Hello and greetings from Jodphur, Rajasthan!
I am in a great mood today as we have spent the morning
riding bicycles and trekking in the Rhao Doa Desert Rock Park! I am feeling healthy and energized which is a
bit of a change from the past few days.
After the Taj Mahal and the Agra Fort, Dad and I spent one more night in
Agra (the freezing cold shack with no shower).
Fortunately, I was warmer that night because I wore three jackets to
bed. A bit ridiculous, but it worked!
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| So ridiculous. |
We spent the next day driving from Agra to Jaipur. Our driver, Ramesh certainly knows how to
navigate the crazy highways and small city streets of India. We have not been hit yet, but we have seen a
few people just narrowly miss getting hit by a car. It can still be stressful to look out the
window, so I usually keep my eyes off the road.
On the way, we stopped to see a fort.
I should’ve seen it coming. The
top site in each city seems to be a fort.
Now, it is the top site along the WAY to the next city as well.
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| Along the highway, there is lots of manufacturing/industrial work happening. There is lots of work done with sandstone and marble in Rajasthan so here is a typical sight that one sees while driving. |
It was very interesting, however, because our guide was very
knowledgeable and was able to describe the life of the royalty that lived
there. It was built by a King (can’t
tell you which one because they all sound the same to me and I don’t know how
to spell any of their names). He had
three wives: A Muslim wife, a Hindu wife, and a Christian wife. Therefore, the fort was designed to
incorporate each wife’s religion. When
examining the architectural influences, it was clear that all religions were
included. It was also a BEAUTIFUL day so it was so nice to be outside for a bit rather than be in the car all day.
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| Bus ride to the fort (Dad's a little taller than the average Indian) |
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| This is where musicians used to play to entertain the King |
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| A column that shows the Hindu architecture on the top, Islamic design in the middle, and Christian symbols at the bottom |
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| Here's Dad posing with the "Revenue Building" AKA where the typical accountant would've hung out during the time of the fort |
We also were taken to a Muslim temple while we were
there. With temples often comes beggars
or people selling things. Our guides
have told us multiple times to ignore them and not give them any money. Sure, not a problem. For me.
Dad doesn’t have a problem not giving them any money, but he seems to
have a problem getting rid of them. When
they ask me to buy something, I simply say “no thank you” and keep
walking. Dad, on the other hand says
things like: “I think I’m ok” and “I’m not really interested in buying anything”. What do they hear? “Ok, buy.” And then they continue to follow us
around. It is hilarious, but also
annoying.
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| Dad's friend |
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| Another friend... |
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| ...who would just not give up! |
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| It goes on and on... |
Before arriving in Jaipur, we stopped at the “Monkey Temple”. This was a place that I was expecting to be
really cool, but it kind of just gave me the creeps. There were monkeys EVERYWHERE and the temple
seemed abandoned and there were piles of garbage everywhere. Along with monkeys, there were pigs, dogs,
and peacocks. It was overwhelming, but
definitely something interesting to see!
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| A local woman feeding the monkeys before she shoos them away with a broom |
We got to Jaipur and we were exhausted. However, we still hadn’t eaten anything for
dinner. I got a bout of stomach sickness
in Agra and Dad was still sick from before, so eating has proven to be a
difficult challenge for us. Our bodies
don’t seem to handle traditional/local food too well, so we are constantly on
the lookout for an establishment that is clean more than anything else. We had passed a McDonald’s on the way in, so
that was our destination for the night.
Not only did Dad have confidence in the cleanliness of the operations at
a McDonald’s franchise, but I always find it fun to see how the menu changes
from country to country so I try to go to a McDonald’s in each country that I
visit.
We had to walk 2 km in crazy traffic to get there, but we
made it! Of course, the only meat they
eat in India is chicken so everything on the menu was either some version of a
McChicken Burger or a Filet-o-Fish. Dad
ordered the “Maharaja Mac” which was essentially a Big Mac, but with chicken
instead of beef. Despite a man blatantly
cutting me in line and then ignoring me when I called him out, and a McFlurry
that was only ¾ full, it was a successful meal.
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| Happy Camper |
The next day, we had what felt like a million things to see
in the city. Again, we hired a guide who
took us to all the main sites. Guides
are great because there really isn’t any information at any of these sites for
tourists, so it’s hard to get anything out of it without one. However, oftentimes the sites that guides
think are amazing are not interesting at all to me.
We started off at, you guessed it, another fort. This one was “The Amber Fort” and while it
was impressive it was…well, another fort.
I understand that these forts are engineering feats since they were
built literally hundreds of years ago but I’m getting to the point where they
all look the same to me.
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| Before heading into the Amber Fort |
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| View from the inside |
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| Selfie because I was bored |
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| Gardens At The Fort |
He took us to a
few other sites like the "Window Palace" and the "Water Palace".
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| Wind Palace |
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| Water Palace |
Then took us to "Jantar Mantar". He was REALLY excited about it. It is an astrological and astronomical
observatory that was built in….whatever year it was, it was a long time
ago. To me, it just looked like a weird
Indian skate park. We stayed there for
what felt like forever as our guide described each machine in meticulous
detail. After each explanation, my eyes would glaze over and he would say, "You understand?" and then explain the same thing again. YES I understand, I just don't care. It was excruciating.
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| Sun Dial |
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| I don't know what any of these things actually do |
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| Standing next to the Sagittarius sign on one of the structures...because...that's what tourists do here. |
After that, we went into ANOTHER palace. I can’t tell you much about it except that it
was another palace. It was interesting
to an extent, but I didn’t take many photos because I was so tired of seeing forts and palaces for the day.
Literally didn't take a single photo, so let's move on.
Then, like clockwork, our guide says we need to go visit an
Indian rug factory. “Not to buy, just to
look”. YEAH RIGHT. All day I was telling him that I wasn’t
interested in seeing the “handicraft factory” which we both knew was just a
tourist trap. He brought us there
anyway. I was NOT going to go to another
rug store that is sold as a “factory”.
But, Dad said “yes” (he REALLY wanted to see how they make the rugs by
hand so there we were.
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| Dad getting to see the process in a random building on the side of the road |
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| Showing us where they wash the carpets. |
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| Front row seat to the action |
Of course after the “factory tour”, we were brought into a
room full of rugs where we had to hum and haw and pretend we were remotely
interested in buying anything. It was
very awkward (as it always is) and at this point, I just wanted to leave. However, they asked me to go into the back
room to look at the scarves and pashminas.
Before I had the chance to say “No thank you”, Dad said “Yeah yeah,
Annika you go do that, I’m going to go out to the car”. So, since he completely left me in the lurch
to deal with the salespeople, I DID go into the back room, and I DID buy a
pashmina with HIS credit card.
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| Before Dad left me to fend for myself |
We ate pizza that night at Domino’s and had an early
night. We both weren’t feeling great,
and the 6 hour drive the next day was no picnic. However, we are feeling better and as I said
earlier, our time in Jodphur this morning was really great. We’ll save that for the next post, though!
Sending love and hugs to you all as Christmas quickly
approaches!
A
