Jaipur (2-18)

Tuesday we traveled from Delhi to Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan. On the way out of Delhi, we stopped at the airport to pick up Kasey’s luggage. Five hours later we arrived at the hotel in Jaipur. The road trip was not an exciting one. Not much to view along the way. The first hour was getting out of the urban area. Next we passed through what seemed to be an industrial area. Then we drove through the countryside for a while. There were rape seed fields in that area. For the first four hours about 90% of the vehicles on the road were trucks. I asked the driver what they were carrying, but he didn’t understand and told me how fast he was driving. For a while I was concerned about our passing trucks on the right, as passing is done on the left. When I asked him about the trucks, he mentioned that fast cars go on the right and slow ones on the left. I realized that that, of course, is correct since driving is one the left and everything is reversed.

In the urban area we saw cows in the median a few times. In the rural area we saw camels pulling carts twice. Most of the trucks have a message on the back telling drivers to use their horn. When we passed a truck, the driver always honked to make sure it was aware of our passing. Some tell others to “use dipper at night,” which I couldn’t figure out. Later I learned that this means to use the dimmer lights, not bright lights.

As we entered Jaipur, it was exciting to have our first views of the Amber Fort at the top of the hill. The driver stopped for us to take photos. 

We also stopped to view the Water Castle, an 18^th century hunting lodge for the Maharaja that is in the middle of the lake. The building is five stories with four being underwater. 

Then we saw our first elephants walking down the street .

After settling into our room, Kasey and I went for a walk. We stopped at a shop selling textiles to look at their items. 

Then we stopped at a couple shops advertising blue pottery and looked at their wares. Blue ceramics are a traditional craft in Jaipur, having been brought to the area from Persia. The designs on the tiles and bowls reminded me of blue pottery in Turkey.

Down the street, a man invited us to look at his workshop making block printed fabric. That was really interesting, as I was familiar with the process, blocks used for printing, and the resulting fabrics but had never seen it done before. One of the workers demonstrated the whole process. The fabric is stretched on tables, and a man goes along stamping the new color onto the fabric using the block for that color. In the shop we had masala tea. I like the Indian tea—a little sweet with milk and spices. After having it a couple times, I realized that it is what is known as chai in the U.S. The young man told us that three things are necessary: talking, drinking, and loving. Another man explained the concept of the shop to us. It sells goods made by women in villages. They provide the cloth and the women make the items. The shop was nice in that the men were not pushy about our buying. They said some of the same things others had said but gently and without pushing us to buy.

Jaipur is known as the Pink City because of the pink sandstone buildings. Others are painted pink. I like them, as they have a warm feeling. Locally, pink represents hospitality. There’s a story, which is represented on tiles, about giving pink roses to the Prince of Wales and Queen Victoria when they visited.

While we were walking, we saw several cows along the road. An elephant and its rider also walked past, probably on its way home from working at the Amber Fort.

In the evening we went to Chokhi Dhani, an ethnic village that was included in our tour. It took over an hour to get there. When everyone enters, they are given a red dot on their forehead for good luck. The village has a lot of small stages where people do activities such as dancing, fire eating, puppet show, and henna painting. You can pay a small amount for a camel ride, an elephant ride, and an ox cart ride, which we did not do. And there are lots of shops selling goods. We mostly walked through these places on the way to dinner. 

The dinner was called a maharaja dinner. We sat on a cushion in front of a low table. The plates were made from leaves pressed together. We had a big plate and six small bowls. Two men came around and put samples of five foods on the plate and others in the bowls and gave us bread. They returned and offered refills if we wanted them. Half of the food was too spicy for me to eat, but the rest was good. It was fun to try so many different foods. The men also put their hats on us and took photos.

After eating, we stopped at the henna painting place and had a peacock painted on our hands because it was free. Then it was time to return to the hotel. 

My hand had color for about ten days.

We learned that India taxes three things: cigarettes, alcohol, and restaurant food.

Wednesday morning we met our local guide for our tour of Jaipur, starting with the Amber Fort. I had learned from reading that the forts are not military forts, which is how I think of a “fort” but were residences for the royal families. The Amber Fort was built in the 16^th and 17^th centuries using local sandstone. In addition to the fort, there is a wall that is compared to the Great Wall, as it is on top of the hills and extends a great distance. At one end there is a building that was use as a jail.

First on the agenda was an elephant ride up to the top of the hill that was included with the tour. There was a steady stream of elephants going up and another coming down for new passengers. While we were in line for half an hour, several venders came by selling all the local souvenirs—hats, paintings, books, wooden elephants, and more.

We sat on the elephant across its back with our legs out to the side for the fifteen minute ride. 

Our guide met us again at the top to escort us around the fort. 

The intricately painted and inlaid arches and walls are what I think of when I think of Indian architecture. 

The walls and ceilings of one room are made with glass. When candles were used, their light reflected in the glass to light up the room. 

One mirror is placed in such a way that the guide took photos of us standing across from it. The ceiling of one room has designs made with crushed gemstones.

Outside the fort we could see ancient temples and old houses. 

While we were waiting for the car, we saw several monkeys that were different from any I’d seen. When I asked our next guide about them, I learned that they are langurs, which are a type of baboon. The next stop was a gemstone shop. Gemstones are another thing Jaipur is famous for. The man showed us the stones and how they are transformed from stone to gemstone, and then, of course, we were taken to the display/sales room. We each had a drink while we looked around. I made it a habit to accept tea when we stopped at shops.

Next we went to Jandar Mandar, which is one of five observatories built in India in the 18^th century. The sundial is like none I’ve seen before. 

It is calibrated so the shadow tells the exact time in Jaipur to the minute. Another instrument is used to locate the North Star. There are instruments for predicting eclipses and tracking movement of the planets. One instrument tells the day according to the zodiac. 

Each zodiac sign has an instrument. The Indian interpretations are interesting. Virgo is half man and half woman, the face being masculine and the body being feminine. Kasey’s Taurus has the face of a goat and the body of an ox. The guide read each of our palms. He read that I have never been married, have health problem (a little high cholesterol and dry eyes), and have bad luck.

Our final destination was the City Palace, part of which is a museum and most of which is the residence of the maharaja. A small flag above the larger flag indicates that he is in residence. The current maharaja is eighteen years old and is studying in England. Like other royal figures, the maharaja has no power but is provided with a home and living expenses (partially by admission fees to the City Palace). The museum has gowns of past maharajas as well as embroidered pictures of them. The last picture is a photograph.

After lunch at a reasonably priced restaurant with good food, we stopped at a textile shop. There we had another demonstration of block printing fabric. We looked at camel hide shoes in a neighboring store. The guide said that they are good for one’s body and that wearing them eliminates pain. Across the street there was a tea and spice store; so we went there, too. A number of kinds of tea were described and given to us to smell. I bought a package of the masala spice. Since the directions say to use a half teaspoon per cup, it should last quite a while. Then we returned to the hotel for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

We returned to the textile shop we had been to on Tuesday. The man expressed his thanks that I had actually returned like I had said I would and gave me a scarf, which was very nice of him. While waiting for tea to arrive, we chatted with the man and learned that he had an arranged marriage five years ago. He described the difference between a marriage for love and an arranged one: When people marry for love, they jump into a well; when they have an arranged marriage, they are thrown into the well. Either way they end out in the well together. He is happy with his wife. He said that there are still many arranged marriages although that is changing.

Jaipur is known for three products: textiles, gemstones, and blue ceramics. We saw all three. Its three animals are elephants, camels, and horses. We saw the first two in the city and saw a few horses on the road out of town.