camels, iPhones and other juxtapositions: or, our time in jaipur
July 17, 2010 — genvessel
typical sight in jaipur: camels
When we hit Jaipur, we knew we were in a different place. Camels mixed with BMWs, traditional sarees mixed with Marks and Spensers. Jaipur is a city of juxtapositions and I loved it. (Not that the other cities weren’t different, this one just was just another step deeper into the well of India.) It’s about the physical size of Waco, but holds about 3 million people to Waco’s 200,000. Located in Rajasthan, it was one of the places favored by the Raj. It was the first planned city in India, founded in 1727 and you can tell that it was organized. The traffic was the closest thing to logical that we saw during our time. Rajasthan is deeply proud of itself and its culture. It felt different and acted different in truly fantastic ways.
Unfortunately for me, this town also marked where I had to take some time off due to sickness. One of the boys on the team was down for the count as well, so we learned what medicine looked like in Jaipur. A house call and a bag full of prescriptions, we were $20 poorer and diagnosed with pre-pneumonia. It was a great time of conversations and rest, though. That night, however, the whole team took in a cultural experience at Choki Danni – which we affectionately refer to as the Rajasthani State Fair. Men on stilts, camel rides and magicians – it was fantastic!
Jaipur was the first city we visited that I want to go back to. The other cities were great and I enjoyed our time there, but I want to go back and spend more time exploring Jaipur. We had some conversations with expats living in Jaipur as well that added to that longing.
Typical. Guys on motorbike, ladies in a rickshaw, camels pulling a cart and I’m riding in a auto-rickshaw. I love India.
Amber Fort. Consecrated in 1592, it’s a MASSIVE structure (and gorgeous).
Team at Amber Fort
So, in India, there are monkeys. We were not allowed to interact with them. Ever.
Cultural dancing at the Rajasthani State Fair
So maybe we rode camels. No big deal.
The Madhuban Hotel : our home for our time in Jaipur
So when we were at Choki Danni, there was a man-powered ferris wheel. Clearly, our team was all over that. Six of them paid their 20 rupees and climbed on board. They claim it was the best money they ever spent.
Here’s the team on the wheel : Mike, Andy, Josh, Kari, CJ, Casey
