Two nights ago we met a nice tuk-tuk driver named Raj. He gave me his card and told me to call him whenever I wanted to go around the city. He quoted what we thought was a fair rate of 50 Rs an hour.
Yesterday we went to Pushkar, so I didn’t call him. He saw Chuck at the conference and asked why I hadn’t phoned.
So at 10 am he met Lucille and me outside of the hotel for a day of exploring. He took us to an ATM, so that we would be prepared for shopping.
First we went to the Hawa Mahal, aka Palace of the winds. We see pictures of it all over and could see it from the Observatory. This is a model of it. The real thing is covered in scaffolding and not too photogenic at this point.
Its purpose in life seemed to be as a giant reviewing stand for the ladies in purdah. All of the windows are screened with the slots looking down at the street. All processions went down the street in front of this building. It is very tall and narrow. It has 7 floors, but is only one room wide. Instead of steps, there is a ramp that goes from floor to floor. Supposedly, the women wore very elaborate holiday dresses that were very heavy - so they were pushed in chairs by their servants.
A close up of the screen:
The view of the street:
This is a part of the palace that has been finished. You can see how lovely it is and why this is called the pink city, although I would call it more a coral.
Then Raj took us all over the city. The first bazaar we wanted to stop at was right in front of this Palace. He warned us that we would find it difficult, because the shopkeepers are very aggressive and would try to pull us into their stores. We managed 1 block and decided to cross the street and work our way back. Crossing the street is truly an adventure. There was a man standing next to us and we decided that when he moved, we would move with him. Unfortunately, when he moved, he jumped onto a moving bus. Not a good person to follow. Finally we just bit the bullet and worked our way across. We admitted to Raj that he had been right.
Then we went to a cheaper bazaar, but since it doesn’t get as many tourists, the shopkeepers are a little more laid back.
On our way, we passed the milk store:
All of these guys are there to fill up their milk cans. I think that they resell it.
Lucille and I aren’t really dedicated shoppers, so we would look for awhile and move on to the next place - another FACTORY! We were really fast there. Then we went to a shop that is owned by a friend of Raj’s. It had nicer things. Lucille was tempted by a scarf but decided to sleep on it.
This really was an errand day. Lucille and Art are going to an Indian friend’s home for dinner – so she had to buy a bottle of something to take. We stopped at a bottle shop and after much dithering chose a bottle of Indian whiskey. Who knows what it will taste like?
Then, a stop at the phone store, to see why her phone wasn’t working properly. She bought a sim chip in Mumbai and now, it doesn’t seem to work in Jaipur.
We went back to the hotel to rest before the “cultural extravaganza”. Raj was right on time when we headed back out to go to conference. He even agreed to find another tuk-tuk to take us all back to the hotel after it was over.
This evening turned out to be a big deal – a musical performance by one of the really famous musicians in India and then a dinner provide by the Prime Minister.
I’m not very musical – but this performance was wonderful. I hadn’t known that Ragas are all improvised within a set of rules.
After the dinner buffet, Art, Lucille, Chuck and I headed out hoping that Raj would be dependable. There he was – with a cousin in tow. We really didn’t want to have to sit and wait until the buses decided to depart.
I have been trying to find a nice Parcheesi set. I can’t even find an ordinary one. The people who know what they are, are astonished that I even know about it. One of the people who knew what I was talking about runs the jewelry shop in the hotel. He said that his company/family could make one. They could even make one with little carved and painted elephants for the pieces. Chuck and I went and ordered it. While we were working on the paper work, I asked what one looked for in an emerald. Chuck decided to go to bed. Yogi (my new friend’s name) showed me every emerald he had in stock and showed me how to compare them. I ended up choosing a stone that he will set into a ring.
A grand finish to a fun day
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