Jaipur, The Pink City

Mandeep, Harv's cousin in Jaipur

Amazing view from the top of Amber Fort

Drinking coconut water right out of the fruit!

City gate, this is the pink color everything is

Captain Archana

The drive Prasad and my sweet ride =)

I don't think I can remember the last time I woke up at 4:15am, but I popped out of bed to take a nice hot shower, excited for my trip to Jaipur.  God bless Teena and Maninder for waking up to leave the house at 5am to take me to the bus. I actually couldn't believe it, but I was thrilled that they dropped me off- made me feel like I was home.  As I walked onto the bus I was somewhat sad leaving them because I hadn't had any time with them, but I knew I was headed to more family and that I'd be back the next day.  After about a six hour ride of being in and out of sleep, I finally arrived in Jaipur and was greeted by Mandeep, Maninder's nephew and Harv's (dad's friend) cousin.  Mandeep is a communication officer in the Indian army and has been stationed in Jaipur for the past year or so.  His wife and family lives right outside Delhi for the children's schooling.  Mandeep and I took a ride in the army truck, which was my sweet ride for my stay in Jaipur, to where I would be staying at the officer's guesthouse.  Sadly (for me), Mandeep had planned a trip to Goa with his wife and had to leave the night I arrived.  So, Mandeep and I had a few hours together in which we talked and went out to lunch.  When Mandeep had to leave to take the train to meet his wife, he left me in the wonderful hands of Captain Archana.  Because she is basically my age, we had a ton to talk about and by the end of my stay, I felt like she was an old girlfriend who I just hadn't seen in a while.  Captain Archana and I headed out in the army jeep to a few sights in Jaipur including the Hava Mahal (pronounced Hawa), Jal Mahal, and Amber (pronounced Amair) Fort.  These three places were great, but my favorite by far was the Amber Fort.  A section of Jaipur is walled  and to get to any of these places you have to drive through these pink gates.  I forgot to mentioned that everything in Jaipur is this interesting color pink, hence the nickname of the city.  Anyway, you can see the walls of the city that surround the older section including the fort.  The drive to the top was quite steep, but when we got to the top- wow!  From the top you can see so much of the beautiful city!  I highly encourage those of you who are interested to read a little about the Amber Fort- the history is very interesting! After walking around and taking in the view, we walked to a coffee shop.  Archana and I sat and talked while sipping our coffee for a little while and then headed down to where the jeep was waiting for us because we had to get tickets for the sound and light show.  It took us far less time than we thought, so we went back to the Jal Mahal, which was cool because we got to see it all lit up!  I also drank coconut water right out of a fresh coconut! (Sarah Parkes, that was my first for that day!)  The taste was eh, but it's really good for you and the experience of holding a fruit and drinking the water from it was fun!  Then to the sound and light show, which told the history of the city and did sound and lights against the front view of the fort- so cool!  This was also the only thing that Archana had never seen so I was happy she was experiencing something for the first time.  Shopping was next on the agenda (by the way, if it sounds like I did a lot in a short period of time, it's because I did- the itinerary was crazy, but we got it all in!) and I was taken to a market where Archana did some sweet bargaining! I got some very nice things and am excited about showing them to all of you when I get home!  Although shopping was great, I got to a point where food was all I could think about so the shopping stopped and we headed home to get ready for dinner.  Candles and Cuisine was Archana's choice and the food was very yummy, but a little spicy for my taste.  Dinner was lovely and I enjoyed the time with Archana, but by this point, at 11pm, I was exhausted so we headed home to share life stories, look at pictures, and get some rest.  Next day was to be just as busy!