Jodhpur 

        I arrived in Jodhpur and checked into The Lords Inn. Although my room was spacious and comfortable, this was my least favorite hotel. I'll get to that later. Instead of my usual routine of ordering room service, putting on my jammies, and streaming Griselda on Netflix, I waited for my friend Jain to get off work. I hadn't seen him since he had to leave Delhi early to return to the shop where he works. He arrived around 7pm and we ordered a margherita pizza from a local shop on Zomato. The pizza was great, but it was spicier than an American margherita pizza would be. We also ordered milkshakes. I ordered a chocolate milkshake and Jain ordered a cookies and cream. When the milkshakes arrived they were really runny in my opinion. Not exactly cold either. At first I thought they had sent us a couple of Lassis. That is an Indian drink made of milk, water, and/or fruit and spices. I personally think they are not tasty at all. After a few hours Jain left for home, and I finished Griselda.

The next morning I met my guide and driver at 9am. The plans for the day included visiting Mehrangarth Fort and Jaswant Thada. This was also Republic Day in India which commemorates the enactment of India's constitution on January 26th, 1950.

Jodhpur still has a ruling local royal family.  They no longer serve as rulers since India is a democratic country. The current Maharaja of Jodhpur is Gaj Singh II. Their family opened the fort as a museum and they still maintain a family palace across the city. That's him below. He came to the throne at the age of 4.

You can see the royal palace wayyy off in the distance.

Like every other fort in India, this one is located on top of a hill with many tiny winding roads to get there. As we walked up to the entrance I noticed tons of middle school children waiting to enter. Republic Day is a national holiday in India so typically there is no school. My guide explained that despite there being no school, teachers still planned field trips for students to attend. I think that is a great way to use a holiday. Field trips can teach so much more than books sometimes.

Unlike other forts in India, this one had an elevator that took us up to the top. Forts have LOTS of stairs and they are not always the best so I was happy to take the elevator. The top featured stunning views of the city and cannons to show the way things used to be. On the inside there are stunning royal rooms and many rooms used to display royal objects like Palanquins (covered litters) that carried various people in the royal family throughout history. Personally, I think I should be carried around in one of these every day.

This Palanquin was used to carry the royal children.

     

                                                                      Peacock litter.

Another cool thing that I saw here that I haven't seen anywhere else was a display of royal baby cribs! Of course they are stunning!

Also of interesting note, this fort was used in the movie The Dark Night Rises and The Jungle Book live version from 1994.

Along the way I photographed the weapons of Rajasthan. Rajasthan is known historically for their fierce warriors. Rajasthan was a state never captured by the British. Instead they accepted British money in order to keep their local rulers in charge. Personally, I feel from viewing the Rajasthan weaponry that the British would never been able to conquer them. Check out the weapons below.

                      The weapons on the right open and close with a scissor-like effect.

                       The sword above on the far right also has a small gun built in! The technology from                         centuries ago is amazing.

                                      

Long rifles

Art supplies and the various colors taken from nature to create the intricate Indian artwork similar to the Persian style of painting.

Clothing of the royal family. 

To finish off this beautiful fort here is a huge picture dump. Enjoy!

                                        Pushkar and the Temple of Brahma

    The next stop on my journey to Jodhpur was Pushkar and Pushkar Lake. Once again this was a place that I did not research beforehand so it was going to be a total surprise to me. The city of Pushkar is about 93 miles from Jaipur. It's not a huge city and it's sort of in the middle of nowhere. Its significance to Hindus and Sikhs, as I would learn on my tour, is very significant. The best way I can think to phrase it is like this: Christians have the Vatican, Muslims have Mecca, and Hindus and Sikhs have Pushkar. It is the ONLY Hindu temple dedicated to the deity Brahma. Ok so who is this Brahma guy and why does he only get one temple? 

Brahma is referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti (Trinity) of supreme divinity in Hinduism. The other two deities that join him are Vishnu and Shiva. He is associated with knowledge, creation, and the four Vedas. The Vedas are the sacred ancient texts of Hinduism. In the painting above Brahma is depicted with four heads. This is because each head points to a cardinal direction: north, south, east, and west. His female consort is Saraswati the Goddess of knowledge, music, art, and speech. 

