Since the train from Agra to Jaipur is notoriously unreliable regarding timetables, we hopped on a “deluxe” AC bus for a 5+ hour ride to Rajasthan. We arrived at night at got lucky with a last-minute room at the Hotel Pearl Palace, which is usually always booked thanks to its extremely high approval rating from Hostelworld and Lonely Planet. Rightfully so, it’s full of art and fun design; plus, its rooftop restaurant boasts delicious food, eclectic furniture, and great views of the city. Jaipur, also known as the Pink City, is the capital of Rajasthan and the country's first planned city. We decided to use the driver recommended to us by Sonu since he only charged 30 rs per hour on a rickshaw. He took us first to the Hawa Mahal, which is the Palace of the Winds; however, it didn’t provide enough of a breeze to relieve the heat. We’ve found ourselves going through more liters of water than when we climbed Kilimanjaro. The next stop was an elaborate tomb outside of the old city walls. It was symmetrical, similar to the Taj Mahal, but instead had detailed marble carvings and no inlay work. It drives Katie crazy when she has to take a picture in order to avoid crooked images—perfectionism in extreme heat gets annoying. Beggar kids followed us around the entire time, constantly asking us to take a picture of them so they could demand rupees—we weren’t falling for that one again. Brady’s cynicism reached a fever pitch when she said, “You’re not a professional model.” Then she began lecturing the children about ways to earn money through actual work. It was funny. We’ve noticed that tourists here wear Alibaba pants, similar to ones worn by Aladdin. 
Their baggy balloon shape looks a little ridiculous, but they’re quite breezy and comfortable so we sought out to find a pair that afternoon.
Our driver, Krishna, had an art studio with a great view of one of the main city streets that would host the annual festival that evening. We staked out the premier spot on the rooftop overlooking the vibrantly colored crowds below. The lowest caste kicked off the parade carrying huge decorated totem poles that required a bevy of spotters to make sure they didn’t fall. Men dressed as Arabian horses followed then a procession of almost unidentifiable elephants strolled by. They were covered in jewelry, bright paint, ribbons, decorated cloth drapes, and a turban-topped driver. One elephant even had bright pink-painted toenails. Camels came shortly after intermixed with several brass instrument bands and Arabian dancers, some on giant stilts. The end of the parade was a group of men cloaked in red carrying a Hindu god in a carriage, which people threw coins at for whatever reason. While we waited for the massive crowds to clear the street, we browsed through some traditional Indian artwork.
Here we were introduced to the elephant-headed, mouse-riding Hindu god Ganesh, who protects people from obstacles in life. We also learned why the swastika is painted all over India. The Hindu symbol (inverted in Germany) means good luck. To celebrate Independence Day, we went out to a nice dinner with Krishna and his friend, Vicki. They were both eager to show us genuine Indian hospitality after hearing about our hassles in Agra. We didn’t mind giving people here a second chance. We ended up having the best Indian food to date and got to taste a variety of local curries in a traditional Rajasthani thali dish.
The next morning we went to visit Amber Fort—a large maze-like fortress perched on a steep hill overlooking Jaipur. We got lost several times trying to find our way around, because yet again, we were too cheap to hire a guide. Krishna then took us up the road to an exclusive, tourist-free elephant farm where we got to play with a 2-week old baby elephant. At first he was shy and hid underneath his mother, but gradually he came out to explore with his trunk. We laughed as he got a sandal stuck on his nose and knocked over all empty chairs to show-off his destructive abilities. After feeding them several banana bunches, we got to ride one down the road and back. By this point, we were feeling weak and exhausted so we asked Krishna to take us back to the hotel so that we could rest. By that evening, we still weren’t feeling any better, but reluctantly went to see the sunset at Monkey Temple. The next day we had intentions to head west towards Jaiselmer, but were feeling much worse. Luckily, the train didn’t leave until midnight; therefore, we had all day to hope it passed us by. We even paid for an extra night so that we didn’t have to move until we absolutely had to. From that point, we might as well have just strapped a toilet to ourselves for the next three days. After enduring an extensive guilt trip, we made a narrow escape on the train only to find out when we arrived in Jaiselmer that they are notorious members of the Indian mafia who spend their time scamming tourists with their benevolence. Turns out that they had poisoned our nice dinner as an attempt to have us stay longer in Jaipur and potentially accept their generous offerings. To make a long story short, their kindness was an elaborate and expensive attempt to gain our trust, which would then be used against us to take part in an illegal gem scam. This, apparently, would strip us of everything we owned. Little did they know, this wasn’t much. The red flags started popping up when they offered us a role in a Bollywood movie, a complimentary car ride to Jaiselmer, and their company to Bombay via plane a few days later. We had been warned of several different tourist scams, but never one this convoluted and manipulative. Fortunately, we escaped with nothing but a crash Indian diet and a hard lesson learned: do not trust anyone here.
