If I felt bad that we didn't sight see the day before, those feelings were long gone after yesterday!
We hired an auto rickshaw driver for the day so that he would take us to Amber city where we would have time with elephants and see the Amber city fort and palace. Originally we had planned to go to a fancy elephant ranch and spend the day, but we were soon convinced by ourselves and our driver that it was just too expensive. Instead we went to Elephant Village and met Moti (my friend Ashnoor tells me this means "fat" in Hindi!) and had a lovely time meeting her. She was adorable with spiky black hair on the top of her head that made her look like a rock star. It was the first time either of us has experienced being with an elephant and it was really exciting! They are such beautiful, gentle creatures and they have such a grace about them for being so large!
My only difficulty was not being able to assess her living conditions due to my lack of knowledge. I had read a lot about responsible tourism regarding the elephants and that in India (and other countries like Thailand) there have been problems with adequate living spaces, the use of bull hooks, how much weight they carry, and how many rides a day they do. I asked to see her living quarters and the area was quite large and I didn't see any chains but I had no way to assess if we were too heavy for her (Josh and I went together) or how many rides she had done that day. The mahout (elephant trainer) also carried a bull hook in his hand but I did not see him use it once.
Elephant village was recently revamped by the government to create more responsible tourism but further reading suggests that there is more work to be done. The elephants are kept in pens and their mahouts and family live beside them in concrete houses but they are kept in chains (which can chafe pretty bad after long periods of time) and I did witness one man strike his elephant very hard in the face with something that looked like a bamboo stick. I wouldn't want to paint all of the mahouts with the same brush and in fairness, it seemed like Moti and her mahout shared a respectful relationship . The argument about the elephants is extremely valid, but not without considering the importance of the livelihood of the mahouts too. These families tend to be fairly poor with no running water or sewage in their homes, the entire family living in a 10 x 10 concrete box, and they need the income to survive.
Regardless of my concerns, I enjoyed myself with Moti very much and am glad we did it! We went for a lovely slow ride in a saddle and it is almost surreal how high up you are! It was amazing to feel Moti's strength with every step as we swayed back and forth and despite her size, she was very graceful and precise in her footing. We were able to see all of the other elephants and it was so cute to see how excited Moti got when she saw a particular friend, waving her trunk up and down. I tried to ask our mahout if they ever played together but I couldn't understand the answer or vice versa. I did find out however that during festivals the elephants play football, and that sounds adorable! After the ride we were able to feed her (her favorite is sugar cane of course!) and paint her as well which is a very common practice in India due to the role elephants have in festivals. My drawings were neither creative or good so I felt bad that I embarrassed Moatie in front of all of her elephant friends. All in all, a great experience!
Reluctantly leaving our new friend Moti behind, we returned to our driver who was enlisted to drive us to the Amber fort next. I was really surprised when he suddenly declared that the fort was now closed and we would have to miss it! How disappointing to discover that a man you have spent your whole day with, asking about his pregnant wife and exchanging conversation with, would blatantly lie like that (I knew full well it was open until 8pm)! This is my curse with India, where I feel as though I am a walking dollar sign and nothing else. In the simplest of terms, my feelings were hurt. The difficulty I am having in India is not being able to make significant connections with people like I was able to in Turkey. With all the scams and lies out there, you have to be careful and I hate to be so suspicious of people all the time. The reality is if someone is being friendly and chatting to you on the street, they likely want something from you and it is frustrating to have to have walls up with every person you meet.
After some awkward discussion, we eventually made it to the Amber fort and palace. To be honest, we didn't have high hopes for this since we had been to the Red Fort in Delhi and had been underwhelmed. Well, we were quickly proven wrong in our assumptions as we took in the sight before us. The fort is made of red and yellow sandstone and marble and because it is high up on a hill, the view from the bottom makes it seem very imposing and formidable. It is absolutely massive with huge walls fortifying it as far as your eye can see; it's hard to believe that it was all built in 1592! As you mosey up the hill and inside, you can also see the glamour and prestige of the palace within coupled with the ominous feeling of the fort's walls surrounding you. My favorite part of the palace was the hall of mirrors, an impossibly luxurious building with silver mirrors lining every surface. The fort is so large that you can truly lose yourself in it and I enjoyed wandering around looking out through the various peepholes to see the view. The heat of the day had exhausted us (35 degrees Celsius most days!) and with the sun setting, we headed home.
