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Published: February 4th 2007
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I promise these entries will get shorter as my stay gets longer!
Jan 26, 2007 Part 1
It’s a long weekend here in India. Friday was Republic Day, which is the celebration of their constitution coming into effect. Six months earlier they declared their Independence from British rule. Michele went to a dry-run of the military Republic Day parade earlier in the week… armies, tanks, missiles, dancing school children, officers on horseback etc. It was an invitation only thing and she got an invitation from someone she knows here whose family is military. Vladimir Putin was the guest of honor this year. India and Russia are long time allies.
So we took advantage of the long weekend and headed off for Jaipur. (Pronounced Jai, sounds like hi, Pur, sounds like poor). It’s called the Pink City because of the color of the sandstone from which the buildings are made. You can see the pink sandstone buildings in the background of some of these photos. They are pink with white marble trim. Jaipur is one of the 3 cityies in India’s Golden Triangle: Delhi, Jaipur, and Agra (where the Taj Mahal is). It’s in the state of Rajasthan, which
is a mostly desert state known for its camels. It's about a 4 hour drive southwest of Gurgaon.
We drove down on Friday morning, or more accurately we hired a driver to drive us. There is no way in hell I would ever attempt to drive a car here. If there are traffic laws here, no one obeys them. It’s just the law of honk and force your way into the tiniest of spaces in between cars. Traffic is CRAZY. I tried to get some photos of the traffic on the way down, but they didn’t turn out well and I’m sure I’ll have many more opportunities
I did manage to get this picture of a street dog standing in the median. Notice how skinny it is, and how poor its fur looks. Sad. People have dogs as pets here, but they are all wealthier people with pure breeds only. The street dogs are left to fend for themselves. Sad.
This is a picture of Indian construction, which is omnipresent and almost purely manual. I believe this is a shop that’s being renovated. Notice the structural supports are tree limbs and wooden poles. I guess there is
no such thing as OSHA in India - not to mention building codes.
I finally did see some construction equipment. It was driving down the street though not being used in any construction! You can see it across the road in this picture.
I also got this shot of a woman walking in the street. Notice how bold and colorful her clothes are. The women’s clothes here are a splash of brilliance amongst all the dirt and garbage. She is wearing what they call a suit. It is a matching top and bottom and is a little like business casual from what I can tell. The pants are often fitted around the ankle and balloon like through the legs. The top is usually at least mid-thigh long and sometimes mid-calf. Her scarf is called a dupetta, I think. It can be draped across the head like she is wearing it, or draped across both shoulders hanging long in the back.
Our driver had a very difficult time finding our hotel. I’ve noticed there are no street signs in India. He had to stop about 6 times to get directions, which Michele said was normal. I didn’t like
being lost much, but it was refreshing to be in the presence of a man unafraid to ask for directions.
Our hotel, The Hotel Madhuban, was a lot more than I expected for the $35 dollars per night rate. It is owned by a wealthy family who has turned most of their home into a hotel. The room was clean and had two small beds pushed together, which was good, since it dawned on me once we checked in that Michele had only reserved one room to save money. I’m sure she told me and it just didn’t sink in. But the 2 beds made it no big deal.
We had lunch in the hotel courtyard. Indian food of course, but it was good and didn’t upset my tummy. In fact I’m pleased to report my tummy has been fine since I’ve arrived and I’ve been on a pure vegetarian - mostly Indian food diet. The guests at the hotel are very international. I think I heard German, British English, and some Eastern European language being spoken while we had lunch.
In the picture of the hotel courtyard, notice the yellow solar hot water heater/tank on the
rooftop. Not sure if this was the only one for the hotel or not, but when I took a shower the next day (yes a shower - there was no bathtub), it was hot.
After lunch, we set off for a little sight seeing.
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