RaRaRa-Rajasthan!

Note to self: when considering future career options despite being only one letter off IGO is very different from NGO. While the good people of the NGO world are all heart with little reward, when you turn that non-governmental into an inter-governmental you get a little more money thrown your way and thus employees get sweet perks. While I of course am still at my usual NGOness I did manage to tag along with a friend who works for one such IGO this weekend on a trip to Jaipur, the capital city of the state of Rajasthan. First of all, I should point out that this friend wasn’t even a friend at all until a few weeks ago. She is a fellow Blue Devil (woot woot), Davis High School class of ’99 and despite the fact that she grew up a few blocks away from me in Davis I had never met her until a mutual friend put us in contact with each other a few weeks ago. She is now working in Nepal but comes to Delhi for work occasionally and most importantly brings her per diem with her. Whew, is it the life! We rode in a car, with air conditioning and windows and everything, and even stayed in a place that takes the "s" out of hostel! It had a breakfast buffet! Boy did my little NGO heart ever go crazy at the sight of all that "free" food!

Although the hotel was in itself a sight to see - an old palace converted into a hotel by someone with amazing taste in interior decoration - the city was also really cool. It is known as the pink city because the stone that it is built out of is all a pinkish salmon color. It kind of felt like being in its a small world without the creepy singing children jerking awkwardly back and forth.

I visited a fort/palace in the morning, built circa 1600 for the Maharaja who ruled over Rajasthan. Upon approaching the fort (which my friend had already been to several times and thus left me by my lonsesome to navigate) I noticed the path up to the entrance looked miserably long and steep. Not to worry! This is after all India and thus there was a steady stream of elephants marching people up the hill. Overall assessment of my first use of elephant as a mode of transport: far slower than expected and bumpier than a road full of pot holes and still one sweet ass way to travel. The coolest part about the fort was that I got there before it opened and yet was still let in (questionable) and so I was wandering through all these creepy corridors totally by myself. I’d like to say I was not at all creeped out but to be honest at any moment I expect a group of angry warlords to come around the corner and attack me. I also went to the city palace, which is where all the recent rulers of the state live, including the current royal family – not to worry I didn’t realize each Indian state had a royal family either. The best part, which I attempted to capture in some photos that failed were these four sets of doors called the four seasons, which are each decorated for a different season. I am going to try to put my pictures on here – both of Jaipur and the Golden Temple so those of you with way too much time on your hands should check them out!