Tag: Rajasthan

WTF?!

Where else can you see an elephant in the middle of a big city, and not have it turning heads around every corner.  India’s madness is everywhere

Elephants cruising the streets

More elephants on the street


Entering Rajasthan

After the Holi celebration, we headed west from Delhi to the Indian state of Rajasthan. India has 28 different states, each with tens of millions of people and many with their own distinct dialects, religious beliefs, food specialties, and rich histories. This diversity makes the country incredibly interesting to travel through, and though we are only going to see a small portion of it, Rajasthan is supposed to be one of India’s highlights.

Rajasthan is the land of forts, deserts, and city palaces. It is India’s biggest state and also the most visited by travelers due to its proximity to Delhi, its storied past, and its impressive architecture. As a result of its popularity, there are lots of traveler services (decent hotels, yummy restaurants, multiple train and bus options for transport, etc), however there are also plenty of people out to haggle you out of your money along the way. The aggressive nature of the Indians here unfortunately left us feeling underwhelmed by the people we encountered in this state. We didn’t meet one Indian person throughout our 2 weeks in Rajasthan that we had a genuine conversation with. Every single interaction eventually resulted in a sales pitch of some sort. Yes, we pretty much stuck to the well-traveled tourist route, but that applies to many other countries that we’ve visited on our trip, and India was just different.

Despite our less-than-ideal personal interactions, we loved the places we visited in Rajasthan. Our first stop was a few nights in Jaipur, the state capital. Jaipur is part of the Golden Triangle (Delhi, Jaipur, Agra), which is the most popular short tourist route for quick visits to India. Though definitely an interesting place with some phenomenal history and an impressive city palace, I was battling a wicked head cold and overall stomach unrest brought on by our Holi day extravaganza which left me unenthused with the place. On top of that, Ted had another “foiled by India” episode as he attempted to book our onward transport on our first day. But thankfully, Ted had a little more energy in him, and he dragged us to some of the city’s historic buildings – the Hawa Mahal, the City Palace, and the Jantar Mantar, an observatory of massive proportions.

Hawa Mahal

City Palace

Hawa Mahal

City Palace Musician

Jaipur is also a big trade hub – many of India’s famous textiles and art come from Rajasthan, and Jaipur acts as a distribution center. It was fascinating to cruise the shop-lined streets, watching craftsmen work on everything from textile dyes and tea pots to keys and Hindu god shrines. India’s vibrant colors shone brightly throughout the never-ending bazaars and shops, and it was interesting to be surrounded by people so dedicated to their individual craft. We’d seen a lot of vendors and markets over the past 7 months, but nothing can quite describe the colors, smells, craftsmanship, intensity, aggressiveness, and chaos of an Indian marketplace.

Jaipur's colorful markets

Preparing textile dyes

Jaipur vendors

Making keys on the sidewalk

All in all, Jaipur was not our favorite destination, and we were ready for a change of pace out of the big city atmosphere. Luckily, our next stop was going to fit the bill perfectly.


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