India Feb 2018 - Wednesday Travel to Varanasi and our second Shabbat in Delhi

On Wednesday morning, we had an early departure because of the three plus hour drive to New Delhi where we would catch our flight to the “holy” city of Varanasi, on the banks of the River Ganges.

The drive with Vikram was smooth as usual and upon arriving in Delhi, he met with one of the members of his team, who delivered our Chabad/India Kosher Travel meals for the next two days. 

We had a smooth flight on Jet Airways to Varanasi and arrived there in the late afternoon, and as usual there was a local guide together with a driver to meet us at the airport. When I asked the guide to outline our 36 hour stay in Varanasi, he explained that we had arrived at a very wonderful time as it was the second day of a Hindu holy festival dedicated to some particular god and that as such, there were many pilgrims who had arrived in the city to celebrate. 

He had planned to take us to the Ganges that evening to witness a holy prayer by 7 Hindu priests and then, if we desired we could bathe in the Ganges.

In the morning, we would be getting up before sunrise, take a boat ride in the river, witness sunrise as the many pilgrims would be dunking in the waters and if we were lucky, we would be able to witness a cremation, which happens 24 hours a day in the river. 

And then we would take a one hour drive out of town to visit the temple where Bhudda first preached. We would then return to the hotel and early on Friday morning we would go to the airport to catch our two flights to Rishikesh where we hoped to spend Shabbat with Chabad.

We gently explained that thus far on the trip, we had been exposed to many Hindu customs and traditions, and that we actually had some issues in our own tradition and law with actually entering into the temples or being present at prayer services of non monotheistic religions, and while we did not wish to put a wrench into his plans, there was little that he described that would be permissible to us. 

For the Orthodox Jew, the restriction against entering non monotheistic temples, means that the itineraries created for travel to the Far East, especially, has to be previewed carefully. Otherwise, one might run into days like this. In our extensive travel throughout the Far East, including Vietnam, Thailand, China and Japan, there had always been non religious options to fill our day. Our travel to Varanasi was our very first time in a place where there was little significant to see that did not involve this challenge to our religious principles. 

We suggested that while we check into the hotel and unpack, that he revise the plans for us and create some reasonable alternative. We were staying at the Taj Gateway Hotel, a very nice and well maintained hotel, run by the famous Taj Hotel group in India. 

At the hotel, we met with the chef and he, like all the others that we had met on the trip, was very eager to accommodate our kosher needs and he advised that he would be personally responsible to ensure that our every detail was followed to the T. 

We met again with the guide and decided that we would go with him to the centre of town in the evening to see the crowds of pilgrims, and then in the morning we would accompany him on the river boat cruise to see sunrise. Following that, he suggested that we visit the University, one of the largest dormitory universities in India, and then visit a local market. We would end early because it seemed that there was little to do in this city that was not Hindu related. Besides, we had been on the go for a couple of weeks and welcomed the idea of one afternoon off where we could relax by the beautiful pool on the Taj grounds. 

We had dinner in the hotel dining room and the chef came over to personally check that we were pleased with his attention to the details of kashrut. 

We drove with our guide to the centre of town, not far from the entrance to the Ganges. Our first reactions were that this was without a doubt one of the most run down towns we had ever seen, we were overwhelmed by the number of people crowded into this small area, and that we were caught in one of the worst traffic jams that we had ever experienced. 

We finally got out of the car and began walking thru the streets. It was a madhouse and pure pandemonium. Cars, bikes, mopeds, tuktuks all beeping on their horns at the same time. Cows everywhere, even inside a very nice material store on the Main Street. 

Male, female and small children begging all over and “holy”men who would approach you to take a picture with you and then ask you for money. 

We do not mind crowds at all but this was way over the top, uncontrolled and not a pleasurable experience at all. We returned to the hotel and got a very short night’s sleep as Thursday morning would be the pre-sunrise boat ride on the Ganges.

In the morning, we awoke at 4:45 AM in order to leave the hotel by 5:15 so that we could be at the river edge well before sunrise. There was little traffic getting thru town at this time of the morning, but as we approached the area where we would have to leave our car and begin walking to the river, all of a sudden, from all directions, there were pilgrims with towels on their way to the river to immerse themselves in its waters. 

