India Travel Journal, Part V - Agra and Jaipur

India Travel Journal, Part V

Tuesday, January, 23- Thursday, 25, 2018 

Elephant on the street of Jaipur

“The great secret of true success, of true happiness, is this: the one who asks for no return, the perfectly unselfish person, is the most successful in life.”   Swami Vivekanada

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

We got up at 7am today, packed, showered, ate breakfast, checked out and met our driver at 8:15am in front of the hotel.  Our driver is Titu’s nephew, Baljinder (Bal-Jin-Der).  Great name.  He is also a Sikh and wears a blue turban, as opposed to Titu’s, which was white.  When I asked if there was any significance between the colors, he said no and didn’t elaborate any further.  This will be the hardest travel day of our trip.  We headed out to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and then drove to Jaipur in Rajasthan. 

Driving from Delhi to the Taj took just over four hours.  The countryside was actually quite beautiful, but the pollution/smog of Delhi never disappeared, which surprised me.  We did get some light rain along the way, which helped mitigate the pollution a bit, but it was still pretty heavy for my unaccustomed lungs.  Agra and the Taj are an obligatory tourist trap that I think everyone who visits India needs to see at least once.  Baljinder arranged a guide for us that spoke Russian and English.  He was a good kid, but he was only 21 and while he knew the main talking points of the Taj’s history, his knowledge wasn’t as deep as we would have liked and he couldn’t answer many of our follow-up questions.  

The Taj really is a sight to be seen and when you walk up to it the first time, it really grabs you.  It’s huge, majestic and beautiful.  

  

At the Taj Mahal - truly a sight to be seen

The Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan started building the Taj in 1632 in honor of his third wife, who was a Persian princess who died while giving birth.  It was finished about twenty years later.  As it was nearing completion, the Shah became ill and his sons began fighting for control of the family’s empire.  By the time the Shah recovered from his illness, his youngest son was in control and put him under house arrest in the Agra Fort until his death.  The father then spent the rest of his days in jail with a view of the Taj from his cell window.  An interesting side note to the history.

The "Baby Taj" - definitely worth a visit when in Agra

The Taj is one heck of a mausoleum.  Walking up and around it was really something, but the inside is very bland and dark.  Considering it is a grave, this could be expected.  Once the initial awe of the place wore off, I kept thinking about the hubris and ego that had to go into making such a huge spectacle for a mausoleum.  The whole thing also cost a fortune, something like $850 million in today’s dollars.  The place reminds me of what the pharaohs of Egypt were up to and the Taj should be viewed in that context.

After, we did a little sightseeing- went to a place called the Baby Taj, which is off the beaten track and was really great; then grabbed a bite, went into some marble shops and hit the road.  

On the road from Agra to Jaipur we stopped for a snack.
Baljinder is in the blue turban, I'm in the blue Cubs cap.

Jaipur in Rajasthan, our next stop, was a five-hour drive away.  Again, despite the long distance, we never escaped the smog, so while interesting, it was also a bit rough.

We got to Jaipur around 9:30pm and checked our hotel, which was a beautiful English colonial mansion back in the day.  It’s called the Alsistar Haveli, and I would strongly recommend this place to anyone visiting Jaipur.  The room was elegant and the grounds were something out of a Indian fairy tale.  The place cost $75 a night.  

Our Hotel in Jaipur- the Alsistar Haveli

After we cleaned up, we jumped down to the restaurant just before they were closing.  I drank a couple beers, Ira had a rum and coke and we discussed the country and the day.  We are both enjoying the trip and even though Irina has been visiting India regularly for the last 12 years, she has never been to Jaipur or Varanasi, so this is new ground for both of us.  We agreed that it’s really healthy to see such diverse and interesting parts of the world.  We look forward to tomorrow. 

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

We met our guide at 10am at our hotel.  We had arranged for Baljinder to stay with us for the day to drive us around.  He also found us our guide.  His name was Jai (JAY) and he was wearing a fedora style hat.  I hadn’t seen this look on and Indian before. 

He immediately asked us what we wanted to do and I told him we would like to see the Amber Fort, which is about 12 km outside of the city, and then we could do whatever he recommended.  I figured that since we had the car for the day, we should do the far away stuff and then tomorrow, our last day here, we could take a rickshaw around the city to fill in the holes.  Irina and I decided to spend the first day sightseeing and the second day shopping and exploring around the city.  Jaipur is in the foothills of the mountains and is a beautiful city, but going on our fourth day in heavy pollution was getting to me a little bit and I developed a little cough.  I expected the cities to be polluted like this, but I thought Agra would have provided a break and the drive between the cities would have fresh air, so I think the cough is just my lungs reacting to the incessant smog.  This happened to me in Beijing as well.

Irina and the Snake Charmer

We went around the Amber Fort.  On the way into it we passed a snake charmer and stopped to watch him make the snake dance.  Pretty wild.  Also, Jaipur has lots of animals around- Camels, elephants, monkeys, and the usual goats, cows, etc.  It’s cool to see such beasts all over the place.

In the Amber Fort

The Amber Fort is the “must see” attraction of the city and it didn’t disappoint.  It’s a beautiful place.  

We then went and watched a wedding at a Hindu temple.  The groom was dressed in a cool traditional garb while the bride was fully covered and we couldn’t see her face at all.  

Hindu Wedding in Jaipur- the bride is wearing orange- over 
her face- "she does it to respect her man" our guide explained 

This was the first time we saw a Hindu woman fully covered like this (Seeshoo’s daughter wasn’t dressed like this at her wedding).  I asked Jai about it and he said,  “she does it to respect her man.  She is saving herself for him.”  It was said so matter of fact, I just nodded and let it go, even though I really don’t understand it.  

