Die Fernweh Bilder
Jaipur "Pink City"
Click here to read about to site-seeing or shopping in Jaipur.
The Stay & The Food:
We travelled to Jaipur, a popular tourist destination in the state of Rajasthan and stayed at RTDC’s Hotel Gangaur for 2000 rupees per night for 2 nights, breakfast included. In India, instead of the usual star rated International hotel chains such as Marriotts, Hiltons, etc., which costs at least twice as much what we paid per night, government hotels offer a more affordable stay with nearly equal hospitality, accommodations, and benefits. RTDC stands for Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation. There are many hotels in the state government of Rajasthan that are government hotels with different rates, depending on the city and location within the city. Please note the hotel picture is a courtesy of RTDC. website.
At the hotel, for breakfast, there was a choice between unlimited bread, butter, jam and eggs or the traditionally deep fried flat bread (referred to as puri), jalebi (deep-frying fermented flour/lentil batter shaped as a pretzel or circular, which are then soaked in sugar syrup ), served with aloo sabzi (stir-fry potatoes with peas in a sauce), and unlimited cups of Chai (spiced Indian tea with milk and sugar) or regular coffee with milk and sugar. I opted for the traditional food and cups of chai. The traditional food was served using peepul leaves as plates and bowls made out of dried bamboo leaves.
For lunch and dinner we ate at the Peacock Restaurant, where we tried some of the authentic Rajasthani cuisine, such as the laal maas (mutton curry prepared in red Mathania chillies-yogurt sauce and spices), salli boti (mutton curry cooked in spices and topped with julienne fried potatoes), pan toasted flat bread made of millets, served and topped with ghee (clarified butter). For desert I had ordered a Japanese cheese cake. It was a 'hole-in-the-wall' kind of place, where it looked like personal residence, but in reality, is a hotel with a gift shop, and the while-marbled staircase to the rooftop of the hotel (where the restaurant is situated) is narrow and tucked away to the side of the building, almost completely hidden.
Site-seeing & Itinerary Recommendations:
Our primary activity while we were there in the city was to see the Amber Palace (built in 967 by Raja Alan Singh), City Palace, Jal Mahal, and the cottage industry market. At Amber Palace, we took the elephant ride (costs 1000 rupees per person). Within the palace we took a guided tour about the history of kings and queens who had built, how the city used to function and the occupation of the people, and the wars fought against the Moghul emperors. There were antique shops and sculptures for sale -which were expensive and book stores related to the history of the colonial eras inside as well. In one of the palace halls, the interior was constructed entirely of pure gold and silver.
Established in 1559, City Palace, until 1949, was the ceremonial and the administrative seat for the King of Jaipur. The city palace is pink from its interior and exterior, as are many of the buildings in the city, giving the city the nickname of "The Pink City". The entry fees for the City Palace was 200 rupees per person. The City Palace has several museum exhibits over the history of weaponry -displaying weapons from the 900's onward, as well as armor and clothing. Unfortunately, taking pictures inside the museums were strictly prohibited.
Shopping:
Jaipur is well-known for its textile industry. While we were there, we saw demonstration of block printing, and we also saw locals hand weaving rugs - rugs are an important part of Indian culture. The starting price of the rugs $5000 onwards. We shopped for two hand stitched camel block printed quilts stuffed with camel fur for $100 each –one for my family as a souvenir and gifted the other to our friends on their wedding day. I also ended up buying couple pairs of traditional slippers (costed $10 a pair). Jaipur is also know for its silk sarees which are hand printed, typically starting at around $60.