Saturday 11th March
Another 4am start for a train – there’s a theme, haha! So the night before I managed to leave our prized pasta dinner in the taxi. This meant T and I went very hungry because no-one came round selling food and we tried the train food app but nothing arrived (no Indian mobile number).
We are staying in an Airbnb here and it is absolute LUXURY – we have THREE bedrooms, sofas, a living room, a kitchen. All the stuff of dreams, haha! So we had a very fun supermarket trip where a lady who worked there followed me around everywhere. So very nice to chill, get our bearings.
Sunday 12th March
Another chill morning and then off to the elephant sanctuary which was brilliant. Kids totally loved it. And actually, so did I. Who knew I had an affinity towards elephants – they are just so graceful. We did check it out for animal welfare first, they are well kept and seem really happy chappies. We got to ride them, but it didn’t feel like a mean thing to do. In fact there was barely anything to hold onto! They like to be painted then love having it washed off, so we did that which was cool. Did you know, they drink 60litres of water a day and eat 250kg of food? It’s only open in the afternoons so in the morning they have a bath in the local lake.
Monday 13th March
Went to a famous thing here called Jantar Manta – we held high hopes it would be fun for the kids but it was totally boring for them, haha! SUCH a lot of moaning 😉 Followed by the Palace which was equally moany. I never realised there are still Maharajah’s for all these areas so the Palace is half museum and half home. Crazy. Here is the Jaipur Maharajah on Insta, obvs. Looking very down to earth in his polo attire LOL.
An absolute treat in the afternoon was to go to watch a Bollywood film in the afternoon in a really old, art deco cinema, “Rajmandir“. We didn’t understand a bean of the words but T read the plot first and it was fab. I’m converted, esp the big dance scenes!
Dinner we tried some chicken kebabs (from a place with lots of reviews). Let’s see how we all fare tomorrow, first meat in a month!
Tuesday 14th March
Hawa Mahal women’s palace first thing – really beautiful. It’s feature is a gazillion tiny windows so they could see what was happening on the street/ during ceremonies, without anyone seeing them.
Nahargarh Fort for sunset was hilarious – it was beautiful. So quiet, scenic. We decided to go to the sunset restaurant – where you have to pay 200 Rs just to enter (!) but they give you a drink but with no flex on what it is – tea, coffee, plastic bottle of water (!). Then this huge table of 20 loud tourists arrived, scraping the chairs, glugging beer and smoking. We got out toute suite and headed back down the hill on foot (was pretty dark by then!). Hit up the kebab place for dinner…again…kids – if it ain’t broke don’t fix it when it comes to meals!
The fort was great – actually really beautiful. Like all of the palaces, the King built nine apartments for his concubines and had a secret passageway behind so he could visit who he wanted, of an evening 😉
Wednesday 15th March
Finally went to the famous Amber Fort which was a delight. We got there just after 8 when it opened so it felt like we had the place almost to ourselves. Lots of wedding couples go there and get their pre-wedding pics done – it was cool seeing them dressed up in their wedding finery.
We decided to do a tour guide at the fort – ones that hang around and offer hour-long tours. Usually it can be very hit and miss. Deepak was an absolute HIT! Turns out he was the tour guide for Boris Johnson when he visited Jaipur last year (I appreciate that’s not saying much!). But his English was amazing and he was so engaging with the kids. Then we just explored the rest of the fort and the local village which was really quite traditional.
Also this 👇is drying cow dung – they use it in place of firewood.
Home school, takeway and bed!
Thursday 16th March
Today we tried a hand block printing workshop – it was miles out of town (in a place called Bagru) but a whole village was dedicated to the process. We loved it, and it was fab to have the kids bring out their creativity with their own pieces. Also, a scarf will be handy for Nepal that’s looking a bit chilly at the moment!
Team Mossy on the move 