We stopped at an antique shop in search of some interesting art, but even though the dealer had a large inventory, the antiques were expensive and I couldn’t find anything that inspired me to pursue it.  Indian antiques are mostly stone sculptures and not much paintings or drawings, which are what speak to me the most.  I’m still hoping to find something to replace the simmering desire for the painting that I left behind in Delhi.  The search continues.  

Hindu Temple where the wedding took place

On the way out, we noticed a hand woven rug company next to his store.  We went into the rug shop.  Irina said she wanted to “look around” and wasn’t going to buy anything.  That translated to having the guys unroll about twenty rugs that she openly and critically commented on.  That being said, I have to admit, it was a good way of looking at them and she did find some really cool ones that I never would have even noticed.  They were pretty steep in Rupee terms though.  

After about a half hour, in the spur of the moment, we started negotiating for two of them.  I guess the tourist desire for acquiring a proper (and functional) souvenir overcame the practical obstacles of traveling with large, heavy carpets.  I will say that it’s always great to negotiate for something you know you don’t really need, as we ended up being quite firm and the sales guy eventually came down to meet us.  His name was Khan and he was actually a really pleasant guy from Kashmir.  His uncle owned the shop. 

My new Indian rug- an impulse buy and a great souvenir-)

According to Ira, who I trust in these matters, we got the rugs for a great price and she was elated.  I now have a really nice Indian rug for my recently flooded living room.  I figure that since I will have to replace the floor when I return due to the flood, I will upgrade the room a bit to make it fresh and new.  I currently have a rug from Kazakhstan there that I picked up in Moscow.  This new one is a large step up and totally different style and colors.  I’m happy to have acquired it.  

We then went around town for a few hours.  Saw the old part of the city, another temple and then had a late lunch.  We called it a day around 7pm and stayed at the hotel.  I had a couple beers on the patio in front of the restaurant.  The sightseeing and long drive the previous day had wiped us out.

Thursday, January 25, 2018

Today was mostly a day for exploring Jaipur.  Irina told a friend who is also vacationing down in Kerala about the carpets and when she heard the price we paid, she wanted one too, so we started the day by going back and meeting Khan.  He was a standup guy, as before, and didn’t haggle with us too hard.  We got a third rug for the same price point as the ones from the day before despite a few early protests by Khan about how we got the best deal they give and how the previous purchase was a special “favor” to us.  As I said, he’s a good salesman.  

Camel in the street- Jaipur

We then jumped around to gem shops, textile stores, city bazaars and markets, and some fashion boutiques.  What’s interesting is all these shops have these little workshops and they give you a tour that shows you exactly how they make their wares.  We learned and watched a rug being made, gemstones being shaped and polished, marble being made, etc.  Everything is done by hand with techniques that haven’t been affected at all by technology.  (We also got up close and took photos with an elephant and some camels we saw on the street.)    

Irina is a real shopper and the day was nonstop running around and flew by.  While I wasn’t interested in buying much (my new rug scratched that itch), I enjoyed seeing the city and talking to so many artisans.  In the afternoon, Ira kept asking our rickshaw driver, who is also a tour guide, for a fashion boutique that combines Indian and Western styles.  He kept taking us to places, but none of them had what she was looking for.  They were mostly selling very traditional clothes.  One thing about India is that the guides really only take you to the places where they know that if you buy something, they will get a kickback from the store.  While, that’s understandable, it’s not ideal if you want something specific and are relying on them to show you where to find it.

Recorder player at our hotel- love the stash-

We got back to the hotel around 6:30pm and I started looking into the guidebook for dinner options.  I was hoping to change it up from Indian food for a night.  After doing Indian nonstop since I got here, I was looking for a little Western comfort food.  I found an Italian place in the guidebook and when I went to look at its location on the map, it referred me to a shopping complex called Agnohki.  As I read about the complex, there it was, “Anokhi specializes in modern Indian clothing with Western influences”.  The complex was closing at 8pm and it was going on 7pm when I read this.  I told Ira to get ready and we had to go asap.  I didn’t tell her why I was rushing her and she assumed it was just to eat dinner. 

We grabbed a rickshaw off the street for 100 Rupees ($1.40) and got there at 7:15pm.  Upon entering the store, her eyes lit up.  She then she flipped out saying that the store was exactly what she was looking for.  I felt good at surprising her for all of two minutes, as despite her evident excitement, she then blamed me for not reading the entire guidebook earlier so that we wouldn’t have had to waste the day running around to so many bad boutiques and textile shops.  Despite finding multiple dresses and things to buy and having 40+ minutes of unencumbered shopping, she made it clear that she was quite disappointed.  Women!  Also, I’m certain that even if we started the day at this place, we still would have gone to all those shops looking for more...but such is the way these things go.  I didn’t let it get to me in the least bit. 

Once the store closed, we then grabbed a bite at a little café that was attached to it (she didn’t want the Italian).  It was modern food and healthy, so I was happy.  We then went back to the hotel.  We leave for Varanasi tomorrow.  The City of the Dead.   Varanasi is the oldest living city in the world and everyone I have told that I would be visiting it has raved about it.  I’m also excited to see the Ganges, which is dubbed the most spiritual river in the world… Our flight is at 6:25am, so we went to bed early.  

 

At the Amber Fort

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The Story moves from Jaipur to Varanasi in Part VI:

https://libertinereflections.blogspot.com/2018/03/india-travel-journal-part-vi-jaipur-to.html