It was explained to us that at least once in the life of a Hindu, he would be expected to make this journey, similar to a Muslim traveling to Mecca. When we reached the end of the road, there were a number of steps from where one descends to the river’s edge, and there were hundreds of people assembled, many praying, many undressing to immerse in the waters, many chanting some prayer and many paying homage to this or that holy man sitting near the river. 

All along the river’s edge there are “ghats” or steps that allow those wishing to immerse to make their way right down to the river. Varanasi has many such ghats owing to the many religious pilgrims. Ghats also used by women who bring their dirty clothes to wash in the river and our guide told us that most of the hotels in the area actually have women bring the sheets and towels from the hotel and wash them in the river. And finally ghats are also used to take the ashes from a recent cremation and “offer” them to the holy waters.

We went all the way down to the dock where we boarded our small rowboat. Light was beginning to peek out on the horizon 

and you could see many boats like ours rowing up and down the shore. We were not the only ones to arise early this morning; this is clearly a widespread program for tourists like ourselves. 

We rowed a way up the river and our guide again asked us whether we would wish to witness a cremation. We again politely declined. He explained that there are two crematoria in Varanasi, and we could see fresh supplies of piles of wood tree trunks that are brought in especially for this ceremony that is holy to the Hindu. 

It was nice to watch sunrise over the relatively still waters of the Ganges, and perhaps it is an uplifting experience for some but we failed to be inspired. Both of us felt that we would have rather watched sunrise over a calm, beautiful lake in the Muskoka region of Ontario.

We walked back to the car thru the lanes of the old town and passed a couple of temples and mosques and we were told not to take any photos in this area. When we asked why, we were told that there was a high police presence constantly on guard against any terrorist attack, and the police had requested no photos. 

One of our observations that we made over and again in our walks thru the old sections of towns that we had visited (Varanasi, Pushkar, New Delhi, Udaipur and others), was the contrast between the way these places are maintained and the way old areas of Jerusalem, Acco, Jaffa, old towns in Tuscany, Poland, Croatia and all over Europe, are maintained. This was the first country that we had been to, where millions of visitors walk thru their narrow, winding ancient streets, paths and lanes, and the local tourist authority had done little to improve the infrastructure, the cleanliness, the signage, the facilities available. We thought back to the way the old city of Jerusalem (also with millions of pilgrims) looked immediately after the Six Day War when we first visited, and how it looks today. How much has been invested in beautifying places like the Old City of Jerusalem, and how little had been invested in India. The contrast was remarkable. 

We were driven back to our hotel, where we davened Shacharit (said our morning prayers), washed up and had breakfast. Our guide returned to get us at 11 AM and gave us a driving tour of the city, showed us the impressive local university campus and took us to a large scaled map of India built on the floor of a large hall that is called Mother India. 

There was not much else for us to do in Varanasi and so we spent the afternoon relaxing by the pool at our hotel. 

During that time, we were contacted by Moshe of India Kosher Travel, who advised us that the Chabad House in Rishikesh, where we were to have spent Shabbat, would not be open this Shabbat. We had decided to spend Shabbat there as it was close to our route. However, if no one would be there, it would make little sense to fly all the way there. And so we opted for changing our plans and decided to spend another Shabbat in New Delhi. Moshe and his crew efficiently changed our flights, got us a room at the beautiful Delhi LaLit hotel for Shabbat and Sunday and arranged for a driver to meet us on arrival in Delhi on Friday afternoon and also to be available for us on Sunday.

In retrospect, had we known much about Varanasi before going, we would have cancelled our plans to visit there. Our fault for not doing enough research. And although the rest and relaxation was welcomed, it was the least enjoyable part of our trip to India.

Friday morning we caught our flight to Delhi and checked into the LaLit, which was about a 30 minute walk from Chabad. The hotel was very full, and while the LaLit is a very professional operation, they appeared overwhelmed when we checked in and messed up our check-in process. The result was that they rewarded us with an upgrade to a gorgeous and spacious suite. 

Having been in the area two Shabbats earlier, we knew the local geography and easily made our way thru a number of bustling markets to Chabad on Friday evening in time for candlelighting at sunset.

Friday night brought together about 30 travelers, mostly from Israel and mostly young backpackers. There were a few travelers our age and we enjoyed the cameraderie, the conversation and the oasis that is Chabad, every place we visit. 

Shabbat morning again brought together about 20 of us and once again I was asked to lain (read from the Torah) for those assembled. 

