India: Jaipur

One of the villages..

Before boarding the “public bus” in Agra our tour guide informed us we might get sick of all the goats- but if so we could just head up on top of the bus for a bit. Luckily, he was kidding. However, there were loads of buses on the highways with people on top! Our bus however was really just a basic coach. The ride to Jaipur was 5-6 hours, but I was constantly intrigued by things happening outside. We passed a huge assortment of animals; a lot of cows on the road, and quite a few camel-drawn carts. There were villages covered in markets, huge green fields and women dressed in gorgeous sari’s. 

The rooftop

We arrived just before dark and were taken to our hotel. We were welcomed by some very polite Indian men who put flower chains around our necks, tikka’s on our foreheads, and gave us Lassi (a common Indian drink..which I don’t like, but the thought is nice). The hotel was stunning. We went up to the rooftop where we could see hundreds of kites in the sky. Apparently it is the kite season! I had a go, without much success. Our guide managed to keep one going for a while, before someone else cut the string. Kite-flying here is so different to at home. At home people have huge colourful kites in the shape of an animal or the like. In India all the kites are very basic; same shape but variation in the colours. A lot of them looked home-made. And it’s like a sport! They’re all trying to cut other peoples strings so that theirs is the last one standing. We stayed on the rooftop until after sunset, at which point we headed out for dinner. We had dinner at an outdoor restaurant where we were treated to an assortment of entertainment.. From dancing (while balancing many objects on their heads) to fire eating to a very amusing puppet show. The food was also phenomenally good. I think I may be addicted to garlic naan! After dinner we returned to the rooftop where we saw heaps of fireworks (for various weddings)

The following day was a jam-packed day exploring Jaipur. Jaipur is known as the ‘Pink City’ because a lot of the market areas and buildings are red/amber/orange/pink. Our first stop was the Amber Palace. This once housed the royal family! It was absolutely stunning and if it hadn’t been so foggy it would’ve given an amazing view. There were elephant rides going on around the palace, which we were all keen to do. However when we got closer we could see how badly they were being treated- being poked and prodded with sharp objects when they did something wrong. They just looked so sad.

Streets of Jaipur

After the Amber Palace we went to a vegetarian restaurant where I tried some strange food that almost burned my mouth off, it was sooo spicy. We then went to the city Palace. It seems there are a lot of palaces in India! This one seemed more well-kept, as if it had more recently been occupied. There is still a royal family in India but I actually have no idea where they live. Stunning. A few of us then braved the markets. Some of the shop owners pester you to no end. They’ll block your path to try to force you into their shop, and tell you to try everything.. If you say no to one thing, they’ll suggest more until you finally give in or manage to escape. Luckily I have developed a firm “no” closely followed by a “leave me alone” if need be. I got a few bangles, and proudly resisted all other temptations!

Jess in her sari, on the rooftop

Before dinner we headed out for a film.. A Bollywood film! We watched ‘Don 2’, a James Bond type movie mostly in Hindu, with random English words or phrases. No subtitles. Very action-packed, with a nice song & dance in the middle. Bollywood is great fun! We had a traditional southern Indian dinner, which was vegetarian, then headed to the rooftop to watch more fireworks and have a few drinks. Jaipur is a slightly more relaxed city than Dehli and Agra. I felt like I got less hassled, and was able to enjoy the atmosphere a bit more. It’s still impossible to walk anywhere- no one ever has a map and there’s no logic to the roads so we just got tuk tuk’s everywhere. Bit of a shame because I enjoy exploring new cities by foot.