Three hours. That’s how much sleep I got last night. The drums of the cultural show had sporadically sounded until 22:00, and after that there’d been loud talking just outside my room until after midnight, likely in the common sitting area, or the main corridor on the other side. When it wasn’t banging or talking disrupting my sleep, it was the dog over the road barking in the early hours of the morning.

I gave up on sleep at 07:00, and got anything valuable locked up inside my camera bag, and then hidden away in the cupboard. There are so many signs around this hotel saying about valuables at risk, that I thought it could actually be a problem to guard against this time.

At breakfast, rather than just the usual Malarone, I also had some Immodium as my stomach didn’t feel fully settled. It was doing well enough to have a few pastries, a banana, and a cup of Earl Grey tea.

I was in the lobby just before 08:30, the driver already waiting. We started off by collecting some ice for the cool box from a vendor who had large blocks of ice sitting on the pavement, slowly melting. Our next stop, after passing through the Ajmeri gate, was to collect today’s guide from outside Hawa Mahal: the air palace. The thought of that name gave me visions of Avatar: The Last Airbender, and the air nomads; but there was not a single air bison in sight. Yip! Yip!

The area around Hawa Mahal was so busy, but Rajesh, the guide, found us, and started to tell me about the palace. It was built by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh to allow the women of the court to view everyday life unobserved. He told me how it’s not a real palace, but a facade. It is part of a palace, the back of one, but I got what he meant, the building is actually barely wider than a person.

As we left there, he told me why the Pink City is called that, but he said it was due to a visit by Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, in 1876. This is incorrect as it was their son, Prince Albert Edward, who visited. Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria, dying in 1861 would have presented a notable challenge for him to have visited fifteen years later.

The drive to Amer, the place in the Aravalli hills where Jai Sing II had ruled prior to his founding Jaipur, showed me I would have been foolish to have attempted visiting any part of this area on foot; especially in this heat. We made one stop across the moat from the Amber Fort, and whilst there got to see someone riding a young Indian Elephant. Apparently this is quite common in this area, and tourists can ride one up to the Amber Fort; also known as the Amber Palace.

We took winding roads through Amer until we reached the entrance to the fort. Once inside the fort, there’s a large open courtyard. We could hear the beat of a drum, something historically they would have done to alert the arrival of the Maharajah, but is now used for tourists arriving by elephant.

Up some stairs, we could then look around the second courtyard, where the Maharaja would have held public courts. Through the Ganesh gate is where they would have lived, and is where you can see the hall of mirrors.

Once we’d completed a lap of the palace, we made our way back to the car, and headed back to the Pink City. We made one stop on the way at a viewpoint for Jal Mahal, the water palace in the middle of the manmade Sagar Lake. This one is not accessible to the public as it has seen damage due to the water. There had been attempts to restore it in the 2000s, but that work was unsatisfactory, and is in the process of being redone by a private resort company.

Jantar Mantar was the penultimate stop on this trip, just in time for the temperatures to reach into the forties once more. The sun was almost at its zenith, and there was almost no shade available. I’d have been happy to have zipped around taking a few photographs, and leaving, but I had to let the guide tell me about all the different astronomical instruments that Sawai Jai Singh II had built here. It felt so uncomfortable being out in this, and I just wanted it to be over as soon as possible now. I was taking in very little of what was being said.

When we finished, it was then a short walk over to the City Palace, the residence of the current Maharaja of Rajasthan. Not long after arriving, the check-in for my flight from Delhi to London Heathrow opened, so I was a little distracted trying to check-in. Whatever I tried though, it wouldn’t work.

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Eventually I had to give in, and try it when back at the hotel. An Indian family passed me at this point and tried to get me to photograph their child to give them money. I had no interest at all in taking a photograph of them.

The tour felt like it was dragging on a bit now. Sure, the palace was nice, but I’d seen so many now, and a lack of sleep wasn’t making photography fun. The second half of the palace did feel more interesting though, but I didn’t feel like standing in the sun to get a photograph without people in them. From the Pritam Niwas Chowk you can see four different gates, themed after the seasons, and you can see Chandra Mahal, the actual residence of the Maharajah too. You can also go inside the Sabha Niwas, the main audience hall, where you can see details of Lord and Lady Mountbatten's visit, and also see the armoury.

I thought as it was almost midday, I’d be taken back to the hotel now so I could relax there for the rest of the day. Of course though, I’d forgotten about the artisan shops that the guides get commission from. We started off with a place where they demonstrated how they cut and set semi-precious stones. They of course tried to sell me something, but I refused to buy anything and stuck to it. I was then taken to a wood block printing place, using techniques pioneered by the Tang Dynasty in China. There they demonstrated using different wooden blocks to print on fabric. This one tried very hard, and looked upset when I refused to buy anything. I was tired from the lack of sleep last night, and just wanted to rest.

I was then taken to Heritage Cuisine to get some lunch at around 12:35, and about ten minutes later ordered some fries. I really wasn’t hungry, as I’d already told Rajesh; I think they feel obligated to make sure we go somewhere safe for food though. By the time I was able to relax back at the hotel, it was 13:40, but was asked by Raju to make sure the first thing I did was to leave five-star reviews for them on TripAdvisor and TourRadar.

For the next hour I tried to check-in for my flight, but just ran into one problem after another. Eventually I used Virgin Atlantic’s support, having given up on the AI chatbot that wasn’t answering my questions, and spoke to a real person. They told me that unfortunately IndiGo doesn't allow online check-in for their codeshare flights. If only the website had explained this to start with, instead of providing incorrect information.

I was finally able to shower, and have a nap before finishing the majority of my packing. I decided I’d walk over to the Domino’s I’d passed earlier, and bought a regular sized pizza and a drink for ₹185 - at less than £2.00, it was probably the cheapest meal of the trip. It seemed crazy how much cheaper it was than the same meal would have cost back home.

I then went to bed early, knowing I’d not get much sleep.