Blogs from Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, Asia - page 14

Today we have arrived in Jaipur, the pink city. Our drive was relatively long and provided us with a very intimate look at the lives of locals. Driving here is like taking your life in your hands, at first, then you sort of adopt a fatalism/trust in the clusterfuck of a tornado you see on the roads. It's madness, but it works as our driver informed us you must have four things to drive in India; 1. Good horn, 2. Good brakes 3. Good luck and 4. Good patience. The tea here is prepared fantastically with mail and cardamom and a pinch of heaven. I'm afraid I'm ruined forever, I will have to figure out how to make it so perfectly when I get home. We stopped at a roadside stand and had tea made with ... read more

Yesterday was a very long day. We had breakfast early in Udaipur and then got on our bus for what turned out to be an almost 8 hour trip to Jaipur. Temperature was very hot (as per usual) but it is the only way to get between the two cities. We really got to know our guide Vishtal quite well while traveling. I think that he is the best guide that I have ever had in any of our trips. He is extraordinarily intelligent and clear and has a passion about India which just feels good to us. He has told us a great deal about Hinduism and the many different gods that Hindus worship... i guess we call them sects. There are so many stories about the different temples that we have seen and the ... read more

The next day we headed to the Pink City. Upon arrival we were informed by Mr Singh that our 2.5 hour elephant ride the next day was actually a ten minute ride up to Amber Fort. Andrew and I went livid and demanded we speak to the tour agency. After much argument, he said that there had been a misunderstanding and that he would pay for us to have dinner at one of the old Havellis in town. We lazed the afternoon by calling the Wilsons, and then donned our glad rags for dinner. The roof top restaurant was better laid out than most places we had eaten at but in terms of menu and price was almost the same as the one in our hotel. From the look of the photos on the wall it ... read more

Greetings from the beautiful, gentle world of elephants! We spent approximately five hours today interacting with these peaceful and magnificent creatures. On arrival, we were introduced to our elephant, Callibelly, who we would be spending the next five hours with. We were told that elephants are very sensitive animals and pick up on our energy (similar to dogs) and so we must remain very calm when near them. Their eyesight is not particularly good, so they depend mainly on smell to navigate their way through life. So we were also asked to stand close to the elephants, speak to them reassuringly, calmly and not convey any anxiety. Again, so similar to interactions with dogs(!) Elephants are pack/herding animals and are thus very sociable creatures, so dont like to be alone... We were also surprised to find ... read more

Good evening! We are pleased to announce a hassle free/vom free night last night, we both slept through until 04.30am before the call for morning prayer began. Who needs an alarm clock when you live near a mosque... Thank you so much everyone by the way for all your lovely comments - it's soooo nice to receive them, especially when feeling so far away from home. By the way, don't send any private messages on here, for some reason they're not coming through. But we love hearing from you all, thank you :) Back to today, feeling decidedly better although still not eating - terrified of having a repeat performance of the last 48 hours. Gulp. After skipping breakfast, we made our way on a comparatively luxurious tuk tuk (compared to Delhi)... Oh yes, we're privileged ... read more