Last Saturday we went to Jaipur from Delhi with an early train (06:00 AM). As always, upon arrival at the Jaipur train station we were approached by approximately 10 rickshaw drivers who all wanted to drive us around. Luckily we found the prepaid station where we were assigned to a guy called Mohammed who later turned out to be our guide in the city. He took us to a place called “Diggi Palace”, a 200 hundred year old Indian villa kept in great conditions (see pictures). The place was too good to be true … besides the beautiful building in a peaceful site, it had a gorgeous garden with lots of birds and other animals. Fortunately there was still a room available. During the ride to the hotel he showed us a book where many tourists from many different countries had written their travel experience with him. They were all seemed to be very enthusiastic and positive and the guy seemed like a trustworthy person. Therefore we decided to go ahead and ask him to show us around.
Later on in the afternoon he came to pick us up from the hotel and showed us many places in the capital of Rajasthan: a wind palace, a sun temple and a local factory where a friend of his explained us the process of making textile, the coloring etc. It was a memorable day and we very happy to have a local show us around.
The next morning we had a nice breakfast in the garden and decided to ring up Mohammed to show us more of Jaipur. It was however not Mohammed who came, but instead his brother/cousin/neighbor (we still don’t know, hahaha). He did however call us to say that he couldn’t make it but that the other guy could show us around and so we decided to go for it anyway. It turned out that there was going to be a engagement ceremony that same day as his cousin was going to get married. He asked us if we were interested in seeing this and ofcourse we said YES!! We went to a place where the two families (of the bride and groom) came together with a Brahman who read both their horoscopes and then determined whether they made a good couple. Now the thing that was really surprising to me was that they had never seen each other, not even that day!! And they couldn’t, because it’s the families who decide acording to the Indian tradition (this is changing in the higher classes in this society). Anyway, it was very nice to meet real local people (who don't want your money) and to be able to talk to them. There is a lot to tell about this, but for the time being let me just say that it was a GREAT occasion to learn more about the India! Later on that afternoon we went to see a guru! He turned out to have his office in a jewelry shop, hmm, that did seem somewhat suspicious ... This guy was supposed to know everything about you immediately when he first sees you. It became quite clear that his intention was not just to tell people more about themselves but mostly to sell his jewelry. He proposed us to use some kind of a special stone. The special price for the both of us: 104 euro!!! Though he did say some interesting things, this man his interest was mainly commercial and not as philanthropical as we were told. After this we went for an additional ride through town, stopped by at a museum with all kinds of stuff exposed from the ancient India up until a few decades ago. Finally went back to our second hotel which was not as nice as the first. This morning we’ve traveled to Pushkar. More about this next time! Hopefully I’ll be able to upload the pictures tomorrow.
P.s. Mem: Ik pas goed op mezelf en Rut!
Heit: als ik een cricketboek zie dan neem ik hem mee!!
Lara: Feliciteer Hidde van ons! ik mail je gauw Rut haar weblog.
Omke Siemen: the infection is under control!
Big P: I miss you guys too, but now ’m a changed man … you’ll meet the new
Hippymar soon ;-))
Caj: I’ll learn the song when I’m back in BCN and we’ll play it together on my
hippy guitar J
