Jaipur

It was the boxing-day and we could see that Christmas mood was still there at the Holiday Inn Jaipur. There was a 10 foot Christmas tree at the main door itself announcing proudly that it was still Christmas season. On entering we found an atrium as high as the building itself, all of seven storeys and from the top was a bunch of green string-lights arranged in a conical form giving a feeling of a 100-foot Christmas tree and below were several reindeer pulling their cart containing one of the biggest gingerbread house we had seen.

Located around 5km from both railway station and the old Jaipur city, Holiday inn

Salman, the hotel representative, was waiting for us at the arrival area. Smartly dressed in his suit, he patiently holds up the placard high for all to see. He wanted to make sure his guests don’t miss him. After brief introductions, he took charge of our luggage and called the vehicle to ferry us to the hotel, the Crowne Plaza Jaipur.

Crowne Plaza is striving to be the crowning glory in Jaipur, in its own category. Some 30 minutes and 20KM later we are at the triangular hotel, short in height but sprawling and quite modern looking. This was in the industrial district and quite close to a large convention centre.