Jaipur, India

Jaipur is a wild mix of chaotic India and modern lifestyle, and is easily my favourite city we've seen in these two countries.  

Our first act was to see a Bollywood film at a huge multilevel mall.  We had a quick fast-food dinner (can we please get the Indian menu at Canadian McDonalds?  Vegetarian options galore!) and then popcorn as well, before shuffling into the theatre.  It was an action detective film, very Quentin Tarantino, and as I was waiting for dancing that never arrived, my perception of Bollywood films was shifted.  Although it was all in Hindi, with the occasional English sentence or word, it was exciting enough just to watch the action, and funny enough that the humour came through and I'd laugh without full understanding.

Tuesday morning, we embarked on our tuk tuks to start at Amber Fort.  At the top of a mountain, this royal palace and sprawling fort walls look over all of Jaipur and the surrounding mountains and forests.  

The palace was multileveled and cavernous, and like a childhood fantasy of mine with hundreds of rooms, each with multiple branching stairways and passages leading to other small hiding spots and laced windowed turrets.  I got lost for a little while here exploring up and down the marble stairs.  The most exquisite room was covered in small, convex mirrors right up and across the ceiling.  The king built it for his wife, so that even when she slept under the roof, she would still see the stars.

Our tuk tuks were then ours for the day, so Sabina and I in one, and Eliz, Stephanie, and Sunita in another decided to spend the day racing each other around with our hilarious and sundar drivers, blasting the Hindi club music and singing "Jai Ho".  

We went to a textile shop where the artists showed us how they do block printing on cotton canvas, and we tried on saris and pashminas.  Next was a jeweler, and I bought a pair of elephant earrings while drinking yet another chai.  We had a few more stops along the way, including a break where I got in the driver's seat of the tuk tuk, and a stop to get some henna done.

Camel parking

Palace of Winds

My henna artist - she was super speedy

Our last jaunt for the day was a race to the top of a mountain to see the sunset from Tiger Fort.  There's a restaurant up there, and we enjoyed a cold drink while watching the lights of Jaipur light up beneath us.  At the end of this most enjoyable day, we even flew a kite.

The view from the Tiger Temple

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