Friday, May 20 Elephants!

Hi All!

I’ve officially survived one of the hottest, full days on our trip. (Also the hottest day in India on record— it reached over 115 F in Jaipur and over 125 F in New Delhi…yeah heat wave!)  We spent all morning and most of the afternoon outside around Jaipur doing many different sight seeing activities. Today also included the much anticipated ELEPHANT RIDES at Fort Amber! The way it worked was we rode elephants up the path on the mountain to the top of the fort, then we walked around a lot to see the various aspects of the fort, architecture, and the many scenic views inside and outside of the fort itself. There were many opportunities for photos :D (Please, I am aware of how elephants can be mistreated at various touristy locations; however, much research went into located this opportunity in which the elephants are treated extremely well and only do two trips in an entire day and spend the entire rest of the time resting in order to limit the physical exertion and harm.) 

Following our fort adventures, we stopped at a block printing place that showed us intricacies of how block printing is done and sold block printing and many other fabric based items. Then we headed to lunch. I guess some things will never change, the larger the group the longer it will take to get your food in a restaurant. Additionally, I am not sure if its because of the heat, the time of day, or since we have been traveling so much, but the number of people that have passed out either at a restaurant or on the short bus ride immediately before or after lunch is seriously impressive. 

Our day continued with a tour of the City Palace of Jaipur. It may be stretching the similarities a little bit, but parts of the palace really reminded me of Versailles. Mostly the detailed architecture, amount of intricate paintings on the walls, ceilings, and doors and the fact that the gold on the artwork is made from real gold leafs. I took a lot of pictures of the ornate doors here because they made me think of my mom who loves intricate looking doors. Additionally the architecture and sculpting in India continues to impress me. Here is a picture from the courtyard. 

Our final tourist stop for the day was going to the Albert Hall Museum. Much of the artwork has history related to articles collected by, gifted to, and given by the royal family. Additionally, there was a lot of beautiful sculpting and pottery and a very elaborate armory. 

After dinner, there were two ladies that came to our hotel to do hennas. It took a little peer pressure, but I ended up giving in and getting one too. It was really impressive how effortlessly and beautifully these women could come up with random designs for each of us. Like many others, this was my first experience with having a henna. As we waited with the dye on our hands, being careful not to smear the paste, we learned everyone reacts differently to henna past. For instance, one person kept saying, “I’m starting to become mildly concerned by the stinging and burning sensation of the henna…” while another asked if it was normal for your hand do go numb (which it probably was since she had essentially not moved her hand at all in the last two hours). Generally, the longer you leave the henna paste on before pealing it off, the darker the dye will be on your hand and the longer it will stay. Additionally, hennas are heat sensitive which is why they are darkest on the palm and fingers, and lighter the farther down your hand and wrist the designs go. In addition to leaving the henna dye on longer, there are a few tricks you can do to enhance the color. The henna artists recommended putting on mustard oil, which the hotel staff was actually able to give us. Other home recipes include putting lemon juice over the henna to enhance color. Lastly, since henna dye can be created in many ways, it is very formula dependent when considering the darkness and length of time it stays on.