On Sunday, we visited a local market near Chabad that is popular with Israeli backpackers and then had our driver take us to an upscale mall in the south side of Delhi. What a contrast! We had spent two weeks never seeing what we would call a modern shopping area. We had not seen, even in all our many hours of driving from place to place, what we would call a supermarket. We had seen perhaps two or three chain store names such as Bata Shoes, and McDonalds, but they were few and far between.

We are told that there is talk of Costco coming to India. There is no IKEA in India. I read somewhere that Walmart is now surfacing in a couple of areas in India. We did not see any “big box” stores. With a market so huge, it is amazing that such stores have not opened here. The culture here is so different. 

We now entered a huge modern mall with all the famous names; Zara, Tommy Hilfiger, Nautica etc., and the place was busy with shoppers, both locals, expats and tourists. 

We spent a couple of hours shopping, observing and interacting with some fellow shoppers. We even found a small very upscale supermarket (with service and cleanliness on the scale of a Pusateri’s from Toronto or a Whole Foods) that was part of a department store in the mall, that carried many imported items, with a number of them carrying a kosher symbol. But we stress, this was not the norm, it was clearly the exception to the rule. This was the only place that we found Haagen Dasz Ice Cream with an OU or any Kosher ice cream for that matter. 

When we returned to the LaLit Hotel, we witnessed yet another wedding procession. The groom on a white horse surrounded by an entourage of relatives and friends, all wearing matching kippas, being escorted with a band into the hotel, very similar to how we escort the groom in our tradition to the ceremony of “badeken”, putting the veil on the bride. Of course, in our tradition, there is no horse!

Returning for a moment to our experience in Varanasi, during our walk thru the centre of town with our guide, we noticed two shopping malls that appeared empty. Our guide explained that they were built by entrepreneurs hoping to capitalize on the number of tourists. But the locals shunned the mall concept, preferring the rundown, small stalls that dot every city in India. The malls in Varanasi like the Shapuri Mall in the picture below, (the only modern building that we saw in downtown Varanasi) eventually shuttered and closed. 

And so ended our visit to Varanasi, a city that we would not include in any itinerary that we would recommend for travel to India....just our own personal opinion....and our pleasant weekend in Delhi. 

Before I close this post, lest anyone think that all milk is kosher, here is a package that we found in the upscale food court in Delhi....when we asked one of our guides whether it would be possible for farmers to mix camel milk and cow milk, he replied that there is no government supervision on what the farmers sell, and that even with government supervision, we heard stories over and over of government corruption in India. So beware....

And this is a gourmet food product....”richer than cow’s milk in calcium, iron and vitamin C and lactose free”.....

On Monday, we were to fly to our final destination on this trip, to the centre of the Sikh religion, the city very close to the Pakistani border in the province of Punjab, Amritsar. 

More to come.

All the best

Fran and David

India Feb 2018 - Tuesday in Agra and the Taj Mahal

Early on Tuesday morning we said goodbye to the Hilton Hotel in Jaipur and began the 5 hour (only 240 kms!) drive to Agra. 

We had read that to get the full experience of the visual beauty of the Taj Mahal, one should try to be there at sunrise and in the late afternoon at sunset. However, we had been told by our driver Vikram and by a couple that we had met at the Chabad House that capturing the Taj in the morning this time of the year is very iffy because of the frequent morning fog that descends over the area. 

So Vikram suggested that we leave early enough to allow sufficient time for a late afternoon and evening visit to get the full benefit of a Taj visit.

We arrived in Agra in the early afternoon and were met by our local guide Anurag “Anu” Mathur. He spoke English perfectly having attended university in the USA. He was extremely knowledgeable about the historical facts surrounding the places that we visited and presented everything in a very confident manner. But it was another talent that he had that would prove most valuable later that afternoon. More on that soon.

We first drove to the Doubletree Hilton hotel, a very modern and well maintained hotel, and we checked in. Our meals had arrived from Chabad and we had a quick lunch before heading out with Anu.

We drove to the Agra Fort, an important 16th-century walled city, which was the main residence of the emperors of the Mughal Dynasty till 1638, when the capital was shifted from Agra to Delhi. It is about 2.5 km northwest of its more famous sister monument, the Taj Mahal. The forbidding exteriors of this fort hide an inner paradise.

The construction of the Agra fort was started around 1565, when the initial structures were built by the Mughal Emperor Akbar, and subsequently taken over by his grandson Shah Jahan, who added most of the marble creations to the fort. It would unfortunately become his personal prison later in his life.