The train ride was a grueling 13 hours, but we managed to sleep most of the time.
Their baggy balloon shape looks a little ridiculous, but they’re quite breezy and comfortable so we sought out to find a pair that afternoon.Our driver, Krishna, had an art studio with a great view of one of the main city streets that would host the annual festival that evening. We staked out the premier spot on the rooftop overlooking the vibrantly colored crowds below. The lowest caste kicked off the parade carrying huge decorated totem poles that required a bevy of spotters to make sure they didn’t fall. Men dressed as Arabian horses followed then a procession of almost unidentifiable elephants strolled by. They were covered in jewelry, bright paint, ribbons, decorated cloth drapes, and a turban-topped driver. One elephant even had bright pink-painted toenails. Camels came shortly after intermixed with several brass instrument bands and Arabian dancers, some on giant stilts. The end of the parade was a group of men cloaked in red carrying a Hindu god in a carriage, which people threw coins at for whatever reason. While we waited for the massive crowds to clear the street, we browsed through some traditional Indian artwork.
Here we were introduced to the elephant-headed, mouse-riding Hindu god Ganesh, who protects people from obstacles in life. We also learned why the swastika is painted all over India. The Hindu symbol (inverted in Germany) means good luck. To celebrate Independence Day, we went out to a nice dinner with Krishna and his friend, Vicki. They were both eager to show us genuine Indian hospitality after hearing about our hassles in Agra. We didn’t mind giving people here a second chance. We ended up having the best Indian food to date and got to taste a variety of local curries in a traditional Rajasthani thali dish.The next morning we went to visit Amber Fort—a large maze-like fortress perched on a steep hill overlooking Jaipur. We got lost several times trying to find our way around, because yet again, we were too cheap to hire a guide. Krishna then took us up the road to an exclusive, tourist-free elephant farm where we got to play with a 2-week old baby elephant. At first he was shy and hid underneath his mother, but gradually he came out to explore with his trunk. We laughed as he got a sandal stuck on his nose and knocked over all empty chairs to show-off his destructive abilities. After feeding them several banana bunches, we got to ride one down the road and back. By this point, we were feeling weak and exhausted so we asked Krishna to take us back to the hotel so that we could rest. By that evening, we still weren’t feeling any better, but reluctantly went to see the sunset at Monkey Temple. The next day we had intentions to head west towards Jaiselmer, but were feeling much worse. Luckily, the train didn’t leave until midnight; therefore, we had all day to hope it passed us by. We even paid for an extra night so that we didn’t have to move until we absolutely had to. From that point, we might as well have just strapped a toilet to ourselves for the next three days. After enduring an extensive guilt trip, we made a narrow escape on the train only to find out when we arrived in Jaiselmer that they are notorious members of the Indian mafia who spend their time scamming tourists with their benevolence. Turns out that they had poisoned our nice dinner as an attempt to have us stay longer in Jaipur and potentially accept their generous offerings. To make a long story short, their kindness was an elaborate and expensive attempt to gain our trust, which would then be used against us to take part in an illegal gem scam. This, apparently, would strip us of everything we owned. Little did they know, this wasn’t much. The red flags started popping up when they offered us a role in a Bollywood movie, a complimentary car ride to Jaiselmer, and their company to Bombay via plane a few days later. We had been warned of several different tourist scams, but never one this convoluted and manipulative. Fortunately, we escaped with nothing but a crash Indian diet and a hard lesson learned: do not trust anyone here.
The train ride was a grueling 13 hours, but we managed to sleep most of the time.
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