Jaipur: The "Pink" City

I had high hopes for the city of Jaipur, known for it’s ancient forts and palaces made of pink clay. When we arrived, it was immediately apparent that this was, as we’d been told, the biggest city in Rajasthan. It was crowded, chaotic, and noisy, but luckily our guesthouse was in a nice secluded area. Still, I was looking forward to seeing the old downtown, pink area. On the first evening, we went for an orientation walk with Shakti, and we traveled through the market, until we finally arrived at the Hawa Majal, or the “Palace of the Winds.” This old palace is named for its 953 windows and it is said to be the most photographed building in Rajasthan. It certainly was beautiful. We admired the building and the chaos around it (elephants, cows, pigs, dogs, and goats included) and then moved on.





As we made our way through the touristy market area, it became apparent that this was definitely the most pushy city. Every store, every stand we passed, people approached us practically shoving their goods into our faces. It wasn’t exactly a surprise because we’d dealt with it a little already, but we were all becoming annoyed pretty quickly. I just kept repeating the rules- patience, patience, patience, patience…and a sense of humor. Shakti took us to an old square where thousands of pigeons hang out and people buy corn and grains to feed them; kind of a confusing idea seeing as India already has plenty of people and animals to worry about feeding, but it was fun to see the pigeons flying every which way around us. Luckily, there were no poop mishaps either.

After becoming oriented with the sites, we headed to the local cinema, which is known to be the most beautiful old cinema in India. For 100 rupees or $2 we got a ticket to see a bollywood film and a lassi (a delicious yogurt specialty drink). The movie was called “Love Kal jaal” and it was a love story about an Indian woman who is living in London, but goes back to India for an arranged marriage, only to discover she is still in love with an India man in England. Though we couldn’t understand much of the movie (no subtitles either) we thoroughly enjoyed the bollywood-style, especially the dancing. When the movie finished, we went for a very local Indian meal, where we could see the food being cooked in an open kitchen.

The next day, we decided to avoid downtown and find more relaxing activities. A bunch of us took a rickshaw about 30 minutes outside of the city to see the Amber Fort. We were a little over budget so we decided not to spend the money to go into the fort, but we were delighted to see so much just by walking around it.; we were still able to walk through beautiful gardens, up stone paths and into the fort’s main plaza.

pushy people!

Finally, in the late afternoon, it was time for the highlight of our Jaipur visit; an Aryuvedic massage. Aryuveda is an ancient Indian medicine practice, that believes there are three sources of energy (air, fire and water) which must be balanced in the body. Their practices focus on vital points on the body to release, restore and balance a persons energy. For just $12 dollars, I had a one-hour Marma Therapy Massage, in which they used warm herbal oil to massage the entire body, focusing on the vital energy points. It was soooooo good! I left feeling completely relaxed and revitalized, and also very satisfied with the incredible bargain. It also left me looking forward to all the massages I’ll be getting in Thailand!




Tomorrow, it’s off to Agra to see the Taj Majal- finally!!! Although Agra is not known as the most cultural or beautiful city, I’m sure seeing the Taj will make it a highlight of the trip. Look forward to pictures soon!