Day 9: Ballooning Over Jaipur

On Day 9, we woke up VERY early to go on a sunrise hot air balloon ride over Jaipur. It was one of the best parts of our trip. The balloon company, Sky Waltz, is the only company licensed to give hot air ballon rides in India. The driver picked us and drove us to the outskirts of the city, where there was hot tea and some cookies waiting. It was very cold, so the tea was a nice way to warm up. There were three large balloons that were being filled when we got there.

J and I were assigned to the second balloon, which was one of the smaller balloons. Our pilot was a very nice, young Sri Lankan guy who told us a lot of stories about other balloon trips he has taken. We were in the balloon with an Australian couple, and an Indian family. All in all they were good people to be with. 

When we took off, it was just starting to become light, and the views were pretty incredible. Riding in a hot air balloon is so calm, it didn't feel like I was off the ground at all, except my ears did start to pop a bit.

Morning glow

The first one up

Our launch site

Passing over another balloon

When we were up in the air, we got a great view of the sunrise.

It was really just so serene, so peaceful. The landscape was amazing, and it changed every few minutes based upon the sun. I loved the low-hanging mist, and seeing everything from a bird's eye view. Our pilot told us that many people always want to go high up, that they think that in a balloon, the fun part is being way up high, but he told us that really, the beauty is seen when you fly very low, and you get a different, close perspective on ordinary things. 

Good morning to you!

Already hard at work making bricks.

Brick making factory outside of Jaipur.

Running after the balloon.

One of our compatriots near the brick-making factory's smokestack.

Camels and tractors get the job done.

We landed and were driven back to our hotel, where we had a nice little breakfast. We were a little tired from all the sightseeing we did the day before, so we decided to spend the day checking out some of the shopping sites that make Jaipur famous. We hired a driver for the day, and set out for a couple of different stores I read about in some pretty fancy magazines like Vanity Fair and Conde Nast. 

We had lunch at Anokhi cafe, and had our first vegetable salad since we were in India. It was so delicious--at that point we were starting to tire out on curry. The salad had fresh mozzarella. We also ordered ginger lime sodas, which were spicy!

I should point out that by this point in the trip, I had developed a full-on contact dermatitis-type rash all over my face, neck, chest, and ears. My ears were ON FIRE and were so red and swollen, it's a good thing I wasn't wearing earrings on this trip. The rash started just before we left Agra, and it just kept getting worse. I suspect that it may have had something to do with the laundry detergent that was used on sheets at a couple of the hotels. Everyone remember that killer medicine bag I packed, and how I bragged that I was ready for every contingency ever? Ha. Guess what I forgot. BENADRYL. I had everything for insect bites, gastrointestinal distress, fever, etc., but nothing for just plain old anti-histamines. You live and you learn.

Anyway, the rash was dampening my spirits a bit and made me a little bit uncomfortable. We went to a few jewelry stores I had heard about and it was my goal to buy something nice. However, due to the fiery ears and the overall unattractiveness of everything about looking in a mirror, I did not end up buying any jewelry. 

Around 5 PM, we stopped at a restaurant/bar called Bar Palladio, which was very old hollywood glamour. We had a couple of cocktails, and then decided to have dinner. We had a mushroom alfredo pasta, which was very rich. One thing I really enjoyed about restaurants in India is that they serve all of the food to you MUCH HOTTER than they do in the United States. I always hate how food and beverages arrive to me in the US and within a few minutes, are completely room temperature. In India, everything arrives piping hot. 

After we spent a very beautiful evening at Bar Palladio, we headed back to the hotel. While we were in Jaipur, we stayed in another "budget" hotel, and while it was not as bad as our first hotel, we were a bit nervous about our stuff, and also were getting a headache from the cigarette smokers above us. I was a little concerned about my rash and future questionable laundry practices as well. We decided at that point that we were going to change our reservations for our hotel in Jodhpur, where we were headed the next day. As you will see in my next post, it was the best idea. 

Until next time!

Day 8: Historic Jaipur (and the Not-So-Animatronic Cobra)

We made it to Jaipur via train from Ranthambore and pretty much settled in for the night. We watched some beautiful fireworks from our hotel's rooftop restaurant (there are fireworks in Jaipur every night, it's crazy!) but fell asleep pretty early.

On Day 8, we woke up and walked down the street to a small cafe J found called "Nibs" and had a chocolate crepe for breakfast with an awesome cafe latte. The coffee artist drew a portrait of me.

We're not going to talk about what my hair looked like.

We then went back to the hotel, where we joined a day tour of some of the major sights in Jaipur. We were on the tour with a few other solo travellers, including a woman from Idaho who was originally born in Goa and adopted by Americans (she was on an Eat Pray Love kind of find-yourself journey), a woman from England who is an aid worker in third world countries, and a British graphic designer who works for the National Theatre in London and regaled me with stories of meeting Benedict Cumberbatch. Our tour guide was a gentleman named Mr. Singh, who was very interested in telling horribly sexist jokes and combing his hair. 

Our first stop of the day was at the Hawa Mahal ("Wind Palace"), which is in the old part of Jaipur (also known as the "Pink City" because of all of the pink sandstone used in construction). The Hawa Mahal is where all of the king's wives used to sit and watch processionals go by, as they could not be seen by men. This allowed them to see out without others seeing in.

It was very cool. I was a little disappointed we didn't get to go in, but that is one of the drawbacks to going on a group tour. What's also very interesting is that this monument is quite literally sitting in the middle of the city center, with shops and other types of ordinary commerce occurring all around it. 

After the Hawa Mahal, we went to the Jantar Mantar, which is a large complex of astronomical instruments built by King Jai Singh in the 18th century. Mr. Singh (the tour guide) gave us a great explanation of how all of the instruments worked to show the position of the earth vis a vis the stars, and how the astronomers could calculate the time of day down to eight seconds before they had wristwatches, using shadows. Of course, none of the instruments were particularly useful if it was a cloudy day. 

