Slapped By a Monkey and Taken Down an Alley

Monday, 02/20/12

Today our plan is to get up and have our usual amazing breakfast, head of to Jaigarh Fort. It towers up above the Amber Fort. The views from this fort are phenomenal and even though my quads were screaming at me with every step going up any incline or steps, it was truly worth it to see the view from there. My legs were sore from the previous days adventures.

More info on Jaigarh Fort can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaigarh_Fort

As the car climbed it's way up the long road to the top of the massive hill, to get to the fort, 

there were beautiful orange colored cliffs along the way. 

One of the many views that caught my eye at the Fort.

I forgot to mention yesterday, but at both Forts and in other locations in Jaipur you can enjoy the chance to ride either elephants or camels. We didn't get the chance but I'm sure the opportunity will be available in one of the next two cities that we'll be seeing.

So the first thing we are shown, by our guide, at the Jaigarh Fort, is the world's largest cannon. It is actually in the guinness book of world records. It weighs 50 tons. The cannon is also named Jaiana which means King's Arrow. Jai means king and ana means arrow. So if you happen to be sitting there reading this and wondering, Jaipur means King's City. Pur means city. This is from the Hindi language. The cannon was cast in 1720 AD during the reign of King Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II. It was only shot once and that was to test it. It was never needed for war. When they did shoot it, it caused several men to go deaf and many many birds to die. They had no idea the explosive sound would cause such damage. After that, they made a plan, in case they ever had to use it in the future. The plan was, they created a much longer fuse, and when the men heard it, they would run and jump into the water below and behind the walls where the cannon was. This way, their hearing would be spared. I'm sure all birds were happy they never had to fire that cannon again. Jaipur was lucky because they were surrounded by large hills and had, intelligently, built strong forts on these hills. After driving up these hills, I joked that "no wonder they weren't attacked". No one in their right mind would want to walk all that way and with that, carrying weapons and wearing armor. Can I hear an, AMEN? For reals!

Jaiana Cannon

The Fort is made of red sandstone and is even inhabited today by the men who work there and their families. There are monkeys galore at this fort and the Amber Fort. They are called Langur monkeys. You can see from my photos I was enamored by them.

Langur monkey jumping along the walls that go along the road.

They are everywhere in this particular location.

There were also camel rides available at the Fort. 

Today is also Maha Shivaratri. It's Shiva's Birthday. Shiva is a major Hindu deity. People spent this day going to Shiva Temples and handing out fruit and sweets to one another and bringing tributes to Shiva as well, such as, veggies, fruits and sweets. I saw carrots and ber (a fruit here in Asia) on a plate that one woman was carrying to the temple. According to Wikipedia, "From the very early morning, Shiva temples are flocked by devotees, young and old, who come to perform the traditional Shivalinga worship (puja) and hence hope for favors from the god. Devotees bathe at sunrise, preferably in the Ganga, or any other holy water source (like the Shiva Sagartank at Khajurao). This is a purificatory rite, an important part of all Hindu festivals. Wearing a clean piece of clothing after the holy bath, worshippers carry pots of water to the temple to bathe the Shivalinga. They offer prayers to the sun, Vishnu and Shiva.Women pray for the well-being of their husbands and sons. An unmarried woman prays for a husband like Shiva, who is considered to be the ideal husband. The temple reverberates with the sound of bells and shouts of “Shankerji ki Jai” meaning 'Hail Shiva'. Devotees circumambulate the linga, three or seven times, and then pour water over it. Some also pour milk." You can read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maha_Shivaratri. While at Jaighar Fort, there is a Shiva temple, I took a couple of photos. They were happy that I asked. I think it pleases them when someone wants to photograph such an important moment and day.

Here are some photos of the fruit called Ber. It's very popular on this holiday. I hadn't taken a photo of it so these are what I found online, as well as a photo of the actual Ber tree. 

Ber tree

This is the typical color of the fruit.

This is to show you just how small they are. 

During lunch, we headed back to the Amber Fort to have lunch again at 1135 AD. Yes, it was that good. I enjoyed ordering the same dish along with rice and some butter naan to share with Vikas. After all the climbing and walking we had done, we felt okay to share in a little endulgance. On our way into the restaurant, which is just inside Amber Fort, there was a Langur monkey just relaxing on the top of one of the round rotunda tops not far from the walkway to the restaurant. We took a few photos and he/she didn't seem to mind. On our way out, and no, there's no photo of this because Vikas had already put the camera away, there was a monkey standing on the railing of the walking way. Our guide was walking in front of us and he tapped the monkey and the monkey turned to face the walkway, well this just gave me the exact incentive I needed to finally touch a monkey. He was sitting right in front of me and I just couldn't help myself so I touch his little hand. I swear, I want to squeal with joy right now. They are so cute even though they're probably pretty mean too, I'm sure. The monkey, moved his hand away and looked at mine to probably see if I had food, though I did not. He then jumped across the walkway to the other side and then stood on the stone sign of the restaurant but this was still very close to me. I only turned around and tapped his little foot with my hand and held my hand out. He slapped my hand twice really quickly and then showed me his teeth as he made this sort of breath like hissing sound. Somehow, this was not scary, but I did flnch and laughed histerically. I found it funny. I figured it was his way of saying, "I want nothing to do with you unless of course you happen to come back with some food!" I let him be and walked on. I was happy anyway, I got to see what a monkeys hand/skin felt like. It's very thick but smooth skin. I guess tough skin so they can swing and hold onto things and grab. Not sure what their fur is like, but I figure this won't be the last time I come in contact with a Langur monkey. If only we had some photos of this, it would be great. The ones below of the monkey we saw before lunch will have to do.

