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Published: January 11th 2017
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The days are busy and the jet lag still a problem so I'm finally able to start catching up on the last two days of travels. We left Delhi early Sunday morning and traveled a total of 8 hours to Jaipur. It's really only 250 miles but the roads are crazy and often slow, lines at tolls were long, and we made a couple of stops along the way. Now that I'm out, I realize it's good to be out of Delhi. The country that you see along the road is very different and certainly unique...from the decorated trucks, to the cows and bulls on the road and along it, the sights kept the trip from being boring. People packed intp pick ups and old buses seem to find the Americans on the tour bus as interesting as we find them. India has so many sides to it. Along the way there were many new high rises for offices and apartments but there was also extreme poverty and dirty dirt paths in front of local shops. Mustard (for oil) fields were plentiful and in bloom and and as we got closer to Jaipur mountains appeared. Before going to our hotel, we
had two stops. The first was to a place that polishes gems and sells jewelry. Not my kind of stop but there are some shoppers in this group. Next we went to the Old City and had some time to walk through the bazaar streets. At first it was intimidating ( I found myself letting Rochelle lead the way) but then it was fun. The hawkers are everywhere and very persistent. I'm getting better at avoiding eye contact and just walking but mostly I find them funny and smiling only encourages them! We met the group back at a spot that had great chai masala tea...that was delicious. Then the adventure of crossing a main street to get back to the bus...checking in and dinner that included some delicious local dishes from this area of Rajastan.
The next day was full of touring and adventures. We started off riding an elephant to the Amber Fort, built in the 1500. The Amber Palace on the mountain was the home of Maharajas and their families. The ride up was a lot of fun. I thought I'd feel guilty having read that elephants used this way aren't treated well. Our guide said
the government is regulating their care these days. I hope he's right but it was a fun experience. The view and surrounding mountains are incredible. The Fort and Palace, with its mirrored mosaic tiles and intact structures was fascinating. We spent a couple of hours exploring. One theme that keeps emerging in the guide's explanations is how women were treated and viewed through history in India. Many places have screened walls, behind which women could look out to see what was going on in the streets. In the Palace, the Maharaj had his choice of women and called on the one he wanted. There were discrete passageways so others didn't know which one he chose. And even now, on the streets and in businesses, I feel like we're predominately seeing men. And the beggers in the street are often women, many with children. 😞
For the rest of the day in Jaipur, we toured and had lunch at City Palace and viewed an Observatory with sun dials, etc.from a very long time ago. I don't know more than that cause my attention was done by the time we got there. Rochelle and I had an adventure of our own,
taking a 'taxi'(3 wheeled, open sided small vehicle) to look for blue pottery that she was interested in. Shopping and negotiating the price of a tea pot I bought was fun but riding the taxi through rush hour traffic was exciting. I don't get how these drivers and people crossing stay alive, but we did and the driver even has able to find our hotel, which seemed a bit iffy for a while.
Onto to Agra this morning...another long bus ride but the Taj Mahal awaits!
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Robert Feder
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Trip seems very exciting
Sounds like you are having a great time.