Hello Blog Readers!
Today was our first day of sightseeing in the “pink city”,
Jaipur. Our day started off on a long drive to the Amber Palace passing the old
city section of Jaipur on the way. The old city was the second capital of
Jaipur and is the section that is painted “pink”, a terracotta red color. Our
destination, Amber Palace and Fort is situated in a protected valley was the
first capital. To travel up the steep hills to Amber Palace a ride on elephants
was required! This was THE day we had all been waiting for in our lives. The
elephants were amazing and skilled - one elephant picked up
money when thrown on the ground, while another gave its passengers a quick shower (by picking up water from the lake with its trunk).
Elephants waiting for passengers |
Amber Palace
The palace was huge with multiple sections including the
royal apartments. There were 12 sets of apartments for the 12 wives of the Maharaja (King), each with a secret staircase directly to the maharaja’s own
apartment. Clearly, the Maharaja knew how to manage his own household as well as
his kingdom. ;).
Amber Palace |
Amber Palace |
On the drive back, we made two stops. The first was at a
Hindu temple that was devoted to the Lord Krishna. The second was at a lake. In
the middle of the lake was a summer house of the royal family that was
accessible only by boat. We thought about striking it out by swimming to the
house….somehow the idea was rejected.
Summer house on the lake |
Our next destination was the Prince Albert Museum, where our
group was turned into the museum display. Sitting at the exit, we could not
have been more conspicuous. There was many requests for pictures, especially
with our tallest girls, Natalie and Emily. There were many pictures taken
without permission and lots of gawking to last a lifetime. Some awkward hugs
and many pictures later, we decided that the best way to counteract the
attention was to whip out our cameras and start taking pictures of those taking
pictures of us. Whatever the local people thought, we thought our strategy was
hilarious.
Our Paparazzi |
Awkward hugs |
Shopping
After Mumbai, this was our first chance to shop for jewelry,
clothes, textiles and handicrafts in a city famous for such things. Clearly
being a group of foreigners, we attracted some funny interactions.
Natalie went to jail?....for eating a chicken?
The conversation went like this with a shop owner who, no
surprises, asked Natalie about her height.
“How did you get so tall?”
“I ate a lot of chicken.” (Natalie not really knowing how to
answer this question)
“Did you go to jail?” he asked. However, Natalie heard “Did you
go the gym?”
“Yes, I guess.”
A little bit later, Natalie realized she had said yes to the
wrong thing.
The shop owner was very insistent that Natalie did in fact
go to jail for killing a chicken, not listening to her multiple attempts to clear
up the misconception.
Aggressive Bargaining
Throughout our two hour shopping trip, two of our group
emerged to be an aggressive and intimidating pair. Ariana and I have this same
thought process and technique, which involved yelling at the shop owners so
much that they have to give in. and using illogical reasoning to addle their
brains. I also realized that being Indian, if they realized that I wasn’t a
foreigner, I would get cheaper prices. This led to inventing some Indian alter
egos and if the shop owners compared all the stories I told, not 10% would match
up. The plan for the next day was for
Ariana to bargain in a Russian accent as Svetlana.
Thus, our day came to end over a good meal with an even busier day in Jaipur to look forward to tomorrow.
Sooooo funny! Loved the chicken/jail story!
ReplyDeleteWe'll have to see about having jailbirds (!) in SWE. Hilarious account by all means... but why no elephant pictures?
ReplyDelete