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Published: December 26th 2023
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Masala omeletted up, we took a surprisingly long Uber to Patrika gate. The tall pink structure centred around a long hall that held a riot of STUNNING craft. Columns, ceilings and scalloped arches displayed a mixture of pastel toned block colour, floral and bucolic motifs, bright repetitive border patterns, realistic architectural paintings, and stylised Indian narrative scenes of Gods, stories and people. We were in awe, it must have taken years and painstaking care to achieve this feast for our eyes. Many natives, especially couples, were dressed to the nines, taking professional photos along with crew, and professional equipment. Hattie wants to do this with Gabe in front of Buckingham Palace and Marble Arch. She settled for Grace instead, getting in on two gorgeous ladies’ photo shoot. We then went to the nearby JKK, an arts and culture centre, but first we needed to have our hit of Jaipur shopping. A silk expo was on, and we rummaged through more silk, wool and pashmina goodies, the quality was excellent. The building reminded us of Mexican architecture, in a bold red it was blocky and modern. Grace got her mum a treat that will not be named because we know she’s reading
this - and Hattie held back on possibly the most Her shop we’ve ever seen - loads of patterned knitwear and faux fur 🥹 We seriously contemplated shipping a big suitcase home filled with everything we wish Vinted had. We ate our first idli sambar and shared a masala dosa in a co operative cafe, where the staff wore elaborate hats. So cheap, and SO good. A quote was eternalised in stone by Jawaharlal Nehru near the threshold of the centre, and it resonated with us; “To invent a new future and to rediscover the past is one gesture.” We interpreted this as there is a domino effect to existence and that history must be acknowledged and respected to learn from.
Ubers were cancelling on us as we attempted to order a drive to Nahargarh fort, translating to mean collection of tigers. Once one accepted we soon realised why - it was a up a fuck-off mountain! We were lucky our driver hadn’t realised the altitude he was going to climb, he told Iksha who translated to us that if he’d known he wouldn’t have accepted as Uber pays him per km, not adding in the altitude. Feeling guilty
about this, we offered some more money and took in the views of camels, elephants and the changing mountainous landscape. The view of Jal Mahal, a palace in the middle of a lake, from a distance seemed so still and peaceful. We are so lucky to have the opportunity of seeing such extreme beauty every day. The fort was a bit like Great Wall of china, but in Jaipur pink city style -pointed turrets, spreading along the mountain scape once defending the city from elephants and enemies. We walked around the site looking at gorgeous viewpoints and went into a stunning buttercream yellow (that’s going to be the colour of our kitchen Gabe) building with detailed floral frescos, constructed for one maharaj’s nine concubines. Each room had a connecting kitchen and bathroom, not a bad deal. Grace and Hattie briefly reconsidered their careers. A couple had brought their cat, Mowgli, snuggled into his coat, apparently they took him everywhere and Hattie passed out in mourning for her tiny black son in Wiltshire.
Our patient driver took us to Amber fort next, as the sun was nearing its bedtime!
We climbed the many many stairs up, noticing weighing scale wallahs
inviting us to pop on, would we actually loose weight during this trek!? Once we got to the top, Hattie was swarmed by tourists wanting photos - most memorably by a presumably 50 year old man with the strongest hairline we had ever seen. It must have been fake, but Grace has not stopped thinking about it since. They found the “500 rupee per photo please” funny and giggled away once they realised she was kidding. Once we had lost a few more kg’s and got higher up the mountain we were led through a sandstone and marble maze of Turkish baths. From ornate balconies facing the mountains we witnessed incredible views of a floating rectangular garden in a lake with geometric patterns of flowers. This was like no garden we had ever seen. As we went higher up still we were gobsmacked to see part of the palace decorated within an inch of its life with mirrors, evoking the pattens and style of Patrika gate- floral, decorative, and gorgeous.
We took pictures of the sunset and climbed back down, excited for our dinner at Anokhi cafe which did not disappoint. FaceTiming Helen for her birthday, we munched away in
the relaxed atmosphere and sent her a video of us dancing to some live music as we sung Happy Birthday at the Amber Fort. This was a poetic and lovely end to a fabulous stint of our trip. We tukked our way home and conked out from another day of beauty and culture!
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