Jaipur, India

We arrived at the train station about midday and took some Tuktuks to our accomodation in Jaipur. Our guide, Jai, had bought us some street food to try. We had samosa and Chulia, they were both types of curry vegetables in pastry.
After lunch, we headed out to the old town of Jaipur. After a British documentary named Jaipur as India’s ‘pink city’, it has become a popular tourist destination along the golden triangle route. To avoid the crowds and inflated prices, our guide took us to a local market in the old town of Jaipur. The merchants in these stalls sold everything from giant sacks of spices and tea to brightly coloured, hand printed fabric and gold jewellery. We spent an hour battling through the crowds and taking in the senses.

Next, we went to a Bollywood film at Raj Mandir theatre. This theatre was named one of the top ten most beautiful theatres in the world and I would say, sat around 1000 people! We watched a movie called Pathaan, which was much like Missions Impossible except the characters would occasionally break out in song. This movie experience was unlike anything we would experience in the western world. People would call out, whistle and I heard that sometimes they even stand up and dance. Jai told us that people save up for a special occasion to visit the theatre, so everyone was very excited to be there. It was a great experience.

After the movie, we visited a rooftop bar for dinner and drinks. The views over Jaipur were beautiful and there were lots of fireworks as well.

Day 2:
After breakfast at the hotel, we visited the Amber Fort. This huge monument was built by both Hindu and Mogul rulers. The fort what both innovative and creative in design and function. We learnt about the life of the king and more interestingly the queen, who, after being married, was no longer able to leave the walls of the palace. Many of the rooms were built just for her, including a sauna room, artificial rain and the most beautiful hand painted and sculptured walls. Although I have visited this fort before, it was great to return to learn more about this areas interesting history.

After visiting the fort, we popped into a jewellery store. Jaipur is famous for its precious and semi-precious jewels as well as hand-printed fabrics. The jewellery store had so much gemstone jewellery at very reasonable prices. Although I was tempted with the sapphire rings, I decided against a purchase but really enjoyed browsing the store. Then, we visited a hand printing shop, where we watched a demonstration and did our own hand printing.

To end the day, we did a Indian cooking class. I would call this more of a demonstration as it was less interactive that the classes we have previously done. Nonetheless, we enjoyed learning about the techniques and ingredients in traditional cooking and really enjoyed the meal that was cooked.Read more