Ajmer & Jaipur......Diwali, Indian Photoshoots and a little slice of heaven

Hey Guys,
Well this blog is going to be two parts since we're bundling Ajmer and Jaipur together.

AJMER:

So we decided we would try taking a private bus line to Ajmer instead of the public buses since we were looking at a somewhat long trip from Udaipur to Ajmer. The bus was a little nicer, a little quicker but they kicked us out on the side of the highway when we got to Ajmer so it kinda sucked!

In Ajmer, we were originally only going to pass through and visit Pushkar instead (neighbouring city) but since we had met a guy who was just there and said the lake was completely dry and the place wasn't anything special we opted to give Ajmer a go. Well the lake in Ajmer wasn't dry but it wasn't very nice either! We ended up going to the city park which is on the lake shore and here is a nice green park completely covered in garbage. It's really sad when you see something that could be really nice but no one cares enough not to litter or pick up after themselves. Same goes for the Lake, from a distance it looks really nice, up close yikes! The day in the park wasn't a total loss as we soon found ourselves to be the celebrities of the park and even did a photo shoot with a nice family of about 20 Indians. It was hilarious, we got approached to have a photo taken with us and this family, so we agree and then buddy says he'll send for the photographer. Send for the photographer? Did we hear him right? So we wait 5 minutes making small talk with the family and then sure as shit here comes the professional photogragher! We ended up doing about 20 different pictures some by the lake some near the gardens, just Tyne and the ladies, just me and the men, everyone together. It was really special. hahahaha After saying our goodbyes I told Tyne we had to get the hell out of there or just start charging money because we were starting to draw a crowd and believe me in India nothing draws a crowd like a crowd!

Asides from the lake there isn't much else in Ajmer, we cruised around town checked out the street markets and that was about all. We jumped a bus to Jaipur and our long awaited stay at the lovely Sheraton!

JAIPUR

Well after a pretty uneventful bus ride to Jaipur we arrived at the Sheraton for another slice of heaven courtesy of Bob Sheila. Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you! And since Bob is such a big player with the folks at Starwood we got upgraded to a suite that was worthy for the Maharaja himself! This was the best, 2 huge flat screens, the best bed ever, jacuzzi tub, etc. Well that's all for Jaipur, needless to say we never left our room!








Just kidding, well somewhat. We did manage to drag ourselves out of the room for some sight seeing. The whole city was abuzz since Diwali was set to begin, which is a major 5 day festival in the Hindu world. Diwali being the festival of lights is usually celebrated by lighting small clay pots filled with oil and with the lighting of millions of fireworks! We spent one evening walking the street bazaars throughout the Pink City which was pretty hectic.

The next day we decided to tackle the sights, we went to the City Palace which was really nice although we are starting to get a little "Fort-ed out". There were still some beautiful things to see, we especially liked the Courtyard that had 4 beautifully handcrafted doors each representing a different season. Also check out the pic with the huge silver water pots, they hold the world record for being the largest silver objects in the world, they're awesome, absolutely seamless.

After leaving the Palace we are walking down the street when these 3 guys look at me and then start the Cobra Snake charmer show! It was awesome, I totally forgot about snake charmers. Tyne even got in on the action, although afterwards I thought buddy was going to whip me with a cobra for tipping all three guys 75 cents when he was looking for $10! Guess he wasn't that good of a charmer after all hahahaha.

We also checked Hawa Mahal which is also known as "The Palace of Winds". This is a stunning Palace although it is merely a Facade, the Palace was used by the women in the Royal Family to observe the going ons of the palace grounds while staying out of sight. There is little more than a lot of windows down narrow corridors, but it is still very beautiful and does offer some excellent views of the surrounding area.

That evening we enjoyed a nice Diwali Celebration at the Sheraton which was very nice to watch and then enjoyed some fireworks on the balcony. Diwali was a good festival to witness while in India as all the buildings were lit up along the main streets in Jaipur as long as you avoided the bazaar it made for some nice evening walks.

On a funny note I ended up shaving the beard down after we were walking into town and a guy on a motorbike drives by and calls me Baba. I think nothing of it, but he ends up turning around and coming back - he wants to know why I didn't respond, I tell I don't know what he's talking about so he explains to me that he said I looked like Baba, which is a compliment? and that Baba's are Indians who devote their entire lives to their religion that all they do is pray and smoke weed all day. I told him we had guys like that too, we call them lazy hippies, needless to say it was time shave the "Baba" down. We ended up talking with this guy for awhile and he turned out to be pretty nice which was good since at first I thought he was totally making fun of me. Check out this link for a pic of "Baba"
http://www.asianart.com/exhibitions/sadhus/26.html
(Tyne: Actually, I think he was making fun of him since he also said that Baba's don't have a sex life and when he found out we were married for 3 years without kids he asked what the problem was!!!!)
(Matt: Thanks Tyne!)

Well unfortunately another piece of us died the day we had to leave the Sheraton, yes I know everyone out there feels sooooo sorry for us;( Not to worry we took everything that wasn't bolted down as a souvenir! And with that it was time to get back to our $7 a night room reality and head to another town to further our adventure.


Till the next one....

Cheers,

Matt & Tyne

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