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Published: December 14th 2013
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9th December
Off to Jaipur this morning, it was a 6 hour journey but we were looking forward to it as all felt tired and happy to watch all the sights and sounds of India pass by our windows. As we walked from the old town and waited for Mr Harinder, an elephant came to see us, all painted up in bright colours, they want money for photos and the elephant takes the note from you and hands it up to his rider, maybe this elephant thought we hadn't given enough as had a good feel round Col's nether regions with his trunk!
Having had the first driving lesson - horn honking - time for the next lesson as we had plenty of opportunities to watch on this long journey. They have traffic lights but we feel these are just a suggestion, however at a busy junction in the city a police man was in a box in the middle of the road, a motorbike had jumped the lights and them caused chaos, the policeman jumped out of the box, leapt on the motorbike who was now caught in the stream on oncoming traffic and grabbed the
keys from the ignition! Next step, which side of the road to drive on? Again this is optional, they would prefer you to drive on the left but if that doesn't suit you then drive where you like, this can apply to rough old bumpy roads or 4 lane duel carriageways, nothing like ensuring your heart is still beating to see a great big truck coming towards you in the outside lane! Of course, Noah's ark is on the road with you and our four legged friends they haven't studied the Highway Code and often form their own temporary roundabout when having a siesta in the middle of the road. So basically, drive where you like but keep honking your horn.
We stopped en route a couple of times for coffee and snacks and arrived at our hotel mid afternoon. Originally we were booked into a hotel further up the road but their daughter had decided to get married at this time and they asked us to move, however, for our inconvenience, they invited us to the wedding celebrations on 9th and the wedding on 10th. We had received this elaborate invitation and realised it was a
'posh do' so had taken appropriate clothing. Jane and Sal had intended to go for a sari or shalwar kameez but never had time to sort it out. Anyway, the hotel where the wedding was looked small outside but opened out into a series of courtyards and was a stunning setting but had also been beautifully decorated for this aristocratic wedding.
Mr Harinder arrived to drive us 200 yards up the road, though it would have been a scary walk all suited and booted. We hadn't realised we would be split into ladies and gents and the men were taken to another hotel, both Pete and Col and Jane and Sal were made very welcome at their respective parties. At Jane and Sals there was a bar for Western women discreetly hidden away which we were encouraged to use! We were just fascinated by the whole thing, all these stunningly dressed ladies in a complete rainbow of colours and sparkle with amazing jewellery coming in, greeting their friends and relatives with various degrees of reverence, much bowing to elders and touching of lower legs. Rajasthan is known as the state of colours and every one of these
colours were on show this evening. There was local music and ladies got up to dance, sometimes on their own and sometimes in small groups, whilst dancing other ladies got up, waved money over the head of the lady who was dancing and then gave it to the band. It really was a beautiful scene and we felt incredibly lucky to have been invited and be able to watch. Food was constantly being brought around and then Jane and Sal and some other western ladies were taken into a room which had been set up as a dining room and they served us a meal that was less spicy, so thoughtful of them. We had been told that the boys party could go on until the early hours but they came back and collected us at about 11pm and then a very smart vehicle was laid on to take us back to the hotel.
10th December
We had a full day of sightseeing today and our guide was fun and interesting, we visited the amber fort, city palace, lake palace and the jantar mantar which is an amazing collection of architectural astronomical instruments from 1730's, their
accuracy is astonishing particularly when you realise they were constructed 300 years ago. In the afternoon we met another guide who works with Treboram from 2 days ago in the blue city. He took us on a walk called crafts, cuisines and markets. We loved it, we tried various thing to eat, some looked safer to look at rather than eat! We walked down narrow streets, trying to get out of the way of motorbikes, cycles and monkeys, visiting various tiny specialist business which we would never have found by ourselves and even if we had we would have had no idea what we were looking at, from sugar crystals to gold rings. We went into the old market, tiny shops, packed with reams of fabric, mostly highly decorated, the shops had padded floors as you and ally our female family would be in there choosing your next sari or even more people if it was a wedding outfit, again, the colours would be the envy of any artists palette.
We hot footed it back to the hotel with 45 minutes to get ready for the wedding procession. The groom was staying at our hotel and he
was to make his way to the wedding, by elephant and a really noisy band which was brilliant. We were ready on time but nobody else was, it was about 90 minutes later that it set off and again, we were astonished at the outfits of the men, all sorts of different traditional clothes, exceedingly smart, some with swords and topped off with another fantastic rainbow of colours for their turbans. Jane and Sal could only join for a short way and then had to go to the venue where all the ladies were. If it was possible, the ladies looked even more fabulous than the day before. Pete and Col were taken up to the roof where the men's party was with the ladies downstairs. The wedding ceremony went on in another area and you could come and go as you pleased with food and drink in abundance being handed out. The bride and groom going through all the rituals with aunty and grandma and everyone else, catching up with each other, eating and drinking!
We couldn't have been made more welcome and we felt very privileged to have been invited to such a fantastic event.
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Dan
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It must be a bit like a magic carpet ride never quiet knowing what you are going to see! Great reading keep them coming -love the photos xxxxx