Once again we see the use of the six sided Star of David in Muslim architecture.

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After our very pleasant walk thru the Fort with detailed explanations by Anu, we were on our way to the Taj Mahal. Because of the number of visitors to the Taj, your driver is only permitted to take you to a spot about a km from the entrance. From there you either board a tram, a tuk-tuk or walk to the entrance. We took the tram half way there and walked the rest. Walking up the walkway to the main entrance gate, you can catch your first glimpse of the Taj and it is breathtaking. 

The weather all day had been hazy and thankfully the sun had burned thru the haze and we now had a totally cloudless sky and perfect conditions for taking pictures of the Taj Mahal. And it was here that we learned about Anu’s great skill as a photographer. He took charge of both my cameras, chose appropriate locations where we should pose and somehow miraculously in a number of pictures, captured the moment where it actually looked like we were the only ones in the picture. 

The pictures below and all the pictures in our India blog were taken with our iPhone 6 camera.

I am assuming that the pics that were taken with our Nikon SLR will be even better.

He shared his web address for his photography and if you have the time, visit it: it is quite amazing. 

https://m.facebook.com/anuragmathur12474/photos/?mt_nav=1

First, here are some of my shots of the Taj Mahal:

Here are some of the shots that Anu got of the Taj Mahal and us:

For those who are interested, below is a brief fascinating history of the builder of the Taj, Shah Jahan and facts about the construction of the building. 

We were overwhelmed by the beauty, symmetry and elegance of this building. We had seen it in pictures, had read about it and in the case of some places in the world, that would be sufficient. But in the case of the Taj, seeing it was a real thrill and well worth the drive and trip to India. 

Born in 1592, Shah Jahan was the son of Emperor Jahangir. He displayed great military skills at an early age against numerous enemies. However, he wasn't just a sharp military leader, but also exceptionally talented at building and proved it by re-designing buildings within the Agra fort and also building the Red Fort in Delhi. Among many titles he had earned, "The Builder of the Marvels" was one that would soon be proven with his building one of the 7 wonders of the world.

At the age of 15, he was betrothed to Arjumand Banu Begum, the 14 year old granddaughter of a Persian noble. Arjumand was the love of his life and he named her Mumtaz Mahal, meaning "Jewel of the Palace" and she became the favourite of all his wives.

After she died in 1631 while giving birth to their 14th child, Shah Jahan undertook the work of constructing world's most beautiful monument in her memory. This ivory-white marble mausoleum which entombs Mumtaz Mahal as well as Shah Jahan, came to be known as "Taj Mahal", the building of which took 22 years and 22000 laborers. Artisans and designers, dome-makers, calligraphers, and inlay artists were imported from Iran and Central Asia to ensure the quality of the construction. 

Material was brought in from all over India and neighbouring countries - marble from the quarries of Makrana in the Indian desert state of Rajasthan, turquoise from Tibet, jade from China, lapis lazuli and sapphires from Sri Lanka - and carried to the site by a fleet of 1,000 elephants. In all, twenty-eight types of precious and semi-precious stones were inlaid into the white marble.

The Taj Mahal complex is believed to have cost an estimated 32 million rupees at that time, which today would be approximately 52.8 billion rupees or US$827 million. 

There are many legends associated with Shah Jahan. One of the most popular is that, once the Taj was completed, he cut off the fingers of the artisans or poked out their eyes, so that never again would such a masterpiece be possible. 

However, our guide told us that such legends are “fake news”. In actuality, Shah Jahan, when hiring the artisans, built a city to house all of them together with their families. He made them promise that they would never leave the city, thus ensuring that they could not duplicate the construction for any other world leader. Many of the descendants of these families still live in Agra. 

In 1657, Shah Jahan fell ill, and Dara, Mumtaz Mahal's eldest son assumed responsibility of his father's throne. His other son, Aurangzeb, accompanied by 2 younger brothers marched on Agra to claim their share of the throne. They defeated Dara's armies and declared their father Shah Jahan incompetent to rule and put him under house arrest in the very same Agra Fort that he had so lovingly redesigned and decorated. He was placed under house arrest in a room, from which he could see, some 2 to 3 kms in the distance, the Taj Mahal, his greatest achievement. 

After Shah Jahan died in 1666 in captivity, his body was taken quietly by two men and was laid beside his favourite wife, Mumtaz.

