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Published: February 8th 2016
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Our group wondered if leaving the hotel at 5 a.m. Was really necessary when our flight wasn't boarding until 7:50 and it was a Sunday morning so the traffic should be light.....well, first of all there is no such thing as "light traffic" in Delhi and secondly the sirport security really takes a long time. It was a 45 minute flight but took close to 5 hours to get from our hotel in Delhi to our hotel in Jaipur
i had pictured Jaipur to be much smaller than Delhi....Well it's all relative since Delhi is a metropolis with a population of 22 million and Jaipur has "only" a population of 2 million. It's the capital of the state of Rajasthan and growing fast as people from rural areas move there for better economic opportunities. The same challenges of overpopulation, massive poverty, pollution etc. facing Delhi also are evident in Jaipur.
Jaipur is known as the "pink city" because if the hue if the buildings in the walled Old City. We had a chance to explore some of the old streets and visit the palace if the royal family before heading to our lunch at a "Barbecue". The first course
was served at grills at the table (like Korean barbecues in Annandale) and after having skewers if fish, shrimp, chicken, cheese, veggies all served with roasted corn and other sides, we then could go to the buffet with numerous Indian curries etc. And then there was the dessert buffet! Food has been wonderful so far. Our leader says that he is requesting mild spices at the beginning and will gradually increase spices as our stomachs and palettes "adjust"! There are actually three people in the group who can't eat anything spicy and they havebeen able to find acceptable alternatives to spicy food.
I was happy to finally get a chance to get out and walk in the neighborhood around our hotel after eating this feast. The neighborhood is considered to be upper middle class or higher and it was very interesting to see the houses and the general neighborhood. There were empty lots with rubble and cows and stray dogs between very nice gated houses. The main roads nearby have a complete variety of shops from outdoor stalls to nicer looking restaurants. And there are cows wandering down the main roads and an occasional camel pulling carts. The traffic
Raj Ghat
Shrine to Mahatma Ghandi-site of Ghandi's cremation. was probably somewhat lighter because it's Sunday but there were still numerous cars, motor bikes, scooters and the incessant horns blowing! I was walking with a woman on our trip and we were stopped by two teenage girls who asked if they could take a picture of us. One stood between us and the other took our picture with much giggling between them. This is the third time today that people in our group have been asked to "pose" with locals. Our tour guide had told us at the beginning of the trip that we would probably be asked since Westerners still are somewhat of a novelty in many places.
I will try to post pictures but they probably won't be in any order if I do succeed. It doesn't look like I can go back and add pictures to blogs I've akread
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