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India is definitely growing on us. We've made our way to Jaipur, which is a very different city from Agra and (what we saw of) New Delhi. First, it seems to have a middle class, driving around town in regular cars and shopping among the sari stalls at the bazaar. They are marketed to by billboards advertizing condos, clothing, and brand new shopping centers, just like any other city. The old part of the city, laid out by Maharaja Jai Singh 400 years ago, is by far the most organized (not to be confused with orderly) place we've been in India--a 4 by 8 grid of streets, with vendors loosely grouped by product. All in all, a walk around Jaipur's old city made for teriffic sightseeing and gift shopping--and plenty of haggling experience--and we seemed to be the only tourists for miles.
After touring the bazaar and the beautifully maintained (probably because it's still occupied) City Palace, we took a rickshaw up into the countryside to view Amber Fort, a 700 year old palace situated far above a strategic hill pass. The fort was beautiful, particularly the very practical mirrored living quarters (which amplified the power of candles before electricity),
and though our guide's English was unintelligble jibberish, the fort was interesting and the views were good.
The greatest element of Jaipur may actually have been our guest house, Hotel Pearl Palace. Not to cheapen any of the sights we've seen, but the seemingly inexhaustable artist Mr. Singh has created an absolutely unique hotel. We say inexhaustible because, after picking us up from the railway station Mr. Singh explained that he, a friend, and his wife have designed and fabricated nearly every fixture, decoration and piece of furniture in the 32 room hotel. The walls are decorated with elaborately carved clothes hooks and mirrors. The (absolutely delicious) rooftop restaurant is furnished with themed steel sculptures that serve as tables and chairs (see picture), and otherwise decorated with fanciful artwork that somehow fits in very well with the backdrop of Jaipur. This patio also provided a great place for meeting fellow travellers, such as Brice, our new Senegalese friend. Anyway, we won't ramble on any further, but Jaipur has been great and we're feeling really good about our trip to India. It's a little dirty, a little hot, a little rough around the edges. But we've met some really amazing
people here and are 100% happy we came--even if it was 113 degrees yesterday.
This morning we hopped on a plane from Delhi to Athens (via Bahrain). We haven't seen too much of the city yet, but we're really excited to be here. It's beautiful and clean and we just had dinner for $3. Sounds good to us!
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Mike Rooney
non-member comment
Love your journal
We're loving your trip and praying for your safe return home thanks for sharing your exspierences with all of us.