According to Padma Purana this is why Brahma only has one temple in the entire world. 

One day Brahma saw a demon trying to kill his children and harassing the people. He immediately slew this demon with his weapon, the lotus flower. During this process three lotus petals fell to the ground and created three lakes: The Pushkar Lake, the Madya Pushkar, and Kanishta Pushkar. At the biggest lake, Pushkar Lake, he decided to perform a yajina or fire ritual. To do so peacefully he created all the hills around Pushkar to protect it from more demons. Every ritual in India to this day is designed to be done by a male and a female. So this is where he gets into trouble. Brahma's wife Saraswati was not ready at the designated time to perform her part. Supposedly she was waiting for her female companions. So Brahma, being a typical male, decided to marry another woman named Gayatri to complete the ritual. When Saraswati finally arrived only to see another woman sitting in her spot she was furious! To make a long legend shorter she did bestowed many curses, but most important was that Brahma could ONLY be worshipped in Pushkar. Hence why it's so important for Hindus and Sikhs to make their pilgrimages there.

While the city does perk up during other parts of the year when the host animals shows etc., it's basically just a temple, a giant bazaar, and a giant lake where people can go and bathe in the holy waters at various ghats or steps leading down to the water. I was not permitted to take any pictures in the temple and I did not want to accidently catch anyone bathing so these pics are from the internet. What I never understood and no one could really explain to me is why some of these women bathing in public were topless like in front of EVERYONE. Most women kept on their sari tops or their bras which to me seemed normal. Some women however were completely topless. Not being showy about it, but everyone could see. India is a conservative country so this seemed odd to me. 

Above is the temple, the shrine inside, and the ghats. It was a beautiful place and I wanted to make an offering. My guide told me "no" which is unusual. I usually do at least one when I visit India. This time I actually didn't do any which still feels weird to me. The pictures below are ones that I took.

These beautiful items that look like bracelets are actually what the women put on their heads to help them carry things up there! I wish I had bought one.

Women all over India actually do carry lots of items on their heads. It's amazing to watch because they carry everything from bundles of sticks to large bags of rice.

One of the bazaar streets still decorated with orange flags long after the opening of the new Rama temple. 

Finally, this video I took upon entering Pushkar. It says everything about rural India in one video. You have boars randomly crossing the street, the cows roaming, then a dog. 

Here are some more random pics I took on our way to Jodhpur:

A weird place to stop and ride a camel, but the camel is so pretty.

India has cactus!

Local woman herding goats

Cows just chilling out in the middle of the road. 

                                  Jaipur Day 3......Adventures

        The night of the 22nd was a long one. Between the parties outside and the Hindu couple arguing in the hallway I was over it. As I was getting ready I decided to blast 90's rap music like L.L. Cool J. I gave them a wake up call I have no doubt. This morning I did not want a guide. Instead I had my driver set up my first awesome adventure... elephant riding. I knew it would be a little cool and foggy in the morning, but when I went outside in my sandals I almost froze in place. It was 45 degrees! That's cold for Jaipur and it's super cold for sandals. I was already dressed and I knew it would warm up so I just tried to roll with it. Last year during my trip to Jaipur I also saw elephants, but it was an elephant refuge. This meant only their trainers could ride them and it was a sanctuary so they were no longer working animals. I had a good time, but this was going to be more fun.

Having a great driver in India is everything, I cannot say this enough. My driver knew the owner of this farm so he was able to set me up with an appointment for a cheaper price than the actual tour agency. My experience for the visit included feeding my elephant, riding, painting on my elephant with colorful clay, then helping give the elephant a bath. I decided to skip the painting part. Elephants get cold really easily and I did not want her to get wet. My elephants name was Lakshmi after the Hindu goddess. She was super chill. Riding her was awesome, but scary as hell. I had to climb a long staircase to get into her carrier. I thought I'd be sitting up top facing forward like they always show on tv. Nope. I was sitting on her sideways. It constantly felt like her carriage was going to slide backwards. The people walking with me barely spoke English so they just kept smiling and walking. In reality I probably wasn't even close to falling, but I'm also afraid of heights and elephants are taller than you might think. 

