Jaipur

Agra was the only tour outside of Delhi where Kavi and I were on our own. Our next trip was an overnight to Jairpur, India’s “pink city”. This time we got a driver and Kavi’s fufferji (uncle) came along. I spent most of the car ride through Haryana and Rajasthan taking pictures of the backs of trucks, and later as we approached Jaipur I got shots of camels and their carts padding along beside us. Rajasthan’s climate was much more desert, and we felt the heat by nine in the morning. The land on either side of the road was dry and dusty, and everyone on the road had their heads covered as a shield from the heat. I, of course, forgot to put on sunblock for the day. So my left arm that was leaning out the window for pictures was pink before we even got to Jaipur. Oops. This was the visit where I got my flip-flop tan, and my lips were blistered within a few hours. It was hot in Jaipur.

But we had a great time. We stopped first at a palace where we got to ride an elephant up to the palace. Awesome! It sprayed water up at us a few times as we made the climb, and the elephant driver (?) gave his token English response: “air conditioning”. We toured for a long time all day, and I will post more when I have time to write about the spots we saw.

We took a nap after all of our outside touring, and then headed to our entertainment for the night. It was a mock Rajasthani village where the admission was ridiculous and the staff was dressed in traditional garb. I was convinced it was set up for non-resident Indians who were afraid to take their kids to an actual village but who wanted them to have a village experience. It was so campy it was great. We saw young girls dancing on a stage who knew that asking the crowd to join them would make everyone smile. We saw a magician who got a bird to come out a shoe. There was a henna artist and a masseuse. We could buy tea or (in the ancient tradition) snow cones. There was a wooden ferris wheel and a merry-go-round. We got our fortunes told (I’m going to live until I’m 90. I am very lucky, but I cannot be lazy. I’m going to get married late and have two kids. I like people so I should do something that is creative and lets me work with people like theatre or – accounting.) There were shops with great stuff with English misprinted on it. I found two keychains: “It’s for you my brother like friend” and “Friend are like soul male”. I was highly entertained.

We could have ridden another elephant, but we opted for a camel instead. Camels are awesome for so many reasons. They have such a goofy, uninterested look to them. They walk around like they couldn’t care what they’re doing, and when they’re chilling they seem so content. And it is fun to get on and off of them. Kavi and I rode one together, and the camel gets up and down front-end first. So I was soaring in the air long before Kavi had left the ground, and I came crashing down with Kavi’s head banging into my back after the front had grounded. Kavi’s fufferji tried to get a picture of us on the camel, but all he got were our heads thrown back yelping as we came down suddenly. It’s an awesome picture.

They provided us dinner but berated me for my English, and they filled our plates every time they came by even if we said no. The food was okay, but it was more the experience of sitting cross-legged on the floor and using bowls and plates made from leafs. To help with digestion, we found the long wooden slide and ended our night skidding through red clay. Then we headed back to the hotel to sleep off sunburn and our very full stomachs.

The next morning we shopped. Our guide took us to a government emporium, and by this point Kavi and I were wise to the ways of commission and indoor shopping. Kavi’s fufferji was also pissed with the guide for taking us there. So he apologized and took us to a string of stores that had fabrics with the regional block printing. I found some placemats and a great purse. I bargained and got the price down a lot through banter with the owner, but in the end the price wasn’t what I wanted. It was the only time I regretted not paying more than I wanted for something because the purses were cute! Oh well, it happens.

Afterwards we headed to a monkey temple, which was cool at first. We got some peanuts, and at the entrance some cute monkeys took the food from our hands. We threw shells on the ground and they came up to snack. We had been warned all along against red-faced monkeys, and as we headed closer to the temple, we saw some to avoid. But they are feisty! The temple had some holy water that boys were dive-bombing and cannon-balling into, and it seemed like a party for the monkeys. They directed us up some stairs to another temple area, and then the monkeys came out. Probably twenty came out when they saw the bag. They advanced toward me, looking at my eyes as they moved. I threw peanuts away from me so they would go toward the shells. But they saw the bag and kept coming. Yikes. There were red-faced ones who looked hungry. I did not want to be eaten by monkeys in a desert in India. They came up to me quickly, and just as quickly Kavi’s fufferji grabbed the bag and started emptying on the ground. Finally we all got so panicked that we just sprayed out all of the nuts and dropped the bag on the ground. And we hustled down the steps. I never thought I would be so afraid of monkeys, but that was probably the most terrified I got the whole time I was in India. Those holy monkeys were too smart and too hungry to be friendly.

Our goodbye to the temple was our goodbye to Jaipur. We left at the hottest part of the day to go back in a car where the air conditioning had unexpectedly stopped working just before we left. So I dozed and sweated and listened to music and looked at trucks as we left the dessert and headed back to Delhi.