Weekend Trip to Jaipur

Jaipur was beautiful, and still very, very Indian. By that I mean just as dirty, sad and impoverished as other cities, but also full of culture and color.

The shore of the Floating Palace. Lots of Garbage.

We stayed at a hotel that cost us each 12 dollars a night. It was my mistake to think that it was fine but hey, it’s all part of the Indian experience, but it was the dirtiest place I’ve ever paid to be in. There were several men hanging outside who were loitering and staring at us, this large group of white women who happened to stumble into their hotel at a very inappropriate hour. It was about 1AM before our car pulled into the dirt driveway of the hotel called "Hotel."

The building was dirty with chipping white paint, which is the way most buildings here look, but the inside was slightly nicer. When we walked inside, there was a fan and a fresh coat of fresh paint on the walls. We all checked in and walked into our room. We all selfishly chose a bed that had the least amount of stains, but still made a hotel attendant come up to change them. I suggested to my friends that a prostitute must have died at least once in each room. Not a kind suggestion.

When I walked into my room there was a man’s room door wide open while he was lying in bed watching TV, looking very casual and comfortable. We decided to lock our door and put our luggage and chairs in front of our door. Redundant since there was a lock on the outside of our door as well. At least we had the comfort that if someone decided to lock us in, we'd have our friends to let us out..

I decided to sleep in full clothing, covering as much of my body as possible. I curled up and fell asleep with one eye open, afraid that a prostitute ghost might come to life seeking vengeance.

This picture does no justice in demonstrating how dirty this room was. Me looking very frightened.

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The next day, I hesitantly rode an elephant. A friend of mine opted to ride an elephant but couldn’t find someone to ride with her. It costs 900 rupees (which is a little less than 20 US dollars), for 1-2 people. It would cost 900 either way, so she said I might as well come along. It was a frightening experience, but it was beautiful. I sat on it high and prideful, exclaiming that I'm exploiting the elephant by making it trudge up a hill carrying giddy tourists like us. "It's cruel!" I'd say.

Fortunately, elephants only ride up the hill to Amber Fort a maximum of 5-6 times, so I embraced it..  a little. At least that's what the elephant conductors told us..

The very beautiful elephant who so kindly let me ride him.

My ultimate favorite part of Jaipur was ironically, the hectic, busy, overcrowded bazaar where I was able to hone my bargaining skills. My pride and glory was when I was able to get a 2800 rupee sari down to 200 rupees, which I didn’t even end up buying. Any person who would buy that cheap, factory made sari for that much money would have to be a little dense. I had fun with the situation, making people go lower down to my price. I started imagining myself in a megaplex-type grocery store back home, “Cornflakes? 5 dollars? I’ll give you 3, no more, no less."

Getting some henna (mendhi) done.

When we finished up our evening and headed to our scummy hotel, we took advantage of the bar entitled “Bar” attached to "Hotel." Imagine about 7-8 white women walking into a filthy, hole-in-the wall-dive, populated only with chain-smoking, old Indian men. Not only did “Bar” only have about two beer options, but one was entitled “Beer”, which I assumed was bottled right there. I opted for the Kingfisher. We proceeded to become obnoxious, loud and very, very foreign. I was alright for us since we clearly outnumbered the Indian men. We felt very secure and happy. We became our own little bubble of life, shutting out the weird looks and stares in “Bar."