Activity level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Modes of transportation: 🚗👟🐪
We were running too late to eat breakfast, but decided we needed something. So Sarah asked if she could get a pastry from the buffet (it was included in our room). They misunderstood; and pulled the display donuts from the case by the front desk. They were not good (definitely only for display), but we knew lunch would be late so Sarah ate them anyway.
When we got into the car, it reeked of Raid (which we were all about, honestly). Editor’s note: we didn’t have any more bug issues the rest of the tour.
We picked up our guide, who was pretty good. He gave us the history of Jaipur and the Amber Fort on the way, and it was very informative. He kept trying to get us to do the elephant ride to the top, but we passed and took our car up instead. The hawkers here weren’t as bad, mostly because there were a lot more people (and also because we got better at ignoring them).
Sarah was enamored by the wall around the city. It was a pretty cool sight to see the wall extend on the mountaintops, down into the valley and surround the city.
Apparently, the King of Jaipur still lives in the palace, and they were setting up for some event while we were there. We’re still not sure exactly what it was.
This fort was slightly different: it was made of sandstone like many of the rest, but it was covered in plaster made of limestone. It reminded us of old French sort of finish.
Sarah loved the room of mirrors, which was unlike anything else we’d seen. Our tour guide held up a flashlight, and it was mesmerizing watching it reflect back from thousands of curved mirrors.
After that, we went to do a camel ride. It was only about 15 minutes, but honestly that was more than enough (it was fun!). Eric tipped the “driver” in front of his boss, and that seemed to annoy everyone. But what can you do.
As is customary, we were shuttled to a rock polishing shop to “learn” about the art form and see the wares. Luckily for them (or unluckily), Sarah wanted to buy a small ring.
Here’s the thing about Sarah: she’s a shop owners second worst nightmare (first being someone who does all this and then doesn’t buy anything). She’s indecisive enough to try on literally everything in the store. They were pulling out boxes with dust on them for her to try on. She tried on the emerald stuff before they told us the price, then they had to put it all away while we switched to cheaper stones. That combined with Eric’s natural inclination not to spend money means they did so much work, only for Eric to balk at the price and look more and more annoyed.
We ended up getting an amethyst necklace (they ended up dropping the price 5 times). They looked ready to get us out of the store by the end (they even took out the silver chain secretly before giving it to us). All in all, entertaining.
We also went to the section with all of the astrological instruments, which were pretty fascinating. They had huge sundials to precisely calculate the time (down to the second) and all kinds of astrological compasses. We sort of knew this, but we learned that astrology is still huge in Hinduism—especially in selecting arranged marriages. So they put a lot of time and effort into making precise astrological instruments (historically, of course. Nowadays it’s all just computers).
After that, we went to lunch and got some pretty good kaju (cashew curry) and butter chicken.
From there, we basically turned down the guides offer to see some wood block paintings (and shop). He wasn’t too happy, but that was pretty much the end of the tour. (From the car, we turned and saw him go from cheerful to bitter and mutter some words to our driver). We tipped him, and went on our way (that seemed to cheer him up). Our driver congratulated us on getting rid of him.
After that, there was one thing left to do: buy a sari to wear for the rest of the India trip as well as the Middle East.
Ratan brought us to a pretty local shop (they clearly catered to mostly local customers). They gave us a sales pitch for their blankets first, which they apparently supply to Anthropologie and Hermes.
Then, we went to the sari section. Again, Sarah tried on everything in the store. Again, the salespeople seemed annoyed when we balked at the price, but we ended up negotiating quickly and getting it done. We also got a nice shawl to sweeten the deal, and they took Sarah’s measurements for the top part of the dress.
After the stress of shopping, our driver made a stop at a massage shop and Sarah got a sweet aroma therapy massage while Eric played chess (he didn’t want to get oily).
From there, we went back to the hotel. We were mostly out of clean clothes, so we just ordered room service and did a little sink laundry to get us through to Saudi Arabia.
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