Jaipur – The city That Ate My Grandfather… or at least his shoe…
Scene one Act one
So there we were, on a trip to ride the Elephants in Jaipur. Little did we know that our story wasn’t going to end happily without the city taking its cut.
As always, we had a fairly normal morning. Minus the fact that the credit card, which was stolen in Dubai, has yet to arrive. This caused us to change course for a moment to call the bank trying to locate the card. Since we are hopping on a plane for the Gir Jungle tomorrow morning, this needs to be taken care of. Sadly we will have to wait until we get to Surat for the card to be delivered.
Elephant Ride
We met up with Ram and our guide to ride an elephant up to Amber Fort. The Fort that ate my grandpa.
The Fort was interesting and I took a ton of photos. By the end of the tour however, I noticed that part of my grandfathers shoe was missing.
Clearly we are not going to stand by for that! So we are demanding that the Fort and the city of Jaipur pay for new shoes for the rest of my grandfather’s life. Also we demand that whenever he has a long walk ahead of him, no matter where in the world, that Jaipur supplies him a private elephant ride, since he enjoys the butt massage he got on his elephant ride. On top of all that we demand the Fort itself (the building) hand writes an apology letter for eating his shoe. You might be asking what if they do not meet our demands? Well then we just will not return to Jaipur in the month of February in the year 2016 after the 9th.
In all Seriousness, the Fort was Beautiful.
The winter side is covered in mirrors and is beautifully painted.
The water garden is where they are growing the dyes for refinishing the art work on the Amber Fort.
The Elephants (can) bring you to the Fort itself but you have to walk back to the car. The elephants are only available in the morning, so if you are visiting be sure to get there early.
The Guide
So as I have said, the guide we had the first day in Delhi was amazing. The guide we had in Agra loves what he does and it shows when he gives the tours of the Taj Mahal. Then the third guide was a total and complete let down.
When we started the tour today at Amber Fort our guide didn’t seem to have a good attitude. I am with my 86 year old grandfather who plays tennis three days a week. He is a tad bit shorter than I am, so his strides don’t match up to those of us with longer legs. I asked the guide to slow down, as my grandfather doesn’t walk super fast. The guides comment to me was, “ well you come up here” implying to leave my grandfathers side.
I don’t need to be at my grandfathers side to help him walk or anything. I am here on a trip with MY GRANDFATHER! and I’d like to stay with him thank you. I wasn’t sure what to make of this gentleman, as first impressions were seemingly rude with an attitude. But as we started the tour, the man started to open up and become more alive. Once that happened, the tour became very pleasant and enjoyable.
My grandfather has visited all of these places a number of different times over the years. This trip really is for me (thank you again Grandpa.) This is nice, because when the guides share that we can go off and take pictures, Grandpa tends to stay with the guide and talk. I find it interesting because I am seemly only gone for a minute or two. However by the time I get back, the guide knows so much more about us. Time warp. My grandfather is a superhero and can stop time. This is the only logical explanation.
The Colors
I am in love with most parts of India. I am in love with the colors especially. The women wearing the beautiful Sari’s and the colors of the cities. It is sad to see how dirty India is, but they even decorate their cars here! How can you not find this beautiful?
Jaipur, or at least old Jaipur is known as the Pink City. In 1876, the Prince of Wales and Queen Victoria visited India on a tour. Since pink denotes the color of happiness, Maharaja Ram Singh of Jaipur made sure the whole city was pink to welcome the guests. It is now the law that all buildings in Old Jaipur must be pink. However, most of the buildings are built with the local stone, which is naturally pink.
To the Jungle, the Mighty Jungle
This may be my last post for a few days as we are heading into the jungle and I doubt there will be internet for me to publish the articles. If this is the case I will still be writing each day and I will just post them when we arrive in Surat.