We returned to the Hilton and on Wednesday leave for the drive back to Delhi, and our flight to the Holy City of Varanasi.

All the best

Fran and David

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Monday in Jaipur

Our guide for Jaipur met us at the Hilton and we were off to explore this city, but not before a picture with the Hilton’s doorman. 

The first difference that we noticed was that there seemed to be an order and a neatness in Jaipur that we had not seen in too many other places. Although the area immediately outside our hotel was a total mess, this was because they are in the process of building a new bridge that will divert much traffic from the centre of the city. But as you moved away from the construction project, you could not help but notice that this was a city with few roaming cows, with sidewalks and wide avenues and we even passed a beautifully maintained golf course in the centre of the town.

We drove from our hotel a few kms to the impressive old city walls of the city of Jaipur.

Jaipur, the capital of the state of Rajasthan was founded in 1727 by Maharaj Jai Singh II. Initially his capital was Amber, 11 km from Jaipur. He shifted his city to Jaipur because of population growth and growing scarcity of water. Jaipur is the first planned city of India and the King, a lover of science and mathematics, consulted several books on town planning and had extensive discussions with architects before making the layout of Jaipur.

With a strategic plan based on the ancient Hindu system of architecture called Vastu Shastra, the construction of the city started in 1727. It took around 4 years to complete the major palaces, roads and square. The city was divided into nine blocks, out of which two consist of the state buildings and palaces, whereas the remaining seven blocks, with neat, broadly laid out wide avenues, were allotted to the public. In order to ensure the security, huge fortification walls were made along with seven strong gates. Within the city walls were everything a city would need to function; schools, hospitals, stores, industry, commercial areas and residential homes.

In 1876, when Prince of Wales and Queen Victoria visited Jaipur, the whole city was painted pink to welcome them and Lord Albert called the city ‘Pink City’, the name it is known by till today. 

Our first stop inside the walls was the very distinctive building called Hawa Mahal in Hindi and the Palace of the Wind in English. It is a very interesting 5 storey building, constructed in 1799 by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh. It is built with a beehive effect and has 953 windws (jarokhas) with intricate latticework from where all the women of the Royal families would gaze out to see all the festivals and occasions, as well as the day to day life in the city. The women had to look out to the street in this way because they had to obey the strict rules of "purdah", which forbade them from appearing in public without face coverings. 

The top two storeys of the building are only a few metres wide and were really only there as observation posts. It is called the palace of the winds because the interior of the palace was hollow like an atrium and when the windows were open, a cool breeze flowed thru its interior.

Nearby, people were selling crafts such as hand carved wooden blocks with a chamsah and there was even a local snake charmer.

From there we drove a short distance to the morning milk market, which I mentioned in a previous post. Farmers from all over the area come into town early in the morning with fresh milk. When the buyers assemble, the farmers allow them to taste the milk by pouring a small amount into a cup or into the palm of their hands. Once they are satisfied with the taste and the price, they haul their milk cans into the back of their car, bike or rickshaw and head home. We had really not seen milk cans like these for decades and they are still in use in India. 

These were short stops, as we really wanted to get up to the Amer Fort, 11 kms north of the city, before the morning rush. The fort is high on a hill and in order to get into the fort, you either walk up the steep hill or do what all the tourists do, which is climb the mountain on the back of an elephant. The elephants only work during the morning hours, and therefore the lineups to make use of this form of transportation can be very long. When we got to the line, we were told that our wait would be at least thirty minutes, but the weather was sunny and cool; we struck up conversations with fellow travelers from various parts of the world to pass the time and the wait passed quickly. 

While waiting, various hawkers of souvenirs and local artifacts, moved up and down the line trying to peddle their wares. If you said that you were not interested, they kept coming back with lower prices. It was interesting to watch the price deflate with no negotiation from our end. 

Once we got on the elephant, there were many photographers who were shooting your pictures and by the time you reached the top of the hill and entered the fort, they had already developed your photos and they were already mounted in an album for purchase. They were asking for about 500 rupees ($10 Can.) for one picture, and at least 5 different photographers approached us with their album of photos of us. We kept saying no, we are not interested and after we had finished touring the fort, the same photographers somehow picked us out of the crowd and hounded us all the way out of the parking lot, until I finally offered one fellow 100 rupees ($2) for the entire album. We made the deal for 150 rupees or $3.00 Canadian.

