Jaipur

We leave for the relatively short journey to Jaipur, the capital city of Rajasthan, and our last stop in the famous Golden Triangle tour. I have to confess, I had never even heard of Jaipur before last week. Famously known as “The Pink City", it was painted red by the Maharaja Ram Singh II in 1876 to welcome Prince Albert Edward the Prince of Wales, who apparently came up with the nickname and it stuck. We quickly settled into sleeping the three hour drive and before we knew it, we had arrived in another crazy Indian city!

Uncle Ravindra pulled up to a restaurant which always fills us with nerves - our hope on this journey was that the kids would have really started to put themselves out there and try some of the cultural delights around the world. But alas, if it does not have something a bit western on the menu we face huge disappointment. In Fin’s case this gets translated as forehead down on the table edge and complete silence! Ordering food has become somewhat a ‘walking on eggshell’ situation. I’m pleased to say, Uncle picked a good spot (chicken fingers were on the menu) and everyone was happy.

After lunch Ravindra was very enthusiastic about taking us to an Elephant Village, explaining that Jaipur is famous for its elephants. Drivers in India are similar to other countries in Asia, in that they are not just there to take you from A to B. They want to show you their country and culture. So with the limited understanding between us, I explained that we were worried about the welfare of the elephants and didn’t want to support anything that we may find upsetting. This was lost in translation a bit, but he assured us these elephants were people’s pets, well cared for and that we would love it.

We hesitantly arrived at the Elephant Village, with similar surroundings to a small, well kept petting farm in England, it was a pleasant surprise to see pristine chickens roaming free (also some pigeon/chicken hybrid? I am going to be looking for these when we get back home!) All fluttering around between the ground and their open coups.  We were invited to sit down around the table. As I pulled out my chair, it was already occupied by a nesting chicken sitting on her eggs. The guide gave us a brief history of how the elephants had been used for hundreds of years in India for farming and building, and in war between 1895 and 1950s by the British. The elephants here are all descendents from that era with the breeding being continued, with over 30 elephants being homed and cared for in this Elephant Village. We were offered a number of different activities, but still feeling hesitant, we opted for just one, where we painted them using organic paint, prior to a big festival that was happening the next day.  These Indian elephants are huge! So much bigger than the Sumatran elephants we spent time with in Bali. They truly are amazing. We all enjoyed painting our names - although I’m not sure I saw Fin and Sharon get close to them until it was time for the photos! We fed them about a hundred bananas and a pile of sugar cane too. You really start to see their cheeky personality and intelligence when hand feeding them. Just being close to these huge, calm creatures is a privilege. 

It’s so tricky being in these situations. By UK standards, this wouldn’t be allowed, it’s that simple. I am not sure there are many animal activists that read our blog, but I feel I must give my tuppence worth on the subject of keeping these animals. The elephants in Jaipur have been, and will continue to be, a massive part of their lives. These people have worked with these creatures for hundreds of years as part of their cultures and traditions. They work, live and eat with their owners, and are very likely better looked after than the people who are caring for them. They are ridden with consideration and care, no different to the horses we keep and ride day-in and day-out in the UK, or anywhere around the world. When you are walking the streets and seeing how humans are treated here, that also wouldn’t be allowed in the UK. It's true they bring an income stream but this is how they are supporting their families.  It’s very difficult, they are living a very different life over here that you can’t compare to UK standards, and we do feel they are doing the best with the knowledge they have here and following the traditions of hundreds of years.

Checking into the Laxmi Palace Hotel in Jaipur was as luxurious as it sounds (once you get past the dirty, dusty streets that is) - Mr Singh had surpassed himself. We were welcomed with a drink of mango juice and shown to our rooms just steps away from the lovely outdoor pool with poolside bar no less. We fully relax and wonder why we have a full day tour booked for 9am the next day! 

After a fantastic night's sleep, we reluctantly get ready to attack the day and embrace the city of Jaipur with a new guide for the day. I had already rehearsed my lines of.. “we don’t want to visit anywhere that is just selling us souvenirs”  and “we will probably just do a half day as we have to pack for the flight” and “we want time to relax at our nice hotel”. Needless to say I may have well said this to a brick wall! Paris, our new guide for the day, nodded his friendly Indian head wobble and agreed with the look of, “that’s not what I have planned for you” on his face, while whisking us off to our first stop at Hawa Mahal to tell us the history of this place, known as the palace of the winds with its many windows.

