Jaipur not Jaipur
Had a very strange night. We had to get up at five to catch the train to Jaipur. When i woke up, refreshed, I checked my phone for the time and noticed it was already 4:34. I fell asleep again and when I woke up to recheck the time, it was fourteen minutes past one, at night. Utterly confused, I asked Betsy what time she had, after which she confirmed my observation. Still worried, I woke up every hour, every time surprised so little time had passed.
I had dreams of Hindu ceremonies, burials and mystic rituals. No doubt inspired by the forty eight hour prayer marathon going on just outside of the hotel.
At the train station, we waited for more than four hours for our train to show up before deciding Jaipur was going to be for another time. Back to the hotel, a relaxing day and back to Delhi tomorrow.
Most of the afternoon we spent on one of the many rooftop restaurants overlooking the Taj. Nice during the day, but pointless as soon as darkness falls, since the Taj isn’t lit -at all – and turns into a big grey blob shortly after the sun sets. Supposedly, there are a couple of night time viewings each month, from within the grounds of the Taj but if you’re out of luck and the moon is blocked by clouds you can forget about a refund of the 15 dollars foreigners have to pay to get in.
The Mughal buildings in India are impressive but, now that i’ve visited Iran and Afghanistan, not quite as impressive as some of the creations I’ve seen over there. True, the marble inlay of the Taj is special, but this can also be seen across the previously mentioned two countries.
Surprisingly. I haven’t seen any of the Hindi women cover their heads when inside any of the mosques we’ve been to.
In Agra, the area directly around the Taj is off limits to most forms of motorised transport. An exception being electrical vehicles; rickshaws but also buses. They are so silent, it’s uncanny. As if they’re predators trying to sneak up on you. “Rickshaw sir?”