I woke up today feeling miserable as I had been fighting off a cold but now the cold has won and stubbornly sits in my chest. To be frank, I have been hit with the backlash of men spitting several times so I am really not surprised but disappointed that I had no energy to do anything today. Luckily Josh has pampered me all day and had no problem with having a quiet day. One exciting thing is thanks to my amazing mother, we are all booked for future flights and have decided on Thailand, Cambodia, possibly Vietnam, and Bali to finish the first part of our trip. It feels great having a rough plan because now we can get excited about it!
We spent the morning organizing our backpacks and ultimately shipping more items home. Several times I had heard of a place called Anokhi and we decided to relax there for the day and it was great! Jaipur is famous for its block printing on fabrics and Anokhi is famous for having high quality items. Block printing is an ancient craft in Jaipur and is currently being threatened by mass production and technology. I learned this the hard way having bought a beautiful pink kurta with gold block printing on it that is already ruined because the colors have smudged and created blotches of purple on the fabric! I wore it one day. Needless to say, I may have purchased a few items (ironically after shipping boxes home...oops).
In the same building we discovered a really welcoming book store and we enjoyed perusing the section on India. I bought a book called Poor Little Rich Slum about Dharavi, the biggest slum in Asia, and am excited to learn more. My mind boggles at the things I have learned already like half of India's population (half!) not having access to a toilet and with most people waking up at dawn to defecate on the train tracks. In the slums, it is more common to find satellite TV than a toilet! I am also equipped with the knowledge that 80% of Indian people live on $2 or less a day. Through the newspaper this morning, I read the tragic story of a woman who poured kerosene on herself and lit herself on fire to commit suicide since she felt that she was one mouth too many for her husband to feed. Her last words were, "I am tired of this poverty" and her story although ghastly, is not rare. These are the realities of the beautiful country that we visit and it is somewhat unfathomable to comprehend these staggering statistics.
Tomorrow we take another train to Pushkar, described as a laid back, ex-hippie, holy city and I am intrigued to find out what that description means !
We hired an auto rickshaw driver for the day so that he would take us to Amber city where we would have time with elephants and see the Amber city fort and palace. Originally we had planned to go to a fancy elephant ranch and spend the day, but we were soon convinced by ourselves and our driver that it was just too expensive. Instead we went to Elephant Village and met Moti (my friend Ashnoor tells me this means "fat" in Hindi!) and had a lovely time meeting her. She was adorable with spiky black hair on the top of her head that made her look like a rock star. It was the first time either of us has experienced being with an elephant and it was really exciting! They are such beautiful, gentle creatures and they have such a grace about them for being so large!
My only difficulty was not being able to assess her living conditions due to my lack of knowledge. I had read a lot about responsible tourism regarding the elephants and that in India (and other countries like Thailand) there have been problems with adequate living spaces, the use of bull hooks, how much weight they carry, and how many rides a day they do. I asked to see her living quarters and the area was quite large and I didn't see any chains but I had no way to assess if we were too heavy for her (Josh and I went together) or how many rides she had done that day. The mahout (elephant trainer) also carried a bull hook in his hand but I did not see him use it once.
Elephant village was recently revamped by the government to create more responsible tourism but further reading suggests that there is more work to be done. The elephants are kept in pens and their mahouts and family live beside them in concrete houses but they are kept in chains (which can chafe pretty bad after long periods of time) and I did witness one man strike his elephant very hard in the face with something that looked like a bamboo stick. I wouldn't want to paint all of the mahouts with the same brush and in fairness, it seemed like Moti and her mahout shared a respectful relationship . The argument about the elephants is extremely valid, but not without considering the importance of the livelihood of the mahouts too. These families tend to be fairly poor with no running water or sewage in their homes, the entire family living in a 10 x 10 concrete box, and they need the income to survive.