A nice surprise during my elephant ride was seeing a batch of puppies! India has random dogs everywhere. They aren't really kept as house pets in India and they definitely aren't treated like children. Yet many communities take action to feed them and some even make sweaters to help keep them warm on cold nights. My driver told me that many families make an extra helping of food just for dogs because it brings them good karma. 

After I finished with Lakshmi it was time to go shopping! Last year I visited the most fabulous textile shop called Jaipur Boutique Carpet & Valintino Textiles. They sell everything from carpets and blankets to sari's, shirts, and everything in between. Shopping for clothes there felt like visiting the Versace store to purchase couture clothing made just for me! So of course I was going to return again this year. It's also where I met my friend Jain last year. 

Since my friend relocated back to his home city of Jodhpur and works in a new shop, I went in and headed straight for the owner, his cousin Anshol. Last year I was spoiled because I visited his shop on a Sunday so I was the only tourist. This year there were many groups touring the shop. I knew that I'd have to haggle a little bit on the price and I knew Anshol would remember me and he did! There are so many types and colors of fabrics in his shop so everything goes according to price. Then depending on what you are buying, you pick out the style of clothing, a tailor comes to measure you, then BOOM! It's ready and at your hotel by the next day. 

At first the men, it's always men in the shops not women, tried to sell me some ugly, dowdy, British, old woman prints. Yea that's not me at all. So after some negotiating, saying good-bye to a gorgeous pink silk that I couldn't afford, I came out with two shirts which I absolutely love.

The rest of my time in Jaipur was spent playing with monkeys. My driver and I went to a place I visited last year called Galta Ji Temple better known as the monkey temple. The temple is not a functioning temple like the hundreds of others across India. The buildings are deserted and now various groups of monkeys inhabit the area. Locals visit the temple area on Tuesday to pay homage to to the monkey-faced god Hanuman. He is the deity renowned for his courage, power, and faithful selfless service. Certain gods in India have a designated day of the week and his is Tuesday. 

                                                                                 Last year I visited his temple in Delhi shown below.

The temple in Jaipur is centered around a natural spring that is channeled to fill up seven pools. Hindus from all over come to bathe in these springs to wash away their sins. The monkeys also swim and play in it as well. So I can't say the water is probably the cleanest to be dipping in, but then again I'm not Hindu. 

My main goal was to feed and play with the monkeys. Many local people come to this temple and work with the monkeys to train them. Then tourists can play with them safely and they can make a little money for themselves. I got extremely lucky upon meeting one of them on this day. The man I was met was legit. I don't just follow any man that says "hey come let a monkey sit on you" because you never know. My driver said this man was ok so I went for it.

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After the adventures we the monkeys I headed back to my hotel. On the way back I snapped a few quick pics of some wild peacocks. They are the national bird of India and I think they are gorgeous. Last year I saw some peahens for the first time. I didn't realize until then that they are the female peacocks. Mostly white and brown and not nearly as beautiful. The next day we were heading out for my next new city Pushkar then Jodhpur. Unlike last year where I visited both Hindu and Muslim cities, each city I visited this year was Hindu. Each city in India that ends in -pur, or -er is a Hindu city. Any city that ends in -bad, war, gar, etc. is still mainly a Hindu city, but the city maintains a Muslim name such as Hyderabad or Amritsar. 

Here are some more video and pics from Jaipur!

Here local women from Jaipur are coming into the Monkey Temple area to wash in the spring waters and to feed the monkeys. Since cows are everywhere of course they are here too. Fun fact: the cows in India have the giant humps on their backs to serve them the same way that humps serve camels....to conserve water during the hottest months.

Middle school children out with their teacher on a school day. Every school from primary to high school requires uniforms whether it's located in a large city or the countryside. They have maintained the British custom in this sense. Also, to attend private school it is $40. I'm guessing that is $40 per month not year, but I'm not sure. Either way that is not a lot of money for most of us, but over there it is.

