April 2 - 3 , 2013 - Jaipur, India
On the way to the hotel in Jaipur we stopped at a local restaurant for a Thali meal. The meal included several small dishes of different curries, dal, rice, lemon pickle, etc. Its a huge and tasty meal.
At the hotel we again received a welcome. This time someone on the balcony threw flower petals as we were received the dots on our foreheads and flower necklaces. Cool!
We just relaxed for the afternoon.
Monty invited us all for dinner at his place that night. The driver took us to his flat and we had another fun night. Monty cooked up a couple different curries and had some naan and sweets brought in to accompany the meal. Have I mentioned that our tour guide is AWESOME?! We chatted, we drank, we ate, we laughed, and I fell asleep on the couch. Oops.
April 3rd was a very busy day for four of us. Unfortunately, Mom came down with a case of Delhi Belly and had to sit the day out.
Our first stop was a guided tour through the Amer Fort. We took a local bus close to the fort and walked the rock walkway up to the entrance. I sections decorated elephants carrying tourists shared our walkway. Once to the top a local guide took us through an hour long tour of the huge complex. The Maharajah that once lived there had 10 wives and over 350 mistresses and had to have room for them all. There were beautiful gardens and rooms covered in marble and painted beautifully.
Then our group stopped for a short while at the Water Palace and had a young boy perform some magic tricks from us. He made coins come outta my nose and outta Scott's crotch. hah. My boogers are usually greenish but they arent usually made of money!
Then was the City Palace. It had a collection of royal carriages and a huge collection of arms. Guns, knives, swords, daggers, and much more. All the girls of the trip also got henna on a hand. The local women draw beautiful designs with the henna ink and after 30 minutes of drying the ink cracks and peels of leaving the equivalent of a temporary tattoo that lasts a few weeks.
The 4 of us Tuk-Tuked over to LMB restaurant where I enjoyed a coke and vegetable kofta with naan. The coke was especially refreshing as it is HOT in India. And it seems to be getting hotter by the day.
And of course in the middle of the heat of the day we decided to venture out to the Monkey Temple. Initially, we thought it was at the top of the mountain we were dropped off at. However, when we reached the top we realized it was at the bottom on the other side of the mountain we were dropped off at so down we went. It was worth it again though. Once we passed the boys swimming in pool we reached the temple. It had a very deserted ghost town feel to it. It was a huge complex but no one but us and just a few locals and other tourists where there. Well, and A LOT of monkeys! After the baboon incident in Zambia I warned everybody to pick up a few monkey rock JUST in case they came after you.
When we returned to the hotel mom was feeling better! So she joined us for the Bollywood movie outing. Earlier that day Monty bought us all tickets to see Himmatwala which means strong man. This theater is one of the largest in India and can hold over 1100 people! All during the movie the people were whistling and yelling and Monty told us sometimes they even get up and dance! The movie was 3 hours long with a 15 minutes intermission. The movie itself was funny even though it was in Hindi. The thing about Bollywood though is you can understand the jest of what is going on because of how over the top the acting and scenarios are.
Yet another fantastic day!
What I learned:
There are street cows every where. They dont belong to any one they just wander around, eat the trash, lay in the middle of the road, and poop everywhere.
People around here yell whistle and sometimes dance during the showings of Bollywood movies.
On the way to the hotel in Jaipur we stopped at a local restaurant for a Thali meal. The meal included several small dishes of different curries, dal, rice, lemon pickle, etc. Its a huge and tasty meal.
At the hotel we again received a welcome. This time someone on the balcony threw flower petals as we were received the dots on our foreheads and flower necklaces. Cool!
We just relaxed for the afternoon.
Monty invited us all for dinner at his place that night. The driver took us to his flat and we had another fun night. Monty cooked up a couple different curries and had some naan and sweets brought in to accompany the meal. Have I mentioned that our tour guide is AWESOME?! We chatted, we drank, we ate, we laughed, and I fell asleep on the couch. Oops.
April 3rd was a very busy day for four of us. Unfortunately, Mom came down with a case of Delhi Belly and had to sit the day out.
Our first stop was a guided tour through the Amer Fort. We took a local bus close to the fort and walked the rock walkway up to the entrance. I sections decorated elephants carrying tourists shared our walkway. Once to the top a local guide took us through an hour long tour of the huge complex. The Maharajah that once lived there had 10 wives and over 350 mistresses and had to have room for them all. There were beautiful gardens and rooms covered in marble and painted beautifully.
Then our group stopped for a short while at the Water Palace and had a young boy perform some magic tricks from us. He made coins come outta my nose and outta Scott's crotch. hah. My boogers are usually greenish but they arent usually made of money!
Then was the City Palace. It had a collection of royal carriages and a huge collection of arms. Guns, knives, swords, daggers, and much more. All the girls of the trip also got henna on a hand. The local women draw beautiful designs with the henna ink and after 30 minutes of drying the ink cracks and peels of leaving the equivalent of a temporary tattoo that lasts a few weeks.
The 4 of us Tuk-Tuked over to LMB restaurant where I enjoyed a coke and vegetable kofta with naan. The coke was especially refreshing as it is HOT in India. And it seems to be getting hotter by the day.
And of course in the middle of the heat of the day we decided to venture out to the Monkey Temple. Initially, we thought it was at the top of the mountain we were dropped off at. However, when we reached the top we realized it was at the bottom on the other side of the mountain we were dropped off at so down we went. It was worth it again though. Once we passed the boys swimming in pool we reached the temple. It had a very deserted ghost town feel to it. It was a huge complex but no one but us and just a few locals and other tourists where there. Well, and A LOT of monkeys! After the baboon incident in Zambia I warned everybody to pick up a few monkey rock JUST in case they came after you.
When we returned to the hotel mom was feeling better! So she joined us for the Bollywood movie outing. Earlier that day Monty bought us all tickets to see Himmatwala which means strong man. This theater is one of the largest in India and can hold over 1100 people! All during the movie the people were whistling and yelling and Monty told us sometimes they even get up and dance! The movie was 3 hours long with a 15 minutes intermission. The movie itself was funny even though it was in Hindi. The thing about Bollywood though is you can understand the jest of what is going on because of how over the top the acting and scenarios are.
Yet another fantastic day!
What I learned:
There are street cows every where. They dont belong to any one they just wander around, eat the trash, lay in the middle of the road, and poop everywhere.
People around here yell whistle and sometimes dance during the showings of Bollywood movies.
Wonderful, really very beautiful photography
ReplyDeletereally very beautiful photography
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