My first weekend trip outside of Delhi was to “the Pink City” with 5 other volunteers. We took the train Friday night directly after work which was an experience in itself. India railway not only sells all the seats in the cars, but sells standing spots as well. So, people will buy a standing seat with hopes that a reserved seat is open, or people will squish together to make room. Sitting on a train becomes a battle for your space – much like road traffic. If you do not want 6 people sharing your 3 person bench you must figure out how to take up as much space as humanly possible and also how to ignore and/or firmly tell anyone – elderly, pregnant, disabled – that no, you cannot scoot over and allow them to sit. They had as much opportunity to purchase the seat as you did.
After 7 hours on the train we arrived in Jaipur quite late and went directly to the guesthouse we had booked on the train. The room was nice enough, with pepto bismal pink walls and a comfortable bed, considering my mattress in Delhi has all the cushioning of the bare ground. Unfortunately, I began to get sick this night and tried my best to get as much sleep as possible determined to not let illness ruin my weekend. We all slept in Saturday morning and went to a much needed breakfast since we had not eaten the night before. Following breakfast we took a rickshaw to the town center and visited Hawa Mahal. This was beautiful palace with a carved façade that was used by royals to sit in and watch any events taking place in the city. The building was used for only this purpose, but offered beautiful views of the city. I then visited the city palace with another volunteer while the others wandered the city. The palace was amazing and still houses the Maharaja of Rajasthan.
Everyone ate lunch and then we wandered the city spotting a family of pigs, numerous rats, and monkeys among the other wildlife we were accustomed to viewing in Delhi. That night we went to a place called Chokhi Dhani. The best way I could describe this would be a culture park with the surrealism of Disneyland showing a pretty stereotypical, sugar coated depiction of Rajasthani life and culture. The park was a great relief from the chaos that is constant in India. The park was not crowded and was impeccably clean. There we elephant and camel rides, dancers and traditional music, palm readers, musicians, and a fantastic meal. We all ate sitting on pillows on the grounds with small tables. The variety of food was great and unlimited and everyone left full and satisfied despite almost forced additional servings and loads of attention from the waiters. I was very disappointed that I did not feel better so I could enjoy more of the meal. We wandered the park some more and then left for the hotel, with a detour at the wine shop, on the way. We spent the rest of the evening hanging out in one of the hotel rooms chatting. Thankfully, I slept wonderfully after a busy, fun day.
Sunday morning started with a fantastic breakfast that was so happy to be able to eat. We then went to the “Amber Fort” on top of a cliff overlooking the city. Jaipur was beautiful from above and walking around without crowds and constant obstacles was much appreciated. We went for a quick lunch and said bye to one of the volunteers who was leaving for travels on her own and went to the train station. Much to our dismay, our train was 3 hours late. We all tried to get some sleep on the train, while fighting for your sleeper bed at the same time, and arrived in Delhi around 2 am to go home and crash before going to work in the morning. It was a great weekend despite my health and I very much enjoyed a weekend outside of Delhi.
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