To Jaipur

We left the Taj Mahal on Saturday, 11 June. We were to make our way to Jaipur through the Rajistani desert. The temperature was about 50C but it was probably my favorite car ride anyway. We developed this habit of every morning condensing all of our partially drank water bottles down to 1 or 2. This would be enough to get us to the nearest place that sold water. Some places upon seeing a foreigner would double or triple the price of water but the normal price is 15Rps per bottle.

By this point I think we were finally coming to realize the true value of the Rupee. We were also getting pretty good at haggling. I think it is mostly about how much confidence you exude. If they could sense your lack of fear (if that's possible) then they would be more willing to drop the price. So with lack of fear we could sometimes get three bottles of water for 40Rps.

I always tried not to think about how cheap things were. In Canada we pay $1 for 500ml. In India 15Rps(=30cents) would get you 1L. If I thought too much about the cheap cost, and combined it with the realization that most people make only a few Rupees per day, then I felt that I was open to be taken advantage of. I remember at times paying 100Rps for a bottle of water (the same price as in Canada)!

So we made our way through the desert, the AC kicking on and off, and at some point passed through the Rajistani toll booth. When Red Rose opened the window a wave of heat washed through the car giving us a refreshing 2nd degree burn. I think that the toll booth operator tried to take advantage of our driver because they saw us in the car.

Amber Fort in Jaipur behind Mark and Connie.

About 30 minutes after the toll we stopped in a little village to pay the local highwayman. While our driver paid the machine gun toting guys a man walked over to the car with a bunch of necklaces. They were kind of pretty so I opened the door (much to Connie's and Mark's disapproval) and tried to barter him down to 3 necklaces for 200Rps. He originally asked 300Rps each. I got him down to 3 for 300Rps but he held his ground there saying "This is my first job! I am good luck!". I think given more time I would have bought them for 300Rps. They were actually nice. One was carved camel bone, one was green malachite, and one was something purple and smooth.

Watering hole.

Before long we were on the road again. After another 2h our driver asked us if we'd like to see something off of our normal route. Yes please! He took us to this ancient watering temple. He got a local villager man who knew a speck of English to tour us through the temple. Though it was super hot this was one of my favorite sights. It wasn't too large of a temple but it was old and stood for a common cause among the long gone people of India.

The watering hole was a staircase that went down 19 stories (not full skyscraper stories) and at the bottom water sat. Even in the typical heat of the desert the water stayed or was refreshed by some other source. On one side of the square well there were a labyrinth of rooms and tunnels. I felt somewhat like Indiana Jones mucking around amongst the ruins. I actually tried pushing on odd look stones that protruded from the walls hoping that one would open a secret door. Apparently there was an underground tunnel that lead from there for 25km away from the well (though I don't know where it surfaces).

As we were leaving mark tipped the local 100Rps. We felt bad for under tipping the Taj Mahal guide, and this villager probably needed the money more. Apparently there is a zoo around there too that we could have visited but the driver convinced us to head on to Jaipur.

Snake Charmer. I saw the snake bite him and he didn't
 even blink. He must have defanged the poor snake!

The closer we got to Jaipur the more hilly the region got until finally ahead of us lay this grand wall of rock. Jaipur is nestled in a valley surrounded by high hills on all sides. It reminded me of Hollywood however the other two couldn't see it. We stopped at the entrance to Jaipur to see the Queen's Gardens. While the other two saw it, I chose to go for a walk up the road and look at the landscape around there.

Off in the distance we saw a Hindu Temple situated at the peak of a mountain with a long winding staircase leading up to it. I asked our driver about it and he said to climb up would take 2 hours and lots of water. I don't think he wanted to do it. Not in the heat anyway. I didn't really care if he wanted to come or not. He could stay at the bottom. But once we got into the real Jaipur city I saw that there was an even higher temple with an even longer staircase so the first one was washed from my mind.

Camel doing a horses's job.

We probably drove for another hour within the city looking for our hotel and our driver had to ask for directions a few times. When we finally got the hotel we decided to stay in for the night since it was already late.

In the lobby it said there was a puppet show on the roof during dinner so we had dinner up there. Dinner was not the best we'd had so far. The puppeteer (age:22) came to talk to us. He told us a sad story of his life and how he could not read or write and how his family passed down the puppetry art from generation to generation. He also showed me a list of places he had played at (including for BBC). I was kind of excited to see him perform. He said he'd play after we ate. So I guess that meant he would awkwardly hover over our shoulder until we finished.

When we finally finished he did his performance which was about 5 minutes long and he made a puppet wiggle across the stage a few times to the beat of the top song in the country at the time. It was way below expectations and Mark later claimed he could do better.

