The land of the maharajahs

In just a few days I have seen so much life! Arriving in Jaipur after that freezing train journey, the sun smiled down on us. After days of fog and cold, Jaipur welcomed us to Rajasthan with warmth and a thousand smiles.

There is an instant difference in people's attitudes after Delhi, genuine friendliness is mixed with the need to sell to the tourists.

Jaipur is the pink city with beautiful palaces, such as the Palace of the Winds, and 400 year old shop fronts. The women wear the entire rainbow of colours and saris, shoes and bangles for sale line the streets. From the roof tops you can see hundreds of homemade kites flying as children practise for the annual kite festival on Jan 14.

Unfortunately, I was struck down with a fever and cold for a day in bed, but the old palace we stayed in had the sun streaming in, so it was a good place to get sick. At least it wasn't gastro!


It didn't stop me from enjoying my first Bollywood cinema experience in the Raj Mandra Cinema. No sub titles, but the story was typically predictable and cliched; a teen comedy really. The crowd heckled and cheered throughout as different things happened. The story line had half a doze false endings where another twist was added and the film took a new direction. The dancing was phenomenal. A mix of traditional Bollywood and elements of every imaginable style - tap, hip hop, jazz, ballet and ballroom. I sat captivated for the entire 3 hrs. The fact that they bollywoodized "the Taming of the Shrew" also helped. I'm going to see another one in Mumbai I loved it so much.

Today we began by visiting another amazing fort. The Amber Fort. It was here that my family and I road elephants up the steep hill with ominous power lines overhead. The powerlines have gone, but the elephants have not, however, this time I walked up. It seemed a lot less steep this time, and much busier.

I have yet to get palace fatigue and this was as amazing as the last, especially the spectacular views.


Most exciting was that they were filming a movie in the main courtyard with traditional dancers, a mustachioed Maharajah and Elephants. They didn't care that we walked right through the set, I chatted to the camera man and went right up to the star, no questions asked. Look out for "freedom Fighters" coming to a Hindi cinema near you.



I am now sleeping in a 400 year old fort above a small local village. Leaving the cities there is an instant change. Rural life is full of colour and activity green and gold fields, pink and red Saris, camels, goats, horses and cattle. People are generally excited to see white people and just want to receive a wave and smile, nothing else.

The Fort is owned by the same family who have ruled the land for hundreds of years. They have recently turned it into a hotel to help the village, and it is completely charming with traditional alfresco paintings on the arch ways and lots of open areas with comfortable, antique furniture. The view across the country side is spectacular.

Walking through the village, every child and most adults wanted a photo of them, just to see themselves on our cameras. I couldn't say no because they didn't want anything on return; just looking at their picture was enough. Pretty much the same as any Aussie kid with a camera. As usual, I attracted all the kids who wanted to try their limited English. One older boy with quite good English tried to teach me about English grammar - present participles I think! I know my students would have no idea.

Dinner at the Fort was accompanied by traditional dress ups, live local music and dancing by some of our group members (stunning yoga instructor Penny had bewitched the country and is really destined to be a Bollywood star) and one of the waiters busted some impressive moves.

The weather is clear now, stars are bright, the temperature dips close to 0 overnight but it seems to be in the low 20s during the day now, perfect travel weather.

To see so much I'm a few days is awe inspiring and I have barely scratched the surface of my experiences. To those of you who said "why would you want to go to India?" be assured it is a beautiful, life affirming place which is diverse, confronting and inspiring. And the food is amazing!

Tomorrow- tiger spotting!




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