Denise's monologues

Part 2
Day 4 to 6: Varanasi -> Jaipur
19hrsNon-AC train (Sleeper)4 hours late

Here comes the exciting part. Jaipur was originally not on our itinerary; our train ticket was from Varanasi to Agra. On the train, we met our second pick-up, William from US. He was on his way to Jaipur, which was 6 hours further than Agra on the same train ride. I don’t know what happened, but suddenly, we decided that we will ‘miss’ our stop and spend a night in Jaipur! Haha…it was totally spontaneous and crazy; what if we got caught! We made many plans, like how we were going to pretend that we overslept, or hide in the toilets when the conductor came, or bribe him (we had 500 rupees prepared). It was hilarious, with Azusa worrying so much about getting caught by the police, me being super excited and Zoe simply remaining cool and sleeping. In the end, nothing happened and we had our first illegal train ride in India=p

Here is William and us (Azusa with her eyes closed again!)…He’s 20 this year, studies agriculture at Cornell, and is going to Jaipur for an agricultural internship at a farm.

On the train, we witnessed my first and most fantastic sunset in India. It was mesmerizing…

Anyways, Jaipur was the best stop of the week. Also known as the pink city (because the maharajah supposedly painted the whole town pink to welcome the Prince of Wales in 1876), Jaipur is the gateway to the desert state of Rajasthan.

I’m glad we decided to make that illegal train ride. First, the hotel we stayed at was simply beautiful! Hotel Pearl Palace, with intricate designs on its walls, superb décor, and a magnificent rooftop restaurant. 4 of us shared a room for 800 rupees. There was even free wireless connection!

We went to tiger fort that day, and it can rival any place I’ve ever been to! The view from up there was orgasmic (seriously)! Imagine the vastness of the city and the desert, friends and beer! I was so happy up there that day. Very very happy, as you will see in the following photos, haha.

Advertisement poster for Godfather beer: Beer without international boundaries!

(Sorry mummy, don’t scold me!)

Jaipur’s buildings have one of the best architectural designs I have ever seen. Where ever we went, we were awed by the intricate carvings and paintings on the ceilings and walls.

The Hawa Mahal

At the Maharaja’s residence; Look the peacock designs!

We went to Amber fort the next day, and it was another fantastic place! Jaipur just kept getting better and better=) It sort of reminded me of the Great wall of China. We took many crazy photos there!

Thanks to William’s proficiency in Hindi, we got to know this lady and her kids. She was 23, and already had 5 kids. Her husband died, and she is having problems feeding her children. I think that she’s probably from the lower caste. The more we stayed there, the more we felt for her.