Compared to the beauty and relaxation we experienced in Udaipur, Jaipur was relatively dirty and aggressive.
The people trying to get us to buy things in Jaipur were pushy, the city felt dirty and crowded, and when we refused the taxi services of one tuk-tuk driver for a 12th time (with the same simple “No thank-you” we had been saying over and over), he yelled at us.
“Why are you afraid of yourself?!”
“You think I am Bin Laden?!?”
“I am not Bin Laden!”
And then he stormed off, only to glare at us as we drove away.
(I never mentioned Bin Laden… but since you just compared yourself, and also yelled at me, I’m even less likely to take your Tuk-tuk now.)
We waited and went with the the tuk-tuk of the driver who was scheduled (2 days in advance of our arrival) to pick us up at the train station.
We had explained this to unhappy taxi man. He confirmed he understood, but just kept coming back to ask us to ride with him.
There’s more to the story… we had to call for the pickup on arrival at the train station.
Unhappy taxi man actually took the phone out of my hand and hung it up. (I thought he was going to be helpful and talk with our tuk-tuk driver) when I was speaking to our driver (who had missed coming to pick us up).
Anyway, neither the missed pick-up, nor the unhappy taxi man gave a great first impression for us of Jaipur.
He was odd to say the least.
It could be because our experience in Udaipur was so nice that we came to Jaipur with higher expectations.
Or it could be that Jaipur is in fact a dirtier and pushier city.
It’s hard to tell these things being in places for short amounts of time.
Overall though, if your time in India is limited, I would definitely recommend Udaipur over Jaipur – smaller town, friendlier people (in our experience), and nicer overall environment.
Oh Unhappy taxi man was a rude person and very aggressive. Taking the phone and then hung it up – very bad mannered person. He must have been desperate to get clients.
That would have make me upset and angry but I am glad you just took it in your stride.
Have to say I preferred Jaipur to Udaipur. I guess it depends on what you are looking for but Udaipur felt like a lightweight tourist town, albeit with a pretty fine palace and temple. If you go to India to relax like you’re in Florida or something, I guess Udaipur is a little more tourist friendly and maybe a tiny bit cleaner than Jaipur (although it didn’t look cleaner to me!). But for historical significance — and a really kick-ass fort, not to mention several other World Heritage sites — Jaipur has it all over Udaipur, in my opinion. I was with a tour so I didn’t have to hire a cab/rikshaw/tuk-tuk so can’t make a judgement on that, although our tour guide arranged a hair-raising (but really fun) tuk-tuk ride in Udaipur.
I’d say go to both cities with an open mind.
Namaste.
Hi Sam,
I would say with an organized tour, we might have enjoyed Jaipur more, but we just felt beaten up by the town and people’s approach to us while we were in Jaipur. Things were closed when we were there, it was super ridiculously hot, and everyone kept hitting us up for money everywhere (moreso than we were elsewhere). it just made it hard to enjoy it.
I agree completely that people should go to both Udaipur and Jaipur with an open mind.
🙂