Fatehpur Sikri & Jaipur: One ancient city, one dusty city, and a run in with a cow

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On the 7th, we woke up a little later than planned because Scott wasn't feeling well, ate breakfast on our hotel's rooftop (where we caught our last glimpse of the Taj), and caught a rickshaw to the public bus stand. Here, we waited in a dilapidated old bus for almost an hour before it finally departed for the ancient city of Fatehpur Sikri, about a two hour drive away. We arrived around 1:30 and ate lunch at a guesthouse that was kind enough to allow us to store our packs there while we toured the ruins, since we were only planning to be in town for a few hours before hopping on another bus bound for Jaipur.

We began our tour at the Jama Masjid Mosque, which had no entry fee, but, as our guidebook warned us, proved to be a less than hassle free experience. First, we had to take our shoes off, and, considering this was a holy structure, I had no problem respecting it; however, the open air square was not only extremely hot to the bare foot, but was also covered with pigeon feces and overflowing with relentless touts who tried to persuade us to visit their makeshift "shops" as well as beggar children who followed us around asking for money, chocolate, and (for whatever reason) pens. Many of them approached Scott by pointing to his beard and calling him Ali Baba. This was the first time he'd experienced this, but ever since then it's happened several times a day.

Though the mosque was very beautiful, the circumstances made it very difficult to enjoy, so we took a quick look around, saw the tomb of the Sufi saint Sheikh Salim Christi (in whose honor Fatehpur Sikri was constructed), and moved on to the Royal Palace. This area was much more peaceful and contained impressive architecture dating back to the late 1500s when the Mughal emperor Akbar had it built, though, for reasons unknown, only reigned there from 1569-1585. We wandered around the surprisingly intact palace grounds for a few hours, taking pictures and trying to avoid having ours taken by strangers. We did agree to have our picture made with a nice family who actually asked our permission first, rather than just sticking a camera in our faces. The father then told us that this was the "proudest picture of his life"...or maybe he said "his wife"...in either case, he was nice, but his comments were a bit strange.

Once we'd finished touring the area, we collected our packs and attempted to figure out where we were supposed to go to catch our bus to Jaipur. The owner of the guesthouse suggested we take a tonga (horse drawn cart) to the Agra Gate bypass, which we did, albeit unwillingly, since there were no rickshaws. The horses were ragged and gaunt and didn't appear to be well cared for, not to mention the driver repeatedly whipped and spanked ours during our short ride. When we reached the "bus stand," we were quite unsure as to whether we were in the right place. It was basically just a random spot on the side of the road. A guy on a motorcycle stopped to help us and told us that, yes, we were in fact in the right place, which was nice, but then he lingered and didn't say much other than to tell Scott that he had picked a good wife and that he looked like Ali Baba. He also told me that he liked my green eyes and wanted to know if I would give him my Clemson class ring, to which I declined. Eventually, after telling us which bus to take, he rode off with his friend, and our bus arrived soon after. Luckily there were seats available and enough room for our bags, so we settled in for the four hour journey.

Despite the seats being somewhat uncomfortable and the bus making a few long stops, everything was going fine until about 9:00 p.m. when our driver began yawning, stretching and shaking himself to stay awake. We could see that his eyes were half closed in the rear view mirror, and he kept swerving and almost hitting things, so we knew something was up. We informed the ticket officer of our concerns, but he quickly brushed them aside as if we were crazy...when it became even clearer that the driver was struggling, we approached the officer again. This time he became frustrated with us and moved to the front of the bus to talk to some other passengers and mock us without even checking to see if the driver was having trouble. Thankfully, the driver's cell phone rang, and he answered it and lit up a cigarette (two things I normally would not have been thankful for), which at least woke him up enough to get us to Jaipur safely a little after 10:00 p.m.

A man from our hotel arrived shortly after to pick us up. He was very friendly, but immediately began trying to get us to hire him for a day of sightseeing, to which we politely declined. Once at our hotel, the Hotel Moon Light Palace, we were greeted by the staff and shown to our very nice, spacious room - what with the hotel staff's attentiveness and friendly demeanor and, I must add, above par laundry service, this was definitely one of the best hotels we've stayed in. They even had room service!

On our first night, we immediately dropped our packs in the room and headed up to the rooftop for a very late dinner. This was accompanied by the lovely ambiance of a multicolored disco ball and a three song playlist set on repeat. The food was great, but after that we stuck with room service, haha. We went to bed and slept pretty late the next day. I woke up with a bad back ache, so Scott, being the wonderful husband that he is, gave me a massage with some Ayurvedic cream, which helped a bit. Then we ordered breakfast and hit the town - the incredibly dusty and polluted town, that is (we found out that the nearly unbreathable air was due largely in part to a significant number of construction projects that were underway in Jaipur).

