Our jaunt in Jaipur

We dragged ourselves out of bed into the misty chill of the early morning arriving 20 minutes early for our 6:15 train which didn’t end up arriving until 8:45. We found a bench on the platform right next to a tea stand. After watching the tea maestro methodically boil, steep, sweeten, spice, and mix several pots of chai, I decided that his sanitation was up to snuff. I was pleasantly surprised to be charged the locals’ price off the bat and handed over what would amount to about 10 cents for a little clay cup of chai. After some observation, I discovered that common practice is to wing your empty cup into the railway tracks and let it smash amongst all the other putrid rubbish that ends up there. The rough little terra cotta vessel is their equivalent of a styrofoam cup: completely disposable, yet biodegradable and insulated!

Finally our train arrived and we bashed our way through the narrow aisle to our assigned seats. The only seats that were left at the time of booking were in the second class sleeper cars- definitely a little … uh shall we say more rudimentary? … than our previous train trip. We found a family of nine had spread out over our seats and the six others in our section. They made some room and found us a novelty once again until the family was distracted by the stream of food and chai vendors continuously filing through the carriage.

Finally we arrived in Jaipur and checked into our hotel. We were pleased to find that our hotel had running hot water for 6 hours of the day- a small luxury after the hot water in a bucket option at our last hotel. The view we discovered, was significantly less impressive as we looked down at the pigs rooting through a makeshift dump on a vacant corner lot.

Our two days in Jaipur left us wishing for more time. The people here seemed much less pushy and there were a lot of things to see. Our autorickshaw driver whisked us off to the Amber fort, the city palace, and the observatory all in one day. Despite the extraordinary and ornate architecture of the fort, the enormity of the largest sundial ever made, and the grandeur of the palace, it was almost more exciting just watching ordinary life around us as we tore around from sight to sight. Painted elephants walking down the streets, shop owners carefully polishing their Ganesh sculptures and adorning them with flowers, and of course there were the three little goats in short waistcoats yodelay-he yodel-ay-he, yodel- ay-he- hoo (unless you are a “The Sound of Music” fan I probably lost you with that one). Since Rajasthan is having their coldest winter in ages, many people are bundling their little goats up in sweaters. It’s so funny to see them running around with their little sleeves rolled up- check out the pic!

Before we left the next afternoon we made a visit to the “palace of the winds”. This tall thin building was built with a honeycomb structure so the Maharanis (the many wives of the Maharaji) could look out at the world and observe different festivals without being seen. The Maharani’s must’ve been little wisps of things since both Adam and I both kept bonking our heads on the low doorways.

We decided to make a brave move and take our shopping blinders off. Up until now our fear of being harassed by the vendors has prevented us from casting much more than a sideways glance at the heaps of merchandise lining the streets. Our first attempt at browsing ended in the purchase of a pashmina as the price dropped dramatically as we were walking away. We packed up and headed for the train to our next stop Sawai Madhopur, home of Ranthambore Park…. where we shall see tigers- hopefully!