Jaipur is the main city in India’s desert state of Rajasthan. Along with the usual Indian sights and sounds there are also camels, dust and amazingly vibrant ladies’ saris. I swear some of the saris are so bright they seem fluorescent.

From Agra, Dragos and I took a 99th class bus that required push-starting and was structurally severely unsound. Honey, a former AIESEC trainee from Adana met us in Jaipur and lined up a hotel near his place. Last night we drank and ate in the train restaurant of a 5* hotel.

Today I had a shave and haircut at the local barber (Rs. 250 or about AU$6 for 2x haircuts, 2x washes and 1x shave). We spent this afternoon at Bapu Bazaar, haggling with the stall keepers in order to buy clothes and souvenirs.

Jaipur is more conservative and poorer than Bangalore with less signs in English and more in Hindi.

In the next few days I hope to take a train to Jodhpur, Rajasthan’s second city. I’m not too fussed about the destination but look forward to seeing the countryside on my first Indian train journey.