Jaipurrrrr

The gates of the Old City of Jaipur wind around the major sites and bazaars that are not to be missed. The gates, like much of the Old City, are rather, well, pink. The streets in between the major sites are lined with what seems to be an unlimited supply of shops. The shops are filled with beautiful fabric, stunning jewelry, and a gorgeous assortment of lanterns, rugs, and other various home goods. Before coming to India I thought that everything would be incredibly cheap here, and given that I have been purchasing imports from India since I was a very young teenager I had visions of stacking up on stunning goods. However, after being in India for just a few days I found that my hopes were quickly dashed. Nothing in India is cheap, at least when you are working off of a Thai budget. However, I couldn’t pass up the gorgeous black embroidered duvet cover with over 3,000 small mirrors, and then of course had to get pillow shams to complement what will be my beautiful Indian themed bedroom. Enough with the shopping, what has really moved me here is the architecture—and this is what we really started the day with.

We woke early, and grabbed breakfast at the cutest hotel we’ve stayed in yet. I highly recommend the Pearl Palace Hotel with its eclectically Indian stylized rooms, and gorgeous peacock themed rooftop restaurant. We began the day somewhat off the beaten path, and just south of the Old City. Thankfully we had decided to hire a driver for the entire trip, and this turned out to be the best decision we could have made. He tipped us off to Albert Hall which is where we began our journey in Jaipur. Albert Hall is only briefly mentioned in the guidebooks as the “Central Museum”. Lonely Planet describes it as displaying, “a fine display of tribalware, decorative arts, costumes, drawing, and musical instruments”. I would not disagree with this, but I would say that they truly sell this beautiful building filled with the rich history of India rather short. I found myself marveling at the wonders of the Indian culture at every turn. Not to mention the beauty of the building itself. I truly believe that to pass up an opportunity to see this is to miss an integral part of India.

We made our way from Albert Hall through the Jaipur traffic (Bangkok will seem quiet after a week and half in India’s traffic), and found ourselves in front of one of the most stunning structures that I have yet seen here. Hawa Mahal is a stunning five-storied, honeycombed, pink sand-stone structure. The building was originally intended for the ladies of the royal house to watch the busy city streets while not being seen themselves. Wandering through the winding halls of Hawa Mahal one is met at every turn by shuttered windows that look out onto the streets below. The opulence of the environment means that the royal ladies that once looked out onto this space did so in a great amount of comfort that would have been a stark contrast from the dirty city streets below. I don’t think that my words are sufficient to describe the soft pink glow of this stunning structure.

After a couple of hours wandering through Hawa Mahal we made our way to Jantar Mantar. Immediately I felt that I was transported to the set of one of my favorite childhood movies. The winding staircases to nothing, the sharp angles, the strange spinning dials. Still no clue? Well, let’s just say that I really was keeping an eye out for my very own Goblin King (minus the tights and bad haircut of course—I’m thinking well fit jeans and great eyes will do the trick..just saying). Jantar Mantar is the city’s observatory which was constructed in 1728. The giant sculptures were meant to chart the sun’s movement through each of the zodiacs. Unfortunately they had the staircases blocked off so that I couldn’t climb them into the faerie world, but you know my mind wandered there anyway.

After Jantar Mantar we made our way to the city’s bazaars where we flexed our haggling muscles (some of us better than others—I was strangely moody that afternoon, and my haggling skills turned out to be quite subpar). About halfway through our shopping adventures we stopped at the little rooftop Ganesh Restaurant. I can’t tell you exactly what I had there—as it was simply called the Ganesh Special—but I can say that it was damned tasty. It seemed to be a curried mix of potatoes, onion, chickpeas, paneer, and something that had the same texture as tempeh. No clue exactly what it was, but damned good. After lunch we made our way to a couple of the “factory stores” where our driver had enthusiastically explained we could get very good deals. Although I had heard of drivers taking unsuspecting tourists to the government emporiums, and was therefore a little cautious, I wasn’t expecting the song and dance we got at the two “factories” he took us to. It was a little like theater, and I enjoyed it thoroughly, from the palm reading jewel dealer to the wheeling and dealing textile hustler. A good time was had by all, except the merchants whose pockets were not filled by our rupees by the end of our time together.

Jaipur was altogether wonderful, and I highly recommend it. I also recommend having a ton of money with you when you arrive as so far this is the best shopping I’ve seen in all of India (which is turning out to be surprisingly expensive—did I mention that already?).

Grateful,

The Epicurious Gypsy