Hello, my name is Khan

Jaipur!! We loved Jaipur! Again, you've caught me on another train. This time from Jaipur to Agra, but still at 5:45 am. We are sad to leave Jaipur but excited that we are headed to see the Taj Mahal! I can't believe that I will actually see the Taj in just a few hours.

I left off last time on the train to Jaipur from Delhi. It was our first train ride in India and was the best way to travel. We wanted to sleep but had a hard time peeling our eyes off of the windows. As soon as we hit the outskirts of Delhi, it was slums for miles. I've read a bit about Indian slums in Shantaram, but it was still a huge dose of reality. They were huge, endless, built of scraps and trash. One on top of another. They have no privacy and consequentially, no need for it. Dotted along the railways for miles were men, backsides facing us, doing their "morning business". Others were out having a bucket bath, washing clothes, shaving their beards. All along the railway.

Upon arriving in Jaipur we headed towards the exit ready to find a ride to our hotel. The competition is stiff for drivers, before we even reached tbe exit we were greeted by a little indian man with a big smile. Hello, my name is Khan. He convinced us with a rock bottom price of 100 rupies for the transfer, just about £1.50. Little did we know we had just met some new friends. On the short drive to the hotel he sold us his driving services for the day for only 300 rupies for the afternoon. We wanted to spend a few hours at our great hotel by the pool. We stayed in Umaid Bhawan, it was fantastic! Would recommend to anyone going to Jaipur. After a rest by the pool Khan took us to see the sights. We all three instantly loved Jaipur. It wasn't a crazy as Delhi, the people were friendlier and we had a new friend Khan. He took us to a tower that we climbed to see a great view of Jaipur from above. Jaipur is a city surrounded by high hills all dotted with huge forts.

Next, we headed the Royal Gatore which is a royal crematorium for old kings. However, these are al recent kings from the last 70 years...they still build tombs in a grand manner. Afterwards we headed off to catch a waterside view of the Water Palace. Aptly named, as it is in the middle of a small lake and looks as if it is floating.

Next we were onto some shopping at the factories that supply the shops and markets. We went to a jewelry shop that handmakes all of its jewelry. We were shown how they hand cut and polish semi-precious stones. I ended up treating myself to a new lemon topaz ring! We went to a textiles factory next. Here we saw a man hand weaving a rug on a loom. They showed us how they hand dye elaborate patterns on blank cotton canvases. We saw the dying factory where they hand dye thousands of cotton dresses in one large vat of boiling colored water, then hang them to dry in the sun. We were also treated to a little impromptu street parade along the way! I had no intentions of buying anything but ended up walking out with a new duvet cover and matching shams...oops! It is gorgeous though, white linen with white embroidery. It takes them two months to handmake and I got is all for £60!!

We spent quite a long time here so afterwards Khan took us to a rooftop restaurant called Maggis. The food was good and there was a puppet show, which creeped Annie out and was a little weird. Khan had his brother in law come meet us there to take us home when we wanted. So then enters Sameer on our little journey. Sameer is a young guy, spoke very good english and was quite a charcter. Sameer joined us on the roof terrace for a while and then Annie convinced him to give her some rickshaw driving lessons! They all think we are crazy, by the way, when we tell them what we are doing here! Annie picked it up quick and drove us the short drive back to our hotel! Our first rickshaw driving experience!! Sameer informed us he would be driving us around the next day, so we met him bring and early the next morning for a full day of sight seeing...but that will be another post. I need to take a nap on the train so I am well rested for my Taj Mahal experience!
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