Our first stop was the famous Lassi Wallah stand, where we ordered sweet lassis in disposable clay glasses (which I had way too much fun smashing afterwards). After that, we didn't do much sightseeing, but instead visited the city's government craft emporium to get a feel for souvenir prices before going to the bazaar to shop a bit. Rajasthan is known for its colorful textiles, leather work and handicrafts, so I was eager to see what was available. We looked for wall hangings, but were unable to find exactly what we wanted. I did find a pair of nice leather flats, some bangles, and, after spending over two hours in a textiles shop, seven wrap skirts...yes, seven. I have an affinity for Indian wrap skirts, and, lucky for me, I also have a very patient and generous husband. 😊 Granted, the total cost of all these skirts would get me about two in the states, but still...I can't wait until I have the money to buy him lots of presents!

After our shopping excursion, we were exhausted and decided to head back to our hotel for dinner. During our walk, we approached a cow, and, as usual, veered to the side to allow it room to pass us. This cow, however, must have been in a bad mood because, as I passed it, it turned its head towards me and hit me in the leg and back with its horns...OUCH. This was rather unpleasant and painful, but, all bruises aside, it makes for a good story!

We continued walking and were stopped by some locals who wanted to talk to us, so we obliged. We were having a good conversation with them when their friend, an Indian native who lives in Switzerland, showed up and took over, talking about healthcare, ayurvedic treatment, etc. and rarely letting anyone get a word in. After awhile, our hunger got the best of us, so we set out to find either a shop where we could buy minutes for our phone so we could call our hotel for a ride, an internet cafe to look up directions, or a rickshaw driver who knew the way. Eventually we found the latter, although he lied to us about some roads being closed and overcharged us. We ate dinner in the room, then went downstairs to figure out how we were going to get train tickets to Jaisalmer (our next desination), where we were going to stay, and which company we wanted to book a camel safari with. After awhile, we got to talking with the hotel's night manager and an English guy staying at the hotel. The manager was amazed by Scott's beard and was eager to show us pictures of his house and family, which was fun. He was very nice and quickly referred to us as his new friends.

The next day, Scott ended up having to go to the train station to buy us taktal tickets while I stayed behind and blogged. Afterward, we ate breakfast and went via public bus to the Pink City to see the palace and the observatory, which contained lots of awesome, huge structures constructed a long time ago to tell time, zodiac signs, the placement of the sun, etc. and which still function today. Before sightseeing, we had to make a brief stop at the doctor's office because I was having bad stomach pains again. This took less than half an hour, and was very cheap for a change.

We were stopped by several people throughout the day who wanted to talk to us, two of whom began by asking us why tourists are so suspicious of Indians. We thought it was strange to be asked the same question phrased the same way by two different people, but we tried to explain to them that, as tourists, many people approach us kindly, but ultimately have the motive of selling us something. Even if they're nice and aren't trying to sell something, tourists tend to be skeptical. One of the guys, after talking with us for awhile, was kind enough to help us get a good deal on a rickshaw to our lunch destination.

We ate a late lunch at a western cafe called Anokhi, which was a nice change of pace. It was good to get some raw veggies and non-spicy food, especially since I wasn't feeling well. After that we went to the shop connected to the cafe, which had good quality textiles, clothing and decor, but for western prices. I bought two cloth-covered journals and some bandanas, but Scott and I resisted the urge to buy one of their comfy patterened quilts. We then went downstairs to bookstore called Crosswords to see if they had any crossword puzzles...which they did not. Talk about false advertising!

The next day, our last in Jaipur, we stayed at the hotel all day because we didn't feel like venturing out into the dust and wanted to take it easy. I spent most of the day blogging and skyping with my family, but we also met some friendly folks from New Zealand with whom we chatted for awhile. Around 11:00 p.m., the owner of our hotel drove us to the train station free of charge, which was nice of him. The station turned out to be packed with people, mostly high-school and college aged. There were very few foreigners on our platform, and we found ourselves surrounded by herds of Indian students, who we were informed were from remote villages all over India and were only in town to take exams and, apparently, raise hell. A local told us that every year around this time the students flood into Jaipur, vandalizing public property, sitting on top of trains, and, in our case, harassing tourists. As soon as we set our packs down to wait for our train, a huge crowd of these students, as well as other Indians, gathered around us in a semi-circle simply to stare at us. Supposedly, in India it's not considered rude to stare, but these kids were pointing and laughing, and there were so many of them that we became not only anxious and uncomfortable, but eventually angry. One guy came over to us to explain that they didn't know any better, but, though his intentions seemed good, he kind of defended their behavior and didn't try to ask them to stop.

After dealing with the staring and snickering for almost an hour, I did something very rare for me. I stood up, went over to the group's ring leader, got about an inch away from his face (at which time he realized I was about a head taller than him), and began yelling at him to leave us alone. I wasn't exactly proud of this, but it seemed to do the trick because he and his posse left after that. The staring continued, but our train arrived soon enough, and we were able to "seek refuge" in our berth. Once I got situated and calmed down after feeling as if I were a caged zoo animal, I was able to fall asleep and get a full night's rest. I woke up at 10:00 a.m. and looked out the window to see the desert stretching in all directions, and at 11:30 a.m. we arrived in Jaisalmer.

Lesson learned: Ignorance is all around us. Try not to sweat the small stuff, however uncomfortable it may make you feel. Better to keep your cool than to get worked up and take things personally.

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