Day 3 India: (part A, please see part B to follow) the buffet breakfasts at these Indian hotels are amazing. Some of the best I’ve ever seen. Today’s had someone devoted just to making fresh chai for us. What a treat. We loaded up the bus early in order to get dropped off for a 3 1/2 hour walking tour of old Jaipur. We started at the famous Albert Hall, known for its indo-saracentric architecture, a mix of different styles purposely designed so the variety of people would be able to look at it and feel represented (highlighting the importance of space, identity, and community in geographic and social sense.) it’s also a popular setting for wedding photos and today was no exception.
We also walked the old city which is walled-in, has a lot of history and cultural significance to the people here. Saw some authentic snake charmers, had some street chai, and saw some cool buildings (including Hawa Mahal, city Palace, Jal Mahal palace in the middle of the lake) Of course I enjoyed people watching in this area as well.
We all ate together in a local restaurant down in that area and then went to the AIIS center for our special guest lecturer who shared his research on cultural perceptions of urban sustainability factor from various constituency groups. It’s hard to know what you don’t know and even harder to convince people to worry about these factors when so many are barely living hand to mouth.
After another spot of tea (my third for the day) we ventured to a couple of craft places that have some historical and humanistic relevance (anohki textiles where handblocking fabric helped bring secure livelihoods in sustainable methods. The other was blue pottery with its distinctive blue glaze first used by Mongol artisans.Did a little shopping at each site of course, just doing our part 😉
Soon we were in the government district where it was obviously more affluent. The streets appeared cleaner, the building larger and more complete (not unusual around the rest of the city to see partial building without a roof or containing a partial wall. We also observed many more women dressed in western style something we really hadn’t seen much of before that.
We ended the evening at the Rambagh Palace, once the residence of the Maharaga of Jaipur. This place was stunning!we sat in the courtyard, had a beverage and were entertained by a lovely little Indian band and two dancers. In full circle we started the day with a wedding and ended with another, although a can’t imagine how much this elaborate set ring cost them. It was crazy!
Again, extreme wealth and extreme poverty not that far away from each other. Enjoy the photos and thanks for following along.
Copy of second post made that day with the remaining photos seeing as Facebook only allows 40 photos to be added at a time.
Day 3 photos part B (please see Day 3 post for description and first set of photos from day 3) 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
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| Saunf (fennel seeds) and Mishri (rock sugar) served as a mouth freshener that is also supposed to aid in digestion. Mukwas is another term for the Indian after-meal digestive aid and breath freshener, but it often also includes various nuts or seeds (commonly used are anise seeds, coconut and sesame seeds). Mukwas is an amalgamation of "mukh" meaning mouth and "vas" meaning smell. |
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