Trying to take back some control, I mentioned that one of our bucket list items of India was to see a snake charmer, so we were thrilled when Paris said he knew just the spot and made this the first stop on our tour. Yes, yes and yes! Just across the moat to the City Palace, there was a small gathering of people, and as we got out of the car we saw two men with small baskets, resembling one of Sharon’s wicker handbags at home. They were wearing the traditional Jaipur Pagri and waved us over. Poppy and I jumped at the chance, with the others standing hesitantly in front of us as they laid out a small dirty matt and instructed us to sit. As they started their tunes on their pungi instrument, the baskets slowly opened as the well-trained cobras sprung out! Apparently de-fanged and de-venomed, these cobras were still absolutely terrifying, staring straight into our eyes, completely mesmerising. Poppy was as cool as a cucumber, I on the other hand had got off my bum and onto the balls of my feet ready for a quick escape. If the demon serpent tried to lunge, I was out of there! The charmers were a little haphazard for my liking so thankfully, after declining the opportunity to hold them around our neck, it was all over very quickly. Bucket list activity ticked, we tell Paris we’re ready to set off to the palace - far safer! 

The road up to the palace winds through the old city buildings. The feeling is not unlike the back streets of Delhi, just cleaner and less poverty. I didn’t really emphasise this enough in the Delhi blog, still caught up in the whirlwind ourselves, but half of the city is homeless. People, families, elderly, young, children, everyone are out living, eating and sleeping on the streets at every hour of the day. Whole communities are out there, just part of the life in Delhi. With Delhi’s population at 33 million, it’s unlike anything we have ever seen anywhere in the world. Jaipur still had it’s share of poverty and homelessness, but with a population of 3 million, this was on a much smaller scale.

Paris takes up through alleyways filled with goats, and past derelict Hindu temples; unbelievably each of the Mughal rulers over hundreds of years ordered the temples to be destroyed. It was simply impossible to fully destroy all of these solid stone carved masterpieces so they proceeded to smash the faces of any Hindu gods on the temples, meaning the temples could no longer be used for worship deeming them worthless and unusable.  

City Palace was incredible. India has really surprised us with its architecture. The size and detail in their construction so many years ago is staggering. City Palace was built for the king and his 12 wives; he cleverly constructed secret passageways between his quarters and each of the wives' rooms. This was to ensure that there was no jealousy between them if he was to spend more time with one or the other. I have to say, it sounds like a very tiring, expensive business being the King of Rajasthan, not for me! We made our way round the beautiful building and taking in so much information from Paris - from the engineering behind the winter side of the palace, lined with beautiful mirrored pieces set in the ceiling to reflect the heat and light from the oil lamps; to the summer side with its cool water fountain that runs through the stone floor keeping the temperature down when it reaches the high 40s. Seriously impressive and beautiful. The kids have heard enough, and while they are still being polite, we notice they have all decided between them to ‘flick the bird’ in each family picture Paris is kindly taking of us! I wonder who was the ringleader of that? (FLOSS)

Their attention heightens again as Paris explains that the king only employed eunuchs as his guards. Some who were born that way and others who chose to be in order to work for the King. They all enjoyed that science/biology lesson and are interested enough to google to answer further questions when we get back to the hotel!

We leave the City Palace in time for a quick stop at the Jal Mahal, or the Water Palace, another amazing structure built in the middle of a man-made lake for the King to use as a summer retreat for him and his guests. Over the years the water level in the lake has risen and the five-storey building now stands with the first 3 floors fully submerged. It is now closed to the public, which seems such a shame for such an impressive landmark, but we managed to tempt only Poppy out for a photo of this beautiful place.  

Despite my clear instructions not to be taken to a seller’s shop, Paris tempted us with a completely ‘unpressurised’ experience of a textiles factory that would not disappoint. With Indian textile tradition being the oldest in the world it’s hard not to be impressed turning up at a factory and immediately we were hooked. The visit started with the kids being asked to all take part in a textile print of an elephant, with an explanation into natural printing using plant-based dyes like indigo, turmeric and marigold. Taking part in traditional block printing, they all worked together to create an elephant pattern on a piece of cotton and were all loving the art lesson. Meanwhile, the man is explaining to us how they supply UK shops such as Anthropologie and Hermes. I’ve never heard of either but can already see in Sharon’s eyes she’s getting hooked. The Indian culture has the best selling tactic of anywhere we’ve been in the world - luring you in, getting you engaged, and increasingly enthusiastic about anything they want to sell. We were taken inside for a drink of my new favourite drink, masala chai, and I was still naively thinking this was going to be a tedious hour of our lives we would never get back. How wrong I was! We sat down across a cosy sofa while two sellers with arms full of soft sheets began unfolding them and throwing them out across our legs, explaining as they went about the difference in qualities of the fabrics. I’m not sure if this just had a satisfying rhythm to it, or if it reminded the kids of being under the duvet in our bed as we made it, with the feel of clean, fresh cotton wafting down on us, whatever the reason we were all loving it. We oohed and aahed our way through about thirty different sheets, totally sucked into the sales spiel. All I can say is, it goes against all the mirror talk I had with myself earlier that morning, but we will all really enjoy our new bed sheets when we get home! 