More photos from the Amber Fort. 

We headed back down the long winding road from both Forts and 

along the way was a convoy of elephants with guys riding them. 

I didn't have much time so I took the photos from the car. 

As we decided what to do next, we drove along the city streets and passed by the Lake Palace. 

After that, we went in search of a couple of places that seemed to offer the chance for me to buy jewelry supplies, metal beads and such, at wholesale prices. Yeh, like anything is EVER that easy. Finding places like this is like trying to find the holy grail using a toothpick and a piece of twine on a sketched out map that was created by a 2 year old. I mean, really??!! Let me just tell you, we drove in circles for a while, we called the places and got some info which was pretty much unhelpful to us. Then we decided to get out of the car and walk around the shops for a bit, maybe ask a few people and see if we can find what we're looking for. Vikas gets this idea to turn down an alley and believe me, there are jewellers EVERYWHERE and they WANT you to buy from THEM, no one else. We were walking and I felt pretty comfortable with everything. Luckily this day I had decided to wear my kurtah and scarf which helped me blend in a tiny bit better. I realize now, I should have covered my head and arms a bit so I wasn't so noticeably standing out like, "hey, American here!" So a guy walks up to Vikas, they knew not to walk up to me. Vikas was in front of me and the guide was behind me. The guy says we can come to his shop and see what he has, though we keep telling him we don't want to see semi precious or precious stones, we want to see supplies and metal beads to make jewelry. We follow him and he begins to lead us on a winding journey through different alleyways. I am so glad now that my father taught me to remember where I'm going by using certain tricks and always pay attention to your surroundings. The further we walked, the more I began to realize there were little to no women in site, but loads of men who were no strangers to staring. I saw two women total and they were in the shops because they worked there or were sitting with family, I assume. We get to where we need to be and I follow Vikas and the guide up two steep steps and into a building and up to an elevator. All of a sudden my gut just said, you need to turn around and walk away. I think it was more the fear of the unknown and feeling VERY uncomfortable. We all ended up going to the shop. It was a tiny shop but FULL of different kinds of jewelry and precious and semi-precious stones strung onto thread. Pretty much all of these places were still asking for more than I was willing to pay and also I can get them cheaper elsewhere. We left that place after they finally got the picture that they didn't have what we were looking for. We walk out and decide it's time to get back to our car. We start to go and another guy walks up and he says he has just what we are looking for in our shop. I looked at Vikas and he looked at me and we both just said, nope, we're going back to the car. No more of this nonsense. I'll go through different channels. I'm sure over time, while I'm here in India, I will find some connections, but it wasn't going to be this day. We headed back to the car and got in. We drove around a bit more and bought a few other things, some cute cute puppet dolls which are specific to Jaipur and an umbrella made by hand, which is another local design in Rajasthan. The umbrella has a little Indian flare and bling to it. I love it! I'll try at some point to take photos of the things we bought and post them. Below are photos from our shopping adventures and the rest of our day.

This is the type of umbrella I was talking about in the previous paragraph.

A snack food cart. If I am not mistaken, these are little puffy and 

crispy treats. I'll find out what they're made of. 

Ladies riding the bus in Jaipur. I love the colors in this photo.

Another Fort in Jaipur.

This is a temple. Most structures that are white like this one,

and that are higher elevated are usually temples.

Beautiful modern building. I think it said something about World Business Center.

This was on a truck. Many of the delivery trucks and such are decorated 

with beautiful painted flowers and sayings. I'll find out what this says and get back to you.

We went to a famous place a little on the edge of the city called Neelkanth. It's a shop that has many

types of handicrafts and you also get a tour of the place to see how they do things. 

This guys is supposed to be one of the best and he has his own business card.

Ladies are folding and prepping material to be carried and 

put on the shelves to sell in the shop.

At the end of the day, we went to a place called Chokhi Dhani. "Capturing the spirit of Rajasthan and ensuring the perfect Rajasthani experience is Chokhi Dhani, a unique Village Resort. Chokhi Dhani literally means a “fine hamlet” i.e. a quintessential village that offers an ideal pastoral experience. Away from the urban life the quaint mud and thatch dwellings in the resort give the right blend of traditions - modern amenities in typical ethnic environment." (as stated from their website) It actually had the feel of our Renaissance festivals, in a way. We didn't stay for too long because the mosquitos were out in thousands and groups of them would hang about the head of every person there. You would see so many people notice them and start swatting. The mosquitos especially, and strangely, would hang out in dozens above your head. You could look up and there they all were. Made me feel itchy and even now just thinking about it.. gives me the shivers. So sadly we decided to leave before things really got started because we didn't want to deal with the mosquitos anymore. http://www.chokhidhani.com/home.html

Stage for the puppet show later.

Big slide for the kiddies.

Pretty but surely the culprit to the mosquito population.

Replica beds, but people would sit on them too. 

Replica huts and houses from years ago.

Two cute little puppies playing. Couldn't help but get a photo of this.

Camel rides were offered for the lil ones. Doesn't he seem so regal. 

He's definitely posing his "good" side for the camera. Haha!

Photos below are from our hotel, the ITC Rajputana.

Ceiling when you first walk into the lobby.

The lobby.

Thanks everyone for reading! I'll be posting more soon, about our Ranthambore stay and the two safaris we went on. Though we did not see any tigers, we saw so many other great animals and had an amazing time at one of the  most amazing hotels we've ever stayed at.