1956 The hotel was erected in 1956 under the personal supervision of then-tourism minister Karan Singh, and the staff claims that Nehru personally visited the building once a month. We decided to stroll to the nearby Hotel Samrat after two fruitless rounds. It was early morning, so most shops were closed but there was a small market just across the road from the hotel where we found some nice bags for a reasonable price. The hotel is named after King Ashoka, who was the greatest ruler of his time and lived in India around 300 BC. He converted people to Buddhism and expanded its reach. But even though he was a great man, you should not say anything bad about him or else his spirit will punish you! We walked through the lobby with its high ceilings and antique furniture and took the elevator up to our room. It was very beautiful with lots of paintings on the walls and nice decorations but it felt a bit cold because there was no window open. When we asked about this, they said that all rooms are like this because air-conditioning is not necessary in Rajasthan due to the heat. They also told us that there is no need to worry about bugs since there are no spiders or snakes here. After breakfast we went out again for another tour around Jaipur.