Regardless of my concerns, I enjoyed myself with Moti very much and am glad we did it! We went for a lovely slow ride in a saddle and it is almost surreal how high up you are! It was amazing to feel Moti's strength with every step as we swayed back and forth and despite her size, she was very graceful and precise in her footing. We were able to see all of the other elephants and it was so cute to see how excited Moti got when she saw a particular friend, waving her trunk up and down. I tried to ask our mahout if they ever played together but I couldn't understand the answer or vice versa. I did find out however that during festivals the elephants play football, and that sounds adorable! After the ride we were able to feed her (her favorite is sugar cane of course!) and paint her as well which is a very common practice in India due to the role elephants have in festivals. My drawings were neither creative or good so I felt bad that I embarrassed Moatie in front of all of her elephant friends. All in all, a great experience!
Reluctantly leaving our new friend Moti behind, we returned to our driver who was enlisted to drive us to the Amber fort next. I was really surprised when he suddenly declared that the fort was now closed and we would have to miss it! How disappointing to discover that a man you have spent your whole day with, asking about his pregnant wife and exchanging conversation with, would blatantly lie like that (I knew full well it was open until 8pm)! This is my curse with India, where I feel as though I am a walking dollar sign and nothing else. In the simplest of terms, my feelings were hurt. The difficulty I am having in India is not being able to make significant connections with people like I was able to in Turkey. With all the scams and lies out there, you have to be careful and I hate to be so suspicious of people all the time. The reality is if someone is being friendly and chatting to you on the street, they likely want something from you and it is frustrating to have to have walls up with every person you meet.
After some awkward discussion, we eventually made it to the Amber fort and palace. To be honest, we didn't have high hopes for this since we had been to the Red Fort in Delhi and had been underwhelmed. Well, we were quickly proven wrong in our assumptions as we took in the sight before us. The fort is made of red and yellow sandstone and marble and because it is high up on a hill, the view from the bottom makes it seem very imposing and formidable. It is absolutely massive with huge walls fortifying it as far as your eye can see; it's hard to believe that it was all built in 1592! As you mosey up the hill and inside, you can also see the glamour and prestige of the palace within coupled with the ominous feeling of the fort's walls surrounding you. My favorite part of the palace was the hall of mirrors, an impossibly luxurious building with silver mirrors lining every surface. The fort is so large that you can truly lose yourself in it and I enjoyed wandering around looking out through the various peepholes to see the view. The heat of the day had exhausted us (35 degrees Celsius most days!) and with the sun setting, we headed home.
I woke up today feeling miserable as I had been fighting off a cold but now the cold has won and stubbornly sits in my chest. To be frank, I have been hit with the backlash of men spitting several times so I am really not surprised but disappointed that I had no energy to do anything today. Luckily Josh has pampered me all day and had no problem with having a quiet day. One exciting thing is thanks to my amazing mother, we are all booked for future flights and have decided on Thailand, Cambodia, possibly Vietnam, and Bali to finish the first part of our trip. It feels great having a rough plan because now we can get excited about it!
We spent the morning organizing our backpacks and ultimately shipping more items home. Several times I had heard of a place called Anokhi and we decided to relax there for the day and it was great! Jaipur is famous for its block printing on fabrics and Anokhi is famous for having high quality items. Block printing is an ancient craft in Jaipur and is currently being threatened by mass production and technology. I learned this the hard way having bought a beautiful pink kurta with gold block printing on it that is already ruined because the colors have smudged and created blotches of purple on the fabric! I wore it one day. Needless to say, I may have purchased a few items (ironically after shipping boxes home...oops).
In the same building we discovered a really welcoming book store and we enjoyed perusing the section on India. I bought a book called Poor Little Rich Slum about Dharavi, the biggest slum in Asia, and am excited to learn more. My mind boggles at the things I have learned already like half of India's population (half!) not having access to a toilet and with most people waking up at dawn to defecate on the train tracks. In the slums, it is more common to find satellite TV than a toilet! I am also equipped with the knowledge that 80% of Indian people live on $2 or less a day. Through the newspaper this morning, I read the tragic story of a woman who poured kerosene on herself and lit herself on fire to commit suicide since she felt that she was one mouth too many for her husband to feed. Her last words were, "I am tired of this poverty" and her story although ghastly, is not rare. These are the realities of the beautiful country that we visit and it is somewhat unfathomable to comprehend these staggering statistics.
Tomorrow we take another train to Pushkar, described as a laid back, ex-hippie, holy city and I am intrigued to find out what that description means !
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