Jaipur, Rajasthan

Jaipur

I could only get Luke out of the house if he was colour coordinated. As you can see it was a great success

Jaipur was our second stop on our Indian adventure. Known for its forts, palaces, bazaars and it’s annual kite festival. Jaipur is also the capital of Rajasthan (I’m pretty sure).

Have you even been to India if you don't get a picture with one of the amazing doors?

I read somewhere (so it must be true) that India has the third largest railway in the world (only second to Russia and China) and I’m not surprised because getting from one town to another could not be easier using the train lines. As soon as we got to Jaipur (2.40 AUD) we went directly to the reservation office to buy tickets for the next leg of our journey. Being a tourist you can jump the queue and get seen almost immediately. Which I feel bad about but also it is insanely convenient. You can also reserve tickets online from 120 days to 4 hours before your journey but we found it easier doing it in person. 

Side note: There is an insanely great app called ixigo trains which gives you all the information about trains you could possibly want.  It updates you on which carriage you will be getting on and where at the train station to wait (which is helpful as the trains only stop for 2 minutes and everyone is fighting to get on and off at the exact same time). It also gives you live updates on where you are and what time your train will arrive (which is helpful because then you know where to get off at). Very helpful.

Can't help it. I am in love with all of the colours of India

Anyway, once we booked our tickets we got a tuk tuk to our accomodation Nahargarh Palace Hotel which was a fair way out of town. This was nice as we didn’t get hassled by any street vendors or shop keepers as it wasn’t in a touristy area.  Our hotel had a great rooftop space where you could get reasonably priced and delicious food. Although I probably wouldn’t recommend staying there as it was fairly expensive and I’m sure you could get more bang for your buck elsewhere. What was good though was you could gaze up at  Nahargarah Fort  whilst chilling out on the roof.

The following day Luke and I slept in. And I mean until 12pm. This is SO OUT OF CHARACTER. So we must have needed it.. or just felt particularly lazy that day, either or. This meant that we didn’t quite get to all the tourist sites (not that we minded) and only went to the ones that we wanted to.

Hawa Mahal in her original glory (amazing how they had air conditioning back in the day)

This included Hawa Mahal which is part of the royal palace. It was specifically designed as a building the women could sit and watch the royal events that occurred on the street below #equalrights.  You can pay 2 AUD pp to go inside- which we actually did. Mainly due to the fact that we didn’t realise if we went to the other side you could see the famous windows from the street. The best view is from the building across the road. Which you can just go up take a photo and leave or like us stay and have some food. 

Hawa Mahal, The view from the free side

Hawa Mahal, the not so free side

After that we walked back, and managed not to get run over. Whilst dodging traffic, dogs and cows we unfortunately were walking with one really evil guy who was super creepy and was hitting the dogs with a stick for no reason. Sad face. 

Standard back street, all of these vehicles are moving, you will notice they are all going different directions, on a straight road.

As I’m sure most people realise cows are sacred here in India. And dogs are definitely not. Cows are not skittish in the slightest. They can navigate the traffic and cross roads way better than Luke and myself. And you have to navigate around them because if they don’t want to move, they won’t. Where as the dogs won’t come near you as they are super scared of you (basically the reverse to Australia). Just like the human population there are some cows and dogs that get looked after and eat really well. And there are some in less than desirable conditions begging for food. Cows will literally come up to you whilst you are eating and wait patiently just like our dogs do in Australia to be given food. This was a huge reinforcer to me as to why I don’t eat meat (carcass) because it is just our prejudice and culture that sees some animals (dogs and cats) as impossible of eating whilst other animals (lamb, cows, and pigs) as less than or stupid so we should eat them. When really they all have souls, they all share pain and they all want to live. And when I am in a fortunate enough position to choose what I can eat, and live a happy healthy life without eating these individuals, why wouldn’t I? The less hate and the more love we can share seems better to me. Treat others as you want to be treated right?   

Unfortunately Luke doesn't normally run with his hands in the air. There is a kite above his head (if you look really closely you may even see it)

When we got back from our walk we went up to the roof where Luke found a kite. There were kids on the top of every building, as far as the eye could see, playing with kites practicing for the kite festival in a few days time.  So we thought we should give it a go. It was hard. But as you can see Luke Barry was having the time of his life. When the little boy who’s kite it was came to get it back (spoil sport) we went for a walk to watch the sunset at the fort.

This is as high as I could get my kite. Life's hard sometimes.

On the walk up we have never been asked to have so many selfies in our life. Our rule is, if the people are friendly and don’t give you bad vibes then we say yes. If they have been following you, are acting strange and then ask you for a photo (which funnily enough happened) we say no. Just like everywhere there are plenty of beautiful kind people with a few less than desirables thrown in the mix.

After Jaipur we were on the road to Pushkar, which is one of the most religious sites and pilgrimages in India. 

We’ll let you know how it goes!

Love,

Claire and Luke (Luke, relaxing at our new favourite cafe German Bakehouse as I wrote this so he counts as a co-author too right?) 

Luke enjoying his spirulina coconut water, what a hippy.