Jaipuring it up

Saturday morning we started bright and early for the airport to begin our extra tour of India. When we arrived in New Delhi it was raining cats and dogs! Our luggage got pretty wet but it's all good. We had a 5 hour drive to Jaipur once we got to New Delhi. That was eventful. Once we got to the hotel (which was really nice, Ramada Jaipur, there not this nice back in the states) we just relaxed. Sunday morning though we woke with a jolt when I checked my iPod and it said 7:45. We were heading off for touring at 8 AM. False alarm. I again forgot to set my iPod back to India time. I've kept my laptop on Utah time this whole trip so whenever I charge my iPod it sets it back to Utah time. Gees! I've got to stop that. Now we just have a wake up call, just in case. We barely had enough time to enjoy the delish complimentary breakfast buffet. Croissants, doughnuts, french toast, hash browns, etc. After breakfast we met our tour guide for Jaipur, Ajit. He was pretty cool. He spoke perfect English and knew so much about everything. Interesting facts, little tidbits that made visiting these places that more exciting. 

This is what Delhi looked like when we arrived... rainy. My luggage got wet!

Elephant caravan we passed on our 5 hour drive to Jaipur.

Entrance to the  "Pink City."

This is the first place we stopped. It's a facade palace. That's really all there is. I don't remember it's name. I'll just keep calling it the facade palace. :)  It was built for the queen to observe the people. It's not an actual palace. :)

Next we went to Amber fort. One way to get up to it is to take an elephant taxi. Here's a line-up of elephant taxis. Just Griffin and I rode one. I'd ridden an elephant in Agra too (as you should already know). This ride was much longer though (and it cost more). But it's all worth it to ride my favorite animal. :)

Riding an elephant up to Amber fort.

View from on top of the elephant

Courtyard entrance

Entrance to fort. I don't know if you can tell it's blurry from this far away but my camera was having focusing issues when the tour guide tried to take it. Speaking of which he loved taking pictures with my camera. He loved how it makes the shutter sound. :) I love it too.

Gorgeous entrance to King's private part of the fort.

After the fort (which I have hundreds more pictures of, just ask to see them when I get back) we went to see some block printing. The two main industries in Jaipur are textiles and stone cutting. We went to see how both of these were made. For textiles we saw how they did block printing. I found it uber exciting considering I love fabric and I've taken print making. :)

Picture of block printing. There's a different stamp for each color. This one was a 4 stamp process.

He starts out with plain cotton cloth

Takes the stamp and dabs it in paint.

And applies!

I helped on the next stamp. Okay all I got to do was hit the back of it hard but it was still exciting. We all helped on each stamp until it looked like this...

After that we went into his store for a little... SHOPPING! I told myself I was done shopping but I couldn't go home without a bedspread and pillows to redecorate my room with. I've been planning on redecorating it Indian style for awhile so this trip has let me buy authentic, ethnic pieces. :)

Here's my beautiful bedspread, all hand embroidered.

Next we went to stone cutting to see how they make their gorgeous jewelry. They take stones like the ones below

and turn them into pieces like these.

 I went a little crazy shopping that day. But you're only in India every so often. I'd say once in a lifetime but I want to come back. By the way mom and dad I owe you guys. I'll pay you... don't worry. :)

Finishing up the touring for the day we went to the City Palace and Observatory. It is still the current residency for the King of Jaipur. The whole city of Jaipur was founded by the king Jai Singh. He was a smart man. He laid out the whole city and gave them an observatory. A funny thing about the Kings of Jaipur is they are given the title "sawai." It means 125% king. He's a 1 1/4 king because he's a good king plus a quarter more. :)

I don't know if you can tell in this picture but there's one flag plus a quarter, representing the king. :) Just an interesting tidbit.

Another interesting thing is these doors. They have spikes on them to stop elephants from busting the doors with their heads. I find anything involving elephants fascinating. :)

That night I got so bored that I gave myself braids that ended up looking like dreads. I was pretty cool with them. :)