Jaipur, India – exploring The Pink City

“We all travel thousands of miles just to enjoy TV and check into somewhere with all the comforts of home and you gotta ask yourself, what is the point of that?”

– Leonardo DiCaprio, The beach –

After Delhi we headed for Jaipur, The pink city of Rajasthan. We have been to Rajasthan once before and spent time in the smaller cities but this time we booked a great hotel outside of town where we were to spend our Indian Christmas together. We reserved the “penthouse suite” on the top floor. It was very great with Maharajan style archways and mouldings, satellite TV, a big comfy bed and it even had heating for the freezing desert nights.  It wasn’t exactly a budget backpacker choice, but it was the holidays, so we splurged!

We spent our days mostly walking around the busy maze of the old walled city of Jaipur. We explored the Hawa Mahal palace with 365 stained glass windows and stood in awe in front of the largest sun dial in the world some 27 meters tall.

View of Jaipur from the Hawa Mahal Palace, India
the Hawa Mahal Palace, Jaipur, India
Dariece sticking her head out of one of the 365 windows at the Hawa Mahal Palace, Jaipur, India
The greatest sundial in the world, Jaipur, India
We checked out the old mosques, temples, fruit markets and bangle merchants. We snapped photos of their age old techniques applied with modern materials in front of the thousand year old crumbling facades of Jaipur, remnants of a prosperous age in Rajasthan.

leather shoes for sale, Jaipur, India
Dariece enjoying a chai in the old city, Jaipur, India

One day we took a tuk-tuk to see some sites that were to far to walk to. We checked out the massive 420 year old Amber Fort which loomed at the edge of a enormous cliff. We climbed over two hundred stairs to reach Ganesh temple where we used the god of prosperity a garland of marigolds to bless our future endeavours. We finished the day off on the shores of a lake gazing at the floating palace while the sun dipped low in the sky. Each night we returned to our hotel and took pleasure in some of the most rich and delicious Indian curries we’ve ever had, cooked fresh each order. We would then retreat to our warm room where we enjoyed TV and ate treats in our big comfortable bed.

beautiful mirrors inside the Amber Fort, Jaipur, India
One of the entrances to the Amber Fort, Jaipur, India
Dariece with some women from Punjab, Amber Fort, Jaipur India
Lake Palace, Jaipur, India

Dariece taking a moment to kick back at a Maharajan style temple, Jaipur, India
View from Ganesh Temple, Jaipur, India
When Christmas morning came we woke up around 9 am and bought some sweet tea to our room. We sipped the hot chai while we opened gifts that we had gotten from Nepal. basic things that were beneficial for travelling like warm slippers, shirts, pants and chocolate bars.

Goats On The road opening up presents on Christmas morning, Jaipur, India
enjoying some delicious chai tea on Christmas morning, Jaipur, India
That night, while our families were just waking up in a different time-zone half way around the world, we had our Christmas feast. Domino’s Pizza! There was even a Santa Clause outside handing out candy. A skinny, beardless dark-skinned Santa but a Santa nonetheless. We had a large pepperoni pizza with coke and garlic bread and ate it inside the festively decorated Indian style Domino’s restaurant. and surprisingly it was delicious. I don’t like Domino’s at home but Domino’s in India is a treat, or maybe it was because we hadn’t had a proper pizza in so long.

Later, we called our families to say Merry Christmas. A mixture of emotions comes with Christmas abroad. It reminds you of how terrific it is when the whole family gets together in celebration and it’s hard to not be around for it. Our Christmas ended back in our hotel room, with a bottle of white wine which we drank in bed while enjoying our much-loved TV shows from home. I guess sometimes, especially at Christmas, you need to check yourself into somewhere with all the comforts of home.

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