The middle part of our trip in India had us at Ranthambore National Park and Jaipur. Before we left Agra, our tour guide Raj arranged for us to participate in a mini-celebration for Holi complete with white outfits, powder colors, music and traditional treats at the hotel. This festival is rooted in the positivity of good winning out over evil and celebrates the larger thought that “everything is going to be ok.” We had a lot of fun doing this with other hotel guests before getting on our way.

After a late start on the bus ( we left Agra around 12.30pm) and a slow, bumpy ride through farmland and rural villages (that reminded me of Cambodia), we arrived at our beautiful hotel outside Ranthambore National Park at dinnertime. All our meals were included here and the buffet this night was filled with many spicy curries, which I liked but were problematic for many in our group. I remembered some advice I got that yogurt would be my friend for food that was too spicy so I shared this with the others. It definitely helped!

The next morning we went out on canter safari to look for Bengal tigers. We had two rides that day and I’ll not keep you in suspense by telling you that, while some in our afternoon ride saw the tigers, our safaris did not. However, in the spirit of positivity, here are all the amazing things I DID get to see in this National Park in India:

• Two kinds of deer
• Wild boar
• A crocodile
• 2 owls
• Peacocks – male and female
• Antelope
• A variety of beautiful birds
• Monkeys
• Amazing scenery – lakes, streams, mountains, lagoons, etc.

We were pretty tired after two safaris (and dirty!) so we were thankful for the included meals at the hotel so we didn’t have to try to go out. We turned in early and got an 8.30am start on Wednesday, March 15.

It took about 4 hours to get to Jaipur and our first stop was at another off-the-itinerary sales place where we saw tapestries being hand-made and fabric being intricately stamped. Jaipur is famous for all these things so it was interesting to see, but the time spent in the sales rooms was annoying. The rugs were truly stunning, of course, but I had not prepared myself or my wallet for that kind of purchase.

After the sales/kickback sessions, Raj handed us off to a local guide who took us to the main palace in Jaipur which had several buildings, courtyards and gates, as well as a museum with historical clothing and costumes which I loved.

I generally feel, upon reflection, that India is a country of contrasts. The beautiful things defy expectation and reference, and the awful things make you question how the beautiful things are even possible (or why).

Again, we were fortunate with the weather. Up to this point, each day had been sunny and not too hot. Jaipur was the warmest city to date, but it was still not beyond about 80 degrees. We were pleasantly surprised as we’d all expected hotter temperatures.

After the palace tours, we again split off from the larger group and went to a nearby market to do some shopping. This wasn’t as local or unique of an experience as the one in Agra, but it was still fun and was ultimately a lot cleaner. I snagged a couple of long tunics, a saree and a lovely silk scarf.

We took a local tuk-tuk back to our hotel, which was again FAR from the center town. 🙁

My mom decided she was not a fan of the tuk-tuk, although I love it just as Sean and I did in Southeast Asia. She preferred an air-conditioned taxi. 😉

We had dinner at the rooftop restaurant of our hotel, Radisson Blu, which had all of these fun, colored lights around. It was a nice dinner with most of our group, and pretty nighttime views of the lights of the city.

Mom and I had a leisurely Thursday morning because we opted not to go to Amber Fort before our Elephant Experience. On the drive to the elephants, though, we saw so many crumbling neighborhoods and I took photos to try to share what it looked like but they honestly can’t really convey it. The lack of infrastructure for trash, sewer and water is evident everywhere. Local streams are filled, FILLED, with trash and everything is dirty and grimy because for so, so many there is not only no running water, but no access to truly clean drinking water. Oh – and these are not even considered the slums.

We have much to be thankful for.

We arrived at a dusty field for our Elephant Experience and were told that they do live on a reserve and are just brought here for time with tourists. Not sure what to believe and it was not what anyone in our group was expecting. 🙁

That said, the elephants themselves are just incredible creatures. They brought a “baby” up to adorn us with flower necklaces – she is only 8 years old!

We also did get to ride them, wash them, paint them (which seems humiliating for them but the local culture adores these creatures and truly doesn’t see it that way), and feed them bananas – which was the BEST part. They are so kind, gentle and wise. My mom had wanted to meet the elephants for as long as I can remember, so I’m grateful for the ability to do this together. 

After the elephants and before our next tour, we insisted that our guide take us somewhere for lunch. Yes, we really did have to beg our guide to take us to eat for Indian food/outside the restaurant. So infuriating.

We had a yummy lunch of chicken butter tikka, garlic naan, basmati rice and a mushroom and peas curry (yes, I’m the one who was always ordering something different!).

After lunch, we went to Jantar Mantar. Jaipur has the largest of these set of instruments for sun, time and weather across four places in India. In fact, it is the site of the largest sun dial in the world. I can’t tell you exactly how all of this works, but it was truly amazing to see shadows and sun fall on these ancient instruments and give the time to within 2 seconds. Wowza!

After a little rejuvenation at our hotel, our entire group headed out for our official “welcome dinner” which just happened to be a week into our trip. :/

It was at a smaller palace, which was very beautiful and we ate outside in the garden but the whole thing was really hokey and weird. It reminded me of what must have been done for the British when they ruled – whitewashed food, fancy setting, weird entertainment (a puppet show, in our case). Oh, and it was a buffet. Sorry, travel company – I don’t consider an included “special” dinner to be a buffet. Come on.

We were up early for an 8.30 am flight to Mumbai, with a connection to Cochin for the remainder of our trip. We flew over huge swaths of slums as we landed in Mumbai – it was shocking to see how vast it was. Then we got into the airport, pictured below.

As I said: India, a country of contrasts.

You can read more about my time in Delhi and at the Taj Mahal, and in Kerala.