Diary of SpanishI was Born in Latin America, My Friends are in Europe and I'm Living In India… My Daily Life… My Friends… My Diary

I had Jaipur on my mind since a very long time. Jaipur is located in the Indian State of Rajasthan, having beautiful architecture, handicrafts, elephants, camels… I had to see this.

So I booked my train ticket and decided to just go and explore the city. The AC train was quite comfortable and also almost empty. I think my coach just had around 6 people in total. I had it all on my own! I reached Jaipur at around 11 a.m. and took a taxi to my hotel. The location was quite good and the doorman was dressed with the typical rajasthani clothes and had a very big moustache. The room was nice and neat, just royal.

That day I wandered around the city. Suddenly I saw the beautiful Palace of Winds or Hawa Mahal. It was stunning. Just imagine the queens of the 19th century going there to watch the city life without being noticed. And the sun light reflecting directly on the sandstone makes it look impressive.

Later on I saw the Jal Mahal or Water Palace which is curiously a five storey palace but having four of them actually under water when the lake is full and therefore gives you the impression of only being a 1 storey building with a terrace.

The old Jaipur is full of small shops in the main road. I put my eye on many things I wanted to buy. But that I was planning to do later.

In the evening I had dinner at a hotel with a friend and her girlfriends. God, they talked a lot… and also very loud! I didn’t know that a bunch of Indian women together could be so noisy! But no doubt they were very friendly.

Next day the plan was done, we were going to the Amber Fort. It was a hot day outside. When reaching I saw a group of elephants… there was an elephant ride to the top! and of course I wanted to take it. My friend agreed.

While we were walking towards the elephants a bunch of vendors approached us offering from small handicrafts to paintings and the things were nice really but I was just not planning to buy anything at that point.

But suddenly a man came trying to convince us to take the elephant ride and he was talking a lot. I think part of his strategy is to really convince you to take the ride, I mean that’s his job after all. He looked at me.

- You’re so beautiful – he said to me with a big smile.

At first it took me by surprise as I wasn’t expecting that comment, but I’m sure he says that to every girl.

- Mere pati Indian he (my husband is Indian) – I said.

- Oh, are you married? I’m so sorry ma’am – he said while making a Namaste sign.

Hmm…so it worked! he stopped talking and disappeared… that’s a trick I will use again ha ha.

So up to the fort we went. It was just beautiful to see the lake and gardens from the elephant top and we really enjoyed the ride. We even got an umbrella! Up there we went inside a Kali temple and then walked around the Fort with a guide. It was really cool, specially the Mirror Palace (Sheesh Mahal) with gorgeous carvings. Just splendid. What a great life of the kings that used to live there. They even had a kind of jacuzzi and the view from the top of the fort is just breathtaking. The carvings on the marble windows are gorgeous and there is a kind of secret tunnel that was used by the king as a way to escape the fort in case of danger (there are bats inside!)

Overall I liked the fort very much. There were small handicrafts shops inside, a coffee shop, a book shop and even a snake charmer! I definitely want to visit it again.

Later on, swimming in the hotel’s roof pool and a nice buffet dinner completed a great day.

Our series of visits continued with the City Palace

Again great architecture and a nice museum where you can see the kind of clothes the royal family used to wear and also the different kinds of weapons they used for the battles. Even the guards are wearing turbans and all, very impressive. The elephant marble sculptures are gorgeous and the balconies… hmm I’m in love with those balconies… hmm I can make of this palace my home!

There was also a puppet show and incredible paintings and jewelery for sale. I just wanted to buy everything.

We also visited the Jaipur Observatory or Jantar Mantar, a beautiful compound of astronomical instruments used to measure the time, the position of planets and stars and even predict eclipses. In the middle you can also find the 12 zodiacal signs which makes you think about the ancient relation between astronomy and astrology, and if you pay close attention to the architecture of the instruments, you’ll find craved scales for precision in the measures. It’s quite impressive.

A little ride out of the city and we reached the Galta Temple in which we found many many monkeys. At the entrance a man was selling different kinds of peanuts which we bought. An 18th Century temple which still have ancient paintings on the walls and it just give you the feeling of entering into a totally different time frame. We watch people taking a bath in what they call a holy pool filled with a natural spring.

The monkeys around were kind of cute, specially the baby ones and also because they were not aggressive at all, I mean they were not trying to snatch you anything. On our way back I gave the peanuts to the monkeys and they friendly took them from my hand. It was a weird sensation to feel that spongy hand but it was fun after all.

I couldn’t leave Jaipur without the obligatory shopping of handicrafts and small things to keep as a memory of my trip. Hours at the small shops of Johri Bazaar were definitely productive. What really got me puzzled was that the shopkeepers and even the street vendors were talking in Spanish! That was so fun and cool. Definitely smart business men.

The bargain really worked out and I got great discounts in beautiful rajasthani kurtas, churidars (kind of leggings), fancy chura bangles (bracelets), my beloved pair of rajasthani couple puppets, the typical hand block printing textiles, some few fashion rajasthani jewelery and small wooden handmade handicrafts for home. I loved them all and I could have bought more things but I was already having too much luggage. Let’s leave something for my next visit.

Of course the counterpart of the traditional Jaipur are the malls in which I also did some few shopping. The Metropolitan, the Crystal and even the HyperCITY are there with a wide offer of anything you can possibly want, from cinemas to fast food, from ice-cream to coffee shops, from spa treatments to lavish jewelery, from modern clothes to great bookstores. I also tried some nice restaurants and cafes and I met great people from around the world.

Flyovers and building constructions are going on around the city and overall the contrast between the traditional and the modern is what charms me about Jaipur. A magical city in fact, full of heritage and looking ahead to the 21rst Century.