Jaipur is famous for many things, but its blue pottery is definitely a stand out. Even Bill and Hillary visited the same shop I did once. The plate below is the traditional pattern for Jaipur. I bought one just like it. They are all hand painted and fired and stunning. Last year I didn't have time to bring any home so this year I wasn't going to miss out!

Finally this is just a street view of what daily life in Jaipur looks like. From the fruit stands and individual shops to the crazy traffic. It's hard to look at a place like this and see the beauty, but trust me once you are there you feel it.

                                                       Jaipur Day 2....Touring

        Since I visited Jaipur last year, this year I needed to find some new stuff to do. My friend Jain had to return to his job in Jodhpur, so for this city I was back to being on my own. I met my guide in the lobby, as usual, then we drove off into the "pink city"  as it's commonly referred to or the older part of Jaipur. How did it get this name? Well, in 1876 Maharaja Ram Singh had most of his city's building painted pink or what appears to me to be more of a brick color. At the time pink was known as the color of hospitality and since Queen Victoria was coming for a visit, he wanted to please her. England still had colonial rule over India and it remained that way until 1947. In my opinion the city walls look like giant pieces of gingerbread, but I'll let you decide for yourself.

People live inside and outside these walls. They are merely remnants from another time yet still striking. Another quick fact I learned on this trip is that in Rajasthan they still create many new buildings in this old style. Yes they have plenty of modern buildings as well, but it's great to see this beautiful technique is still created by hand today.

My half-day tour was meant to be spent visiting a neelgar to watch them work then create my own scarf. Instead another major event in India took place before I made it to my appointment. Ok, I need to hit you with some history so hold on to your butts! 

In 1528 A.D. Babur, a Mughal ruler, whose origin trace back to the Mongols, invaded the Hindu city of Ayodhya. Babur was a Muslim ruler who embraced the Turkic and Persian cultures. Meaning the Turkic tribal peoples, not modern day Turkey and Persia which is modern day Iran. Anyway, he chose to demolish a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Ram and build a mosque devoted to Islam in its place. This is what conquers do. The last Mughal ruler of India remained in place until 1858 when the British East India company pushed him into exile. The British could have cared less whether a mosque or a temple remained on this site. So it persisted as it was until 1992 when angry Hindus tore it down. They wanted to rebuild their temple.

In 2019 the Indian courts decided to return this scared land back to the Hindu people since it is considered the birthplace of one of their primary deities Rama. Rama is the 7th avatar of Vishnu Brahman. Since there are like 3 million Hindu gods I'll just leave it at he's super important. Now typically I'm the first person to raise my hand and say "you can't give land back and reverse history" because in my opinion you can't. Look at Gaza and Israel. However, in this case the Hindu people allocated land so the Muslims could rebuild their mosque as well. Which I think is the right thing to do , but if you saw any of this on the news then you know you can't please everyone. So here I am on January 22, 2024 and India is ready to celebrate their new temple. And when India has a party the entire country has a party. 

For days I had seen every home, building, shop, and bodega placing these orange flags everywhere. Being the American I am, I had no idea the temple was opening during my visit or how much one country can celebrate. As we drove through the gates of the pink city I saw a bunch of action going on. My guide said it was local celebrations for the new temple of Rama. Every local temple was having parades, parties, and fireworks, ALL NIGHT LONG. Seriously 24 hours of all three. The people of Jaipur are so warm and welcoming. They let me take tons of pictures and tried to get me to come along and celebrate.

The man above is wearing the traditional turban of Rajasthan.

                                                       The Rama Temple celebration flag.

Below: I believe they are dressed to represent the God Rama and his consort Sita.

After taking in the celebrations, my guide and I walked down a twisty alley to the home of a family of  Neelgars. Traditionally within Indian history these were the people who were tasked with dying cotton the color indigo, which India is famous for and was very useful to Britain during their reign. However, now Neelgars do not just dye fabrics, but instead use a technique called baandhani or as we say "tie dye". Instead of rubber bands like we use in America, women will tie pieces of string to a fabric tightly. This is what keeps the dye from setting in certain areas. While this may sound simple I can promise you from watching this lady do it in front of me it was not. She was older than me, but she had arms of steal. She wrapped quickly and accurately not making one mistake. This is also a popular job for ladies since it can be done at their homes.

