After an exhilarating experience at the Taj Mahal, we packed our bags, collected our very expensive laundry (which still left my pants with the sticky remnants of the chewing gum I accidentally sat on at the metro station) and ate a speedy lunch at Indian McDonald's. We drove about 45 kms outside of Agra to Fatehpur Sikri and hitched a Tuk-Tuk for 4 up the hill(I drew the short straw and had to hang out of the front seat.) We took off our shoes and covered our heads to enter the giant mosque that was built with the largest gate in the world. Unfortunately even though the mosque and the grounds were majestic, with heat and too many hawkers and supposed 'tour guides' providing an overbearing standard of harassment, we decided to surrender and make our way to the safety of our AC Tata Indigo waiting for us in the parking lot.
And so our long 7 hour journey to Jaipur began. Unable to sleep I used the drive to read ( I managed to finish my book - Shantaram which I would seriously recommend) and admire the greenery along the way. We passed through dozens of hills and mountains that were glowing with life and freshness that could only have been so after a season of rain. We eventually pulled into our sweet little guest house after a bumpy detour through the bustling city. We have been particularly lucky weather wise since leaving Delhi and it was nice to enjoy the sunset sitting on the fanned balcony inclusive of dinner, bugs, beer, geckos, two Spanish ladies and even a peacock.
It was certainly nice to have a bit of a sleep-in until 9am after the previous 3 days waking up just after dawn. Shell and I departed with Bittoo through Jaipur en route to the walled Amber city, which houses 3 major Rhajastanti forts. Unfortunately our other 2 lady loves were feeling ill and not up to the task but nevertheless we ventured off with the attitude of fun for four and not just two.
We drove through Jaipur's 'Pink City' entering through the sturdy Sanganeri gate, passing by hundreds of stalls, shops, houses, factories, the city hall and even the Window Palace which was built by Maharajah Jai Singh and is visitted frequently by Prince Charles (apparently!). Everything in the city is painted a salmon-y pink, hence the name. I was a little disappointed that were unable to walk around and enjoy the bubbly atmosphere, sadly the parking situation is nightmare and Bittoo would have been fined. But we pressed on and soon found ourselves on a winding road curving through the hills toward the Amber Valley. The tiny yet busy town is surrounded entirely by a large red sandstone wall that edges up, down and around the mountains. It is quite reminiscent of the Great Wall of China. The Fort/Palace rests on a hilltop that took almost 30 minutes of zigzagging through the cobblestone streets to find. We paid our entrance fee and began to explore the many secret passageways, tiny corridors, winding staircases and vast rooftops amidst giant pillars and marbled, bejeweled and mirrored walls of the former royal residence. It was such fun climbing through holes, running in circles and getting hopelessly lost in the fiendish maze-like design overlooking the whole of Amber from the guards watchtower. It was absolutely picturesque watching the town unfold below us and the green mountains stretching for miles around us. It took us a good half hour just to work our way through the maze to the exit where we found a couple of snake charmers. When Shell was eventually convinced to go and sit and take a picture, one of the cobras lowered itself and slithered and hissed in her direction and was quickly put back in it's basket by it's master. It was quite nerve wracking to say the least and it took a lot more convincing from the crowd and the charmer himself for me to go in. He sat me down, plonked his turban on my head and gave me a recorder-like-flute to play. He then lifted the lids of the two baskets while I attempted to play 'Mary had a little lamb.' Luckily the snakes rose up and did a bit of a dance but I was there as soon as possible. I wouldn't recommend sitting in front of a risen, hooded cobra although I guess in the end, it was an experience and I am glad I did it.
We drove out of the fort and down the hill once again and Bittoo took us to an elephant home. The elephants were feeding on large banana leaves rolled up and shredded and although they were chained by one leg, they looked as healthy as they could be considering their captivity. It was nice to feed them, pet them, talk to them and hug them. I love how expressive elephants are. One can easily tell if the elephant is content because of it's smile or if it unhappy by it's tears. There is a certain serenity elephants behold, that somehow comes with their giant exterior as well as an intelligence that is unforgivably underestimated. It was a heartwarming experience to be in the company of at least 10 such creatures.
It started to monsoon on the way back towards Jaipur city, which stopped just in time for us to see Jalhamel - the Water Palace. It is built on a lake and was used as a daytime retreat for the royal family in the times of no air conditioning and severe heat and humidity.
The next morning we woke up, packed up and drove 15km our of Jaipur to a place known as 'Galtaji' - the Monkey Temple/ Hundreds of Monkeys roam the grounds of the gorgeous ancient ruins buried in the mountains. There were also a couple of families bathing in the holy pool, the women still wearing their colorful saris , the men wrapped in a cloth that resembled a toga. It was great to watch everyone clearly having such a joyous morning, frolicking in the water. We were half tempted to jump in ourselves, especially in the sweltering heat but the thought of wet clothes in the car for another 5 hours kept our feet firmly on the ground. We hiked for about half an our up a steep incline on a stone pathway which curled up towards another temple known as the 'sun temple.' From the balcony we could see the whole of Jaipur and beyond which was a happy consolation considering our dehydrated , sweat drenched state after the climb in the blistering midday sun and air-swallowing humidity.
We made it back to the car and began our rocky ride to the small sacred town of Pushkar. The town is a holy place where no drinking, smoking or blasphemous behavior of any kind is permitted. Many of the roads along the way were either flooded or under construction and the detours through the country side were more like being in the front cart of an old, unstable roller-coaster than being enclosed in a safe vehicle. Bittoo did do his best to keep us calm by playing music mixes of Shakira, the BackStreet Boys, Ricky Martin and the Vengaboys which moved us with bumps into a minor dance party in the backseat.
Many rockpiles, ditches, puddles, 5 point turns, buffalos and near encounters with fast moving trucks later, we pulled into our hotel in Pushkar: the Pushkar Heritage. Bittoo has done a great job of finding us clean, well-priced places to stay saving us a lot of time and probably broken backs from lugging our backpacks around from place to place. We ate a quick lunch and then headed into the town. bitoo gave us a tour of a large Sikh temple and explained all the traditions and worship cycles of his religion which was very interesting. We also drank tea in the garden with some sikh gurus who work at the temple. We walked around the rest of the town doing a bit of shopping en route to the famous lake where pilgrams come to pay respects and families pray for health and happiness by tossing lotus and jasmine flower petals. It was a beautiful place but we were warned about the significant amount of phonies tring to sell us prayers, blessings and faily happiness for an even more significant amount of rupees. We slowly made our way back to the hotel and enjoyed the evening reading and writing postcards.
And so after a relaxing night in Pushkar, back in the car we climbed for our longest drive thus far, 8 hours further South to Udaipur, Rajasthan's so-called 'romantic city.' Unfortunately our lucky streak with mother-nature has come to a grinding halt and the rain has been bucketing down all night and morning, giving me time to write this update..hopefully it will dry up sometime soon so we can get a chance to see the exquisite lake and city palace - arguably one of the most beautiful settings in the country - but for now we are enjoying camping out in our little 'love-nest' room in a converted 300 year-old palace which along with what appears to be a quaint yet lively city, with colorful and vibrant people to paint the perfectly 'romantic' atmosphere that Udaipur is famous for.
Well, that's it for now..here is hoping the rain stops and our exploring can continue..
With Love,
Katie xoxo
PS: unfortunately the picture uploader is taking too long so I will post a couple on facebook instead.
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