The drive from Delhi to Jaipur took about 6-7 hours on a decent highway. Our driver, Ompal, looks to be in his 70’s and speaks very little English, but is pleasant and an excellent driver. He, like almost every other driver or shop owner we’ve come across, chews a lot of tobacco.
Just before arriving in Jaipur we hiked up to the Amber Fort, which is a beautiful amber/pink colored Fort built atop the mountains. Definitely the most impressive of the forts we’ve seen thus far.
Most Indians think that I’m Indian, and definitely aren’t shy about asking. However, as a gentlemen pointed out, as we were leaving the Amber fort: (to Jason) “You are American…and she is African.” Very astute.
Jaipur is known as the Pink City because many of the buildings in town have been painted the same pink shade. We also saw the City Palace, which was built by Jai Singh. We stayed a hotel in the town center called Karnot Mahal. It’s a budget hotel for $20/night. We almost decided against staying there when we saw the cows, goats and trash heap right out front, but to our delight, the hotel is situated in a pretty courtyard. It was very clean and comfortable and we ended up having the place almost entirely to ourselves (again – loving it), with our own private patio overlooking the lively city. Tons of monkeys on every rooftop!
After visiting the City Palace, we left Jaipur for Fatehpur Sikri. These are two towns associated with two mosques, on the road to Agra. It rained all day, but it cleared up just in time for us to see these majestic structures. We took a auto-rickshaw (tuk tuk) up and a local guide showed us around. Had to take our shoes and socks off out of respect.
As was the custom, men and women are completely separated even in death. A husband’s tomb has no concrete cover, whereas the wife’s does. Also, men and women have to pray in separate rooms. The ruler of Fatehpur had 3 wives. One Muslim, one Hindu and one Christian. Within Fatehpur he created places of worship that honored each of their religions.
We participated in a brief ceremony that has couples tie pieces of red string to a small section of the ornate windows. We were allowed to make three wishes that we could only share with one another after leaving.