J found the instrument related to the Capricorn astrological sign

But really we all know Aries is better

A nice group shot of our tour group in front of an astronomical tool

Next stop was the City Palace, where the royal family of Jaipur still resides when they are in town. I had high hopes for the City Palace as all the photos I had seen of it before we went were quite magnificent, but honestly I was disappointed. A lot of the areas that are architecturally preserved, I was not allowed to take photos in (which of course, were still beautiful), but they've also turned quite a bit of it into marketplaces for buying touristy trinkets. I also found that the tourists in Jaipur were not nearly as considerate as they were in other places (like Agra), and no one would move out of the way for your pictures, even for a brief moment....including Mr. Singh.

The Peacock Gate was my favorite part of the City Palace

How jaunty!

Exhibit "A" re: people who won't move out of photos

As we were leaving the City Palace, we came across a snake charmer. It seemed so cliche, I was convinced that the snake was fake, and was some sort of puppet, or battery-operated animatronic robot.

That doesn't look real, right?

I mean, no one would be that chill sitting next to a cobra!

I told J "Look at that fake cobra. What does that guy think we are? Does he think that I fell off of the parantha truck?" J was not as convinced it was fake. He got closer to it to give the snake charmer some rupees to get him to play a song, and reported to me that it was very much a real cobra. 

It started moving erratically, but in a convincingly snake-like manner.

Ok. It was real. And then I decided it was one of the coolest things I've ever seen....from a very safe distance. I will say that the cobra did seem a little bit lazy, but I guess if I lived in a basket (which makes me sad and I try very hard not to think about), and was forced to come out and follow a flute around multiple times an hour, I might also lose interest. I hope the cobra got a nice dinner every night.

Our next stop after the City Palace was a block printing factory. Block printing is a very famous form of art from Jaipur, as it is done using organic dyes and is all done by hand. A pattern is chosen, and there are a set of wooden "blocks" created which all have a component of the pattern. Then, each block is dipped into a specific color dye and applied to the cloth. After the first set of blocks all in one color are applied, the next set of blocks using another color is applied. The blocks have to be aligned perfectly with where the last block was applied, so that the pattern stays consistent and legible. We were allowed to try block printing, which was really fun, if not a little stressful. It was a good outlet for my perfectionist tendencies and concentration.

J and I ended up buying a gorgeous tablecloth with nine sets of block colors from the factory. I can't wait for our next big gathering to use it, as it's so colorful and elaborate!

We stopped for lunch at a nearby restaurant and tried a mushroom curry, which was absolutely delicious. It was good to take a little break, because by then, it was getting very, very hot. We were lucky for the first week of our trip with the weather only getting to the low 80s during the day. However, by the time we got to Jaipur there was a heat wave, and it was getting into the 90s. 

Our next stop was the Lake Palace. The photos you will see are very nice, but the area around the Lake Palace is quite dilapidated. There is a very busy highway right next to the view point for the lake palace, and there are a ton of people "fishing" in the lake. However, the lake is so incredibly polluted, and we saw dead fish floating everywhere near the shore just due to disease. 

Then we were off to the Amber Fort, located in the hills just northeast of Jaipur. The Amber Fort is perched high up, and in the mornings, you can take an elephant ride up to the fort. However, I have heard questionable things about how well the elephants are treated, and since it was 95 degrees, we opted not to walk, but instead, the group took a jeep ride up to the top of the fort. Putting six people in a jeep I'm pretty sure was meant for three was one of the more terrifying parts of our trip. 

Before our jeep ride, looking up at the fort.

Tiger Fort, which is located even higher than the Amber Fort

Amer Palace, in Amber Fort

The wall which used to encircle the city

Columns everywhere

Pink Sandstone from the Pink City

The Hall of Mirrors. It was so cool.

All of this was made out of tiny mirrors. It sparkled and shimmered.

By the end of our time at the Amer Fort, I was a little tired and more than a little hot. However, we still had one more stop--the Sun Temple.

Mr. Singh promised us that the views from the Sun Temple would be the best views of sunset we would see. However, when we got to the Sun Temple site, I realized that the Sun Temple was an almost vertical climb for an undetermined distance (in fact, you could not see the Sun Temple from the beginning of the climb). We started to walk up this very steep path, avoiding all number of hazards, including some aggressive Macaque monkeys, and according to J, another snake handler (glad I didn't know about this). 

After about ten minutes of walking uphill, I had enough. I will admit it, I wimped out on it. I was hot, tired, my feet hurt, and had overpacked my purse for the day. I was done seeing beautiful views from the highest point possible, which I think is something that tour guides just like to tell tourists to see how much physical suffering they can get the tourists to endure. Mr. Singh advised me that it was just another "ten minutes" but something told me that Mr. Singh was sitting on a throne of lies. In fact, the rest of the group did not take twenty minutes to return, and I don't think they were sitting at the Sun Temple for an exceedingly long time. 

At the end of the day though, I think that I still made a good choice not to walk all the way to the top of the Sun Temple. J stayed with me of course, and we saw plenty of very interesting things happening around us. There were some monkeys playing, and a man brought a few of his goats up the hill to get a little exercise. We saw children walking by, and a nice girl helped fetch one of the older man's errant goats. There was also a cow stable, and after a few minutes of sitting where we were, another man with dreadlocks came and opened the cow stable, letting the cows wander down the hill. 

High on a hill was a lonely goatherd...

As close as I got to the Sun Temple

All in all, I enjoyed people and sight watching and while I'm sure I would have seen some great views, sometimes its better to just sit down and take in your surroundings.