The scenery from the top was quite striking. Further up the hill above us was another huge fortress, the Jaigarh Fort. The two are connected by a subterranean passage, which served as an escape route in times of war to enable the royal family members and others in the Amer Fort to shift to the more protected Jaigarh Fort. Surrounding both forts and stretching for miles atop all the surrounding hills was a wall which reminded us of the Great Wall of China. Apparently it is about 15 kms long and is hundreds of years old. 

Everyone wanted to take pictures with us. One of our guides explained that Indian people are very into positive energy and when they see people who are smiling, they wish to be a part of that scene!

The fort is really a palace. Constructed of red sandstone and marble, the attractive, opulent palace is laid out on four levels, each with a courtyard. The palace was the residence of the Rajput Maharajas and their families. Here is a picture in the Hall of mirrors.

The Amer Fort and the Jaigarh Fort high above it are connected by an underground tunnel.

A view of the fort from the road and now what it looks like on google when the lake in front of it is full.

Our guide was excellent, spoke English well, and knew his historical and architectural facts with the expertise that we have come to expect from all the guides provided to us by India Kosher Travel and by Carmel Tours. 

When we left the fort, we headed to the floating palace, which was the summer palace of the local kings.

From here, our guide took us to a factory/showroom of precious stones and jewellery. Like most guides in India, there is usually one stop in the day where they steer you to a local facility, under the guise of showing you the ancient art of this or that. In reality, it is a mutually beneficial retail outlet promoted by the guides, where both the guide and the store profit. The quality that we saw on this trip was very good and also very expensive. 

In this case, they had a small craft area where experienced craftsmen were grinding and polishing precious stones like rubies, onyx, tanzanite and emeralds. It was fascinating to watch them glue the stone to the end of what looked like a pencil and then to grind these to the desired shape. 

After this short visit, we were taken to a local restaurant, where it had been prearranged for us to have our own table where we could enjoy our kosher meals and order tea, coffee or sodas. 

On entering, we met the man reputed to have the widest moustache in India and then were entertained by a traditionally attired local musician.

We continued on to one of our favourite attractions, Jantar Mantar, literally meaning “Calculation Instrument”. Before entering this amazing historic scientific exhibit of early astronomy, we passed by a mobile ATM, something we had never seen before. It was in the back of the truck which had a wifi antenna sticking out the top to communicate with remote computer networks. 

Between 1724 and 1730 Maharajah Sawaii Jai Singh II of Jaipur constructed five astronomical observatories in north India and today we were visiting the largest of the 5, in Jaipur. The observatories, or "Jantar Mantars" as they are commonly known, incorporate multiple buildings of unique form, each with a specialized function for astronomical measurement. These structures with their striking combinations of geometric forms at large scale have captivated the attention of architects, artists, and art historians world wide, yet remain largely unknown to the general public.

Inside Jantar Mantar, you will find several geometric devices for measuring time, ascertaining the movement of planets, tracking stars in their orbits, predicting eclipses and determining the celestial altitudes. All of these tools are fixed and static. These can not be moved. The largest of them is the Samrat Jantar sun dial which is 90 feet high and which can read time with great accuracy. Other instruments can broadcast the arrival of the monsoons and the time of eclipses. The instruments are built of local stone and marble. 

It was most fascinating that someone could have built this close to 300 years ago, especially because some of the stone work has been ground out to specific and accurate angles and curves. No visitor to Jaipur should skip this most amazing attraction.

Next door to Jantar Mantar is the City Palace and Museum of Jaipur and we were once again overwhelmed by the beauty and attention to detail by the builders of these structures hundreds of years ago. 

This had been a long day but our guide insisted on taking us thru the markets in the centre of this planned city and we were very glad that he did. First he took us along a street where they sold housewares and building materials. 

Here is Fran contemplating which pot to buy to make her Pesach chicken soup;

Then he took us thru the authentic Indian Sari market and we watched the proceedings as shopkeepers paraded out the finest fabrics and the wide assortment of vivid colours and sparkling trimming to parents of various brides and grooms. It was busy, bustling, crowded and most colourful. Millions of rupees were exchanging hands as materials and styles were chosen for the wedding party. 

It had been a long day and our favourite to this point in our journey and we headed back to the Hilton where we enjoyed our meal and well deserved rest.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, the drive from Jaipur to Agra and the Taj Mahal. 

All the best

Fran and David

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