Day 7 - Arrival in the Pink City

08.01.2020
After the shock in the evening hours, we drove to Delhi train station at 5:15 am with three cars, having had little sleep. Our tour bus had already departed for Jaipur the previous evening, as it takes between 5.5 and 6.5 hours to reach there by road.
The traffic at the train station was once again free of rules and sense. But in the end, everyone arrived. And in no time, a group of 5 men loaded our suitcases onto their arms and heads, and we raced to the platform. We briefly worried that we would never see them again, but the worry was unfounded. The train arrived, we stood exactly at the right place on the platform, and all the suitcases were taken into the wagon. Chapeau!! ... or as we like to say in the group: 'Chateau'.

Everyone was a bit tired, so we took a little nap. It was more like a collective group narcolepsy. As for the train: it was surprisingly comfortable... not necessarily clean. Everyone had their hoods up for a reason ... headrest ;-) But otherwise, it was actually very comfortable with plenty of legroom and, unlike the German train, quite punctual. And we were served a breakfast consisting of bread, cornflakes, and deep-fried potato-vegetable balls or deep-fried meatballs with coffee and tea. So thumbs up for the Indian railway.
Upon arriving in Jaipur, we took a few Tuk-Tuks with all our suitcases (yes, it's possible; but we don't need to do it again; it looked a bit like human Tetris) to the bus. During the ride, we had a gigantic music experience on one of the Tuk-Tuks with one of the drivers. As fitting for the country, our group song is now 'Brazil' by the Vengaboys. Makes sense.
Jaipur is also known as the Pink City. More about the name will be in tomorrow's post.
Since we had some time before check-in, we had a little snack. We had typical fries, noodles, and Coca Cola or as it was called on the bill: Cock. Funny country. After checking in, we had some (free) time until the afternoon.
We left at 3:30 pm towards Nahargarh Fort. Located high up in the mountains, the fort not only offers a great view of Jaipur but also a very spectacular and romantic sunset, as the pictures prove ;-) New bromances have formed.
The fort itself was rather unspectacular but quite interesting. The local guide, who was hired for the day, had some facts specifically about the number of women, girlfriends, and bedrooms of the different male residents. Our bachelors in the group (and only them) found it very exciting.
Since the trips to the fort and back took a lot of time, we drove directly towards dinner, or rather, we got within a kilometer of it by bus. The traffic jam was so bad that we decided to take a little walk. That was not a problem until we reached an intersection with 6 entrances and had to walk across as pedestrians. We formed a very tight pack and set off towards the other side in formation. At about 1/3 of the way, we were... right in the middle of the intersection, and there was no progress in any direction. Let's just say: only the growing fear was greater than the panic in Claudia's eyes. But then an Indian citizen came and took care of us. He saw it as his responsibility to safely guide us across the intersection. Grateful and with full pants, we followed him through the traffic.
The restaurant in the evening was very good but also really cold. It was a terrace restaurant somewhat shielded from the weather, and as it approached 10-13 degrees, it was really shady. Except for Sven, who apparently does not feel the cold but only experiences an immediate transition to death by frost, and Ramon, who is just 'naturally hot', everyone took one to eighteen blankets and bundled up nicely. But the food and the service were really good, so freezing was worth it.
Afterwards, we quickly returned to the warm hotel. We ended the evening in the bar.
Insights of the day: we will arrange an internship for the head of the railway so that he can get some ideas on customer service; Indian traffic is not for the faint-hearted, and you can definitely drink Cock. 🙄