The guy then gave us each a puppet as a "gift" and said that he enjoyed our audiences. Mark got really awkward at this point. I nearly burst out laughing! He thought the show was utterly disappointing and wasn't going to tip him, and he couldn't keep the puppet though it was a gift. It was so funny to watch him try to explain to the guy that he couldn't accept this gift all the while the guy tried to convince him that it really was a gift.

Big palace in Pink City.

Mark just couldn't take a 400Rps gift from a poor kid. I kept mine and tipped him 30Rps (I borrowed 20 from Mark). He was really disappointed to only get 30Rps but his show sucked and the puppet was a gift so I think I over tipped him. We later saw these puppets on sale in the market for 100Rps (which means we could have bartered them down to 40Rps) so I was happy I didn't give him more than I did.

The next day (Sunday 12 June) we ate breakfast at the hotel, and were greeted by our driver with a fellow who was going to tour us around Jaipur. We had asked our driver the day before not to get us a tour guide for Jaipur because we were poor students and didn't want to chip out a tip.

Anyway, we didn't want to send him away. He took us to see this big palace thing in the Pink City, which is a small part of Jaipur where the buildings are all pink (or light orange). I saw a snake charmer there. We only stayed there for 3 minutes or so.

Good job elephant for
pooping on that hat guy!

Mark and Connie on an Elephant.

Then we went to the Amber Fort and took elephants up to the top. This was pretty fun. Apparently the elephants live in villages around Jaipur and have to walk to Jaipur early in the morning so they can walk tourists up a big hill all day. I didn't see a water pool for them anywhere! There was this guy walking beside my elephant trying to sell me a hat. I said no but he kept pestering me. Then my elephant went to the bathroom spraying the guy with pee and flecking him with feces!

Elephants and their trainers.
Give them water!

We met a few Spanish ladies on the elephants and at the top of the Amber Fort we met up and talked a while eventually exchanging info. The elephant driver asked for a tip! I said if he gave the elephant water he could have one but he didn't seem to understand so he didn't get a tip.

World's Largest Sun Dial! Was 11:56.

Then we went to the ancient astronomy observatory. Our guide sat in the shade while we walked around! Some guide! There were really big sun dials there and some neat stone structures that apparently tell astrological things. At the time the sun was in the Gemini position.

Later we went to suit shop and we spent about 2 hours there. I had already wanted to get a suit tailored for me while in India so I was serious in my haggling. In the end I got to choose the best fabric and cut for 4100Rps, down from 7000Rps (and I also got some Alibaba pants thrown in with the deal). Mark was on the verge of getting a suit but couldn't find a fabric he liked except for a grey striped one which was very boardmeetingesque.

Showing us how prints are made on the material.
This one's for Ainsley.

Later we went to another textile shop (Jaipur is famous for its textiles) where we considered buying a silk comforter duvet for our beds back home. Connie chose a massive quilt instead, made by women in the countryside from donated old embroidered dresses. Something like this would be worth around $500 (probably more) in Canada! She was terrible at haggling, lol,  and her only tactic for lowering the price was saying that it would cost her money to dry clean it when she got home to Canada. The merchant was selling it for 8000Rps. He offered as low as 5000Rps but she said no. Meanwhile Mark picked out a duvet priced at 4800Rps. I chose nothing. We left and said we'd think about it and come back tomorrow.

We probably under tipped that tour guide that day.

Jaipur from up high.

In the afternoon we visited a temple at the foot of the long staircase up the mountain that I had seen earlier (the higher temple). Me and Mark bought some water and decided we would make the ascent while Connie and our driver waited below and visited the ground temple.

On the staircase to the Hindu Temple

We nearly died on the way up (it was so damn hot and Mark is really out of shape!) We stopped at two places on the stair case and rested. The whole city lay beneath us. The air was so hazy that the far distance seemed to blend into a sea of mist.

At the top we rested in some shade and drank some water. Then we toured around the temple grounds (we weren't allowed in) and took some pictures. The way down was just as hard.

Where we sat spending hours bartering
for our duvet and quilt.

We went back the the textile shop the next day. I had a plan. I thought I might like a duvet too so when we went back the next day I chose out one too. I asked how much for all 3 and we got him down to 11,200Rps. A great deal from Connie's perspective though she still complained it was too high. We split it 3 ways.

Our last moment in Jaipur with Red Rose.

We only had a few hour's left in Jaipur (our flight to Pune was at 19:35) so we had some lunch, saw another temple, and made our way to the airport. During lunch we discussed how much to tip Red Rose. We decided that we should each tip him individually and so when it came time to say good bye we each said goodbye and offered him our thanks and a tip. We got a picture with him and got his email address.

And that's Jaipur.