really lucky so thats all right. Familys paint him on their houses to invite all the family and friends for a knees up when anyone gets married. After luch we went to an observatory - you could tell the time to plus minus 2 secs on a sundial - cool.

After this we started on the shopping - that taxi driver must have taught our guys all he knew. We spent hours in carpet shops, jewelry factories, shawl makers - what a grind. Apparently they take the puff puff off for servicing at Jaipur and we can't get on board again until late. Leastways, thats their story. Anyway off we go, overnight to Jaiselmer. Towns ending in -pur are walled, -mer on a hill.

Can you guess what this is?