After lunch (at thankfully the same restaurant we were at yesterday) we drew our tour to an end. Paris had informed us that evening was the Gangaur Festival, apparently a significant celebration in Rajasthan with the streets closed for a colourful parade, and insisted we visit.  We nodded and agreed that we would go and fortunately the kids were on board too. After a quick rest and turnaround, we glanced over our shoulders as we were climbing into a tuktuk, and couldn’t help thinking we were missing out on the nicest hotel we had been in for quite some time! Paris had pointed out the area that is cordoned off for foreign tourists to sit and watch the parade - involved in the magic, but not quite leaning out on top of buildings like the locals! Sharon and I, both still with mild PTSD from our solo Delhi encounters, were determined to overcome any difficult situations and show calm and confidence in front of the kids. The tuk tuk dropped us at the road closure, about a five-minute walk from the starting point. As we made our way down the road lined with Indian spectators the atmosphere was great and, while we definitely stood out like a sore thumb with lots of eyes following us to the foreigners section, there was none of the hassle and overwhelm we experienced in Delhi - thank God. It was like nothing we’ve ever seen, the streets were packed, people were packed on buildings, on top of the roofs, verandas, and hanging out of windows, and there was still an hour to go till the start. We reached the right section which was set on a raised staging with plastic chairs and space for maybe a few hundred tourists. It was great, we were welcomed to sit and enjoy the festival, with the voice on the speaker system welcoming foreign tourists and encouraging everyone to take photos and videos and spread the word that Jaipur is a vibrant and wonderful place. Indian culture is one of pride. They love to show off the extravagance of their country. Not through wealth or riches but from the culture point of view and it's definitely richer than any country we have been in. 

As the crowds unbelievably grew even bigger, so did the excitement.  The festival parade started with marching bands and dancers in colourful dresses, extravagant jewellery and showing off traditional routines. Smiles were beamed all around. Then came the camels dressed in traditional robes ridden by Indian soldiers proudly waving their swords in the air and calling to the crowds. Every part of the parade made a significant effort to direct themselves towards us and the other tourists and crowds; they clearly indulged in it and so did we. Then the elephants we were with yesterday, now with their nails and trunks painted and extra adornments, were ridden by their enthusiastic owners, guiding them to take tips from the public with their trunks and pass it back to them, what a spectacle. Horses, followed by cows pulling carts, music from drummers and trumpet players and more dancers. Sharon voices what I’m thinking - this feels like something we would read about later in the news, with elephants, camels, horses and cows all with the ability to cause a massive stampede. The crowd is dense and the term “disaster waiting to happen” has never felt so real. Oh well, we are here for it! With smiles on our faces, cheering and clapping along with the rest of the population of Jaipur! With a model of Lord Shiva bringing up the rear of the procession, as crazy as it started the procession passes, and everyone begins to follow it down the road praying to Lord Shiva, apparently for marital bliss and good fortune. 

The procession is heading in the same direction as the hotel. With the roads still closed and no sign of tuktuks yet, we decide to follow on with the crowds. It very soon becomes apparent that we are the next best thing to look at, nevermind their Lord Shiva. We had waving and cheering from the rooftops as we walked through the streets, which Poppy was delighted in returning with a wave similar to that of the Queen of England, and a steady gathering of people around us. Now, the girls have inevitably drawn attention with their red and blonde hair and light skin and in our short time here we know and understand this is mainly all in good taste. A lot of the attention comes with conversations or selfies with all family members so we just smile and go along with it like local celebrities. The panic however began to start as we were quite literally surrounded by the huge crowd and, well-meaning or not, wow this was intense. Photo after photo with eager Indians wanting to make new British friends, and with Phoebe and Floss very quickly surrounded by young men, I was glad to spot a police 4x4 so start to push through the crowds for some safety and space. As we reached the car, I made eye contact with the officer inside, gave him a relieved smile and gestured to say we are standing here for a break and some safety, hoping he would understand the overwhelm we were experiencing. With the selfies still being taken and us still being surrounded on every side, squashed against the police car, the officer waves us to come closer and shows us his phone screen. To our surprise, we see he has video-called his wife and is proudly telling us she can speak English, encouraging us to talk with her. After a couple of minutes of disbelief, we had no choice but to try and continue walking to our hotel, literally pushing through the throng of people, desperately searching for a tuktuk once the road opened again.  That couldn’t come quick enough. Finally, Sharon spots one after another five to ten minutes walking that felt like an hour, we all head towards it and jump in without the need for negotiation - let's get out of here!! The ride home should have been a five minute journey but it took over twenty minutes with the crazy amounts of crowds, traffic and road closures. Finally in the safety of the tuk tuk, we were able to enjoy the sights and craziness of the city in disbelief of what just happened. I have to say, we love India and the biggest shame is that it is just impossible for us to blend in and enjoy the moment.  

Needless to say, reaching the hotel was a total relief and after a cold drink next to the pool, sitting under the new crescent moon of Eid al-Fitr marking the end of Ramadan, and laughing about what had just happened, we began to pack for the 6am check out... India slows down for no one, Goa please be kind to us!