The next step is to apply the dye. This is typically done by the men since the work can sometimes be harder. They can apply one color or several depending on the style they want. 

The scarf they made for me turned out white and orange although I wanted bright yellow. My husband upon seeing it asked me why I made a Whataburger scarf.....now I cannot unsee it. So, instead I purchased this turquoise scarf to wear. The pattern is traditional to the state of Rajasthan.

After my adventures in scarf making, my guide and I headed out to lunch. I was super excited when he suggested the same restaurant I ate at last year! Although I LOVE Indian food it's usually too spicy for me. Even when I say no spice at all it's still too hot. Yet, this one restaurant just gets me. They make the best chicken biryani that I can actually eat. I ate here two days in a row! After a great meal I headed back to my room to chill out before another busy day.

Finally, this was the sound coming into my room that night through closed windows. Fireworks were going off till I woke up in the morning.

                                                             Jaipur....The Drive

    Jaipur is located in the state of Rajasthan. India has 28 states and 8 Union territories.  Out of the few states I have visited Rajasthan is by far my most favorite place. This is also the region where the rest of my trip will take place. Rajasthan is know historically for having some of the fiercest warriors in India. The British never defeated Rajasthan during their time in India. Instead they very wisely chose to pay off the kings to keep them in line. Rajasthan is now primarily known for it's beautiful textile and jewelry industries, as well, as it's beautiful desert region, and my favorite part, its animals. Rajasthan is home to various types of monkeys, elephants, camels, antelopes, cows (of course), wild boars, parrots, leopards, etc. It's palaces and forts are unmatched in their beauty and unlike Delhi, it's a magical place where the old world and modern world blend together like a watercolor painting.

Upon leaving Delhi, my driver and I expected the trip to Jaipur to take us around 3 hours. However, India runs on India time and in a country with 1.5 billion people one learns very quickly to go with the flow of things. I love driving through India by car. There are always cool things to see. Last year I learned about the mustard fields. Beautiful rural farmers grow fields of yellow flowers that eventually because mustard oil which is used to cook with in India. I'm sure I've probably eaten food using mustard oil and I've never noticed any difference. Therefore, it must be good. It's also quit common to see women and children herding their goats right along the freeway and camels transporting items.

Like the United States, India has toll roads. They even have fast pass. Nothing really special about it until you see a man taking his camel through the toll area! This is one of the many "only in India" moments I have on every trip.

Due to road construction, our drive was taking much longer. Freeways in India are crowded with lorries (big trucks), motorbikes, and cars usually transporting tourists. Driving on the left side of the road is not the main difference between driving over there and America. While there are traffic lanes clearly printed on the roads, people mostly do what they want. Vehicles are so close to each other that you could share a sandwich with the car next to you! This is where all the honking comes in. Drivers in India do not honk at each other out of anger.  They do this to constantly let everyone around them, including the animals, that they are close by to prevent accidents. Last year this experience was very overwhelming to me. I though there would be a car accident every five minutes. This year I barely noticed it anymore. Sure there are still accidents, but a lot less than you'd expect. This is also why I always have a driver.

This drive also gave me an unexpected opportunity, feeding the monkeys! They ALWAYS tell tourists in India to stay away from the monkeys. They warn us about carrying food, water, even cellphones, because monkeys are fast and will steal anything. They can also be moody and mean. I have no doubt that all this information is accurate, however, me being the rebel tourist I am, always chooses to do what she wants. Luckily, my driver will also allow me to bend the rules within reason. Usually monkeys are not along freeways. However, on this particular stretch of road local farmers selling papayas will sell fruit so people can feed the monkeys. I was a little hesitant at first and I almost ran into a bull, but otherwise it was awesome!

After a few more hours we finally arrived at my hotel. It's customary for a company representative to greet me in each new place. While it's a nicety most people expect, I personally hate it. I'm a very simple person. You tell me when to meet my guide in the lobby the next day and I'm good. Yet, I just smile and nod to get through it so i can get into my room and do my typical first night routine: pajamas, room service, and streaming something on Netflix. The next day in Jaipur was going to be very exciting and I'd need my rest!