World Traveling Partners: Adventures on the Road
a resource for couples traveling the world

 india 

The Birla Temple in Jaipur, Rajasthan.  Our tour guide brought us here:
partly see the beautiful Hindu-inspired stained glass windows, and partly to marvel at its (yes) 1980's architecture.


At the City Palace Complex in Jaipur.


Outside the City Palace Complex, selling tortilla puffs (email us the proper name for them).


Scavengers at Jaigarth Fort, Jaipur.

     
At Amber Fort, Jaipur.

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sawai madhopur

The entrance to Ranthambore National Park (our tiger safari on jeep)
in Sawai Madhopur. This is both our first safari, and we were willing to hire a
small, private jeep along with Alice and Kristi (see pic of them below).

   
Unfortunately, we weren't able to hire one, but were there early enough to get some
 good seats of a 20-person jeep (below).  First we saw many monkeys, deer, peacocks.
It was the dry season; the land and vegetation was brown.  We even saw monkeys
gathered to pump up some water themselves.

   
We snatched the plum seats up in the front of the jeep (heh, heh),
but in the end, it didn't seem to matter what type of jeep you were on, what seat you were in, or
how well the guide's English is or his luck in scouting out tigers . . .
or how patient all of us were. It seemed like all the jeeps (and there were a lot)
were playing the exciting game of waiting . . . but no tigers came out that day,
and if so, nobody caught the sight of one.

   
Our jeep interspersed bouts of quiet waiting with speedy trips from one popular tiger sighting spot to another.
It weaved with the other jeeps, through the dry paths etched by many other past attempts.
Towards the end (about sunset), everyone, Indians and non-Indians alike, shook heads at each other
in confirmed disappointment and frustration.
Then suddenly,someone on our jeep shouted.
Perhaps out of desperation or dehydration, he spotted a bear climbing
on the side of a mountain in the distance.


None of us managed to see any tigers in the flesh that day;
we opted to watch out for tigers on cable back
at the hotel.  While a bad tiger-sighting day, it was a nice day spent
with new friends. Kristi and Alice, from the UK, came with us on our short but
sweet visit to Sawai Madhopur.