Bollywood all the way!!
Took yet another hot sticky train to the holy city of Pushkar. The entire city is strictly vegetarian, and conservative dress is strongly suggested. The lake in the middle of the city is supposed to be holy and many people bathe in it, however for the past 6 months, it has been completely dried up! (see pic of the little pond at sunset that was once a lake!) Nothing much else to report from Pushkar except the following: lots of good shopping, a really good falafel stand, and we found another pool to lounge by... which I stayed beside all day in the desert heat (engrossed in the book Shantaram - excellent book!!) and gave myself heat stroke.... which caused me to promptly throw up my falafel on the side of a dirt road while the many curious Indian men tried to offer advice... I was sick for the next 12 hours! And I thought it would have been the curries that did my stomach in, but no, it was the pool lounging :)
After a good haul of shopping goodies, we traveled to the capital city of Rajastan: Jaipur. This city did not win our hearts as a favourite in India. The people were not helpful and there wasn't much to do. We saw - shockingly! - another fort, which was pretty but had poorly treated elephants giving tourist rides, which was upsetting to see. (we didn't take one). The best part of Jaipur was that we went to a beautifully restored art deco theatre and saw a traditional Bollywood film (in Hindi, so subtitles). Despite the language barrier, we loved the film! It was about a girl who dresses as a guy to make the national cricket team... very entertaining!! We also saw a wedding procession where the groom rides on horseback to his bride surrounded by people and elaborate lights... that are lit from massive generators that dudes at the back of the procession keep lit by pushing massive generators mounted on bikes! And in North America, we worry about the colour of the seat covers! haha.
While in Jaipur we also saw Janta Mantar - a very scientific and precise astronomical observatory that was built in the 17th century. It was pretty interesting and we got to see the worlds largest sundial... whew... now I can check that item off my bucket list :)
Another hot bus took us to the town of Bhratpur. We stayed at a surprisingly nice hotel located literally on the side of the highway. There was a bird sanctuary there, as well as one street that constituted the entire town's population. That's all. Then it was onto THE OLDEST BUS IN THE WORLD STILL ON THE ROAD (or so it seemed!). Seriously... check this thing out! haha. There really is no more stylish way to arrive at the splendor that is the Taj Mahal....
After a good haul of shopping goodies, we traveled to the capital city of Rajastan: Jaipur. This city did not win our hearts as a favourite in India. The people were not helpful and there wasn't much to do. We saw - shockingly! - another fort, which was pretty but had poorly treated elephants giving tourist rides, which was upsetting to see. (we didn't take one). The best part of Jaipur was that we went to a beautifully restored art deco theatre and saw a traditional Bollywood film (in Hindi, so subtitles). Despite the language barrier, we loved the film! It was about a girl who dresses as a guy to make the national cricket team... very entertaining!! We also saw a wedding procession where the groom rides on horseback to his bride surrounded by people and elaborate lights... that are lit from massive generators that dudes at the back of the procession keep lit by pushing massive generators mounted on bikes! And in North America, we worry about the colour of the seat covers! haha.
While in Jaipur we also saw Janta Mantar - a very scientific and precise astronomical observatory that was built in the 17th century. It was pretty interesting and we got to see the worlds largest sundial... whew... now I can check that item off my bucket list :)
Another hot bus took us to the town of Bhratpur. We stayed at a surprisingly nice hotel located literally on the side of the highway. There was a bird sanctuary there, as well as one street that constituted the entire town's population. That's all. Then it was onto THE OLDEST BUS IN THE WORLD STILL ON THE ROAD (or so it seemed!). Seriously... check this thing out! haha. There really is no more stylish way to arrive at the splendor that is the Taj Mahal....
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