Trip to India: Day Eleven (and part of 12)

Today was our last day in India, and it couldn’t have begun any better. We woke up at 630 and went to get breakfast. After breakfast, we got our bags, put them on the bus, and were off to the destination that made our final morning the best it could be: Amber Fort. The reason it was so special is that you ride elephants to the fort, which is fairly high up. We got to the fort right as a huge line was forming for the elephants. Luckily, we ran and just barely got in front so there was no wait. There could only be two people per elephant, so I went with Will and my mom went with one of the students, Allison. It was amazing riding on that elephant. Will thought it was “so sick.” It is a little bit scary, because there is a ledge right by where the elephant is walking, but the rhythmic swaying of the elephant really is quite soothing. If you close your eyes, it is kind of like floating in the ocean, with waves going under you. Our elephant was a really slow elephant, so we got a nice, calm, and long ride. My mom’s elephant, on the other hand, passed almost all of the other elephants in our group. When we reached the top, we got off of the elephant and walked around the fort. The fort itself is gorgeous, and the views are even better. From the fort you can see all kinds of mountains and Jaipur itself. Solanki showed us around the fort and told us interesting facts about it. There is one part called the sheesh mahal, which is an area made up entirely of mirrors. It is SO cool. The ceiling and every wall is covered with tons of mirrors. After that, we went up higher in the fort to get a better view. As I was looking out and taking pictures at the top, I noticed a GIGANTIC bees nest right in front of me. I took pictures of it, but it’s still hard to show how huge this nest was. There were two, actually, although the other one was much smaller. It was probably one of the largest bees nests that I have ever seen, and it probably would’ve made my sister cry (she is really scared of bees). After that we walked back down to our bus. On the walk back, people trying to sell us things once again bombarded us. There was this man who had taken pictures of Will and me on the elephant. Will and I thought they were cool, so my mom asked how much they were. The man said 1000 rupees FOR ONE PHOTO. So, of course, my mom said absolutely not because that is a ridiculous amount to pay for a photo. I probably got the angriest I’ve gotten at an Indian person on this trip when he came back and tried to sell it to us again. He was getting all up in our faces and thrusting the pictures at us, so I told him that we didn’t want his pictures. Well, he came back, and he did the same thing once again. So, I told him once again, “WE DON’T WANT YOUR PICTURES” and thrust his hand out of the way. Well, once again (surprise surprise), he came back, this time saying that he would give us two pictures for 100 rupees. We obliged, because that is quite cheap, and got away from him. We walked part of the way and then took Jeeps down to our bus. Once we were all on the bus, we headed towards the palace where the Maharaja of Jaipur (kind of like the Queen of England but on a much smaller scale) lives. It was just fantastic. The buildings were wide and beautiful and were beautifully decorated. When I found out the age of the current Maharaja, I was shocked: he is TWELVE!!!! What. A. Life. Is all I can say. We walked around the palace for a while and then went into a museum that was there. In the museum, there were all kinds of weapons that were AWESOME. There was one weapon that was a small dagger and had a second function. If you pressed this thing down it would open up into scissors and you could open and close the scissors. Anyways, I thought that was pretty cool. There were cycle-rickshaws waiting for us when we got out of the palace, which I was really excited about. Cycle-rickshaws are bikes with a seating area in the back for two people. They ride on the street will all of the other cars, which makes the ride exhilarating (there are also no seatbelts for passengers). Will and I got into one, and my mom got into another with a student named Invo (I hope that is spelled correctly). The ride was so much fun. The person who was riding our bicycle stopped and let us take pictures along the way, which was really nice of him. It was so cool having tons of cars speed by us and having buses honk at us. After the cycle-rickshaw ride, it was time for lunch. The drive to lunch was VERY long because there was a Muslim procession throughout the city that was calling for world peace. It was an amazing sight. There were TONS of Muslim men (I probably saw about three women), with their white shirts and hats walking on the streets. There were ten times more people than cars, which, as you can imagine, created a LOT of havoc. Most of the Muslim people were marching on one side of the street, so that side of the street ended up being closed off, which meant that all the cars from that side of the street come onto this side of the street. It was a complete traffic jam, and our bus was right in the middle of it. Johnson, our tour guide, told us not to make eye contact with people in the Muslim procession because the tiniest thing could set them off. Here is the thing: basically all of the Muslims in the procession were very peaceful and polite, but all it takes is one or two to create absolute havoc. Johnson had been in this kind of situation before, and I could tell that he was a little bit frightened (which is saying something people Johnson is one chill dude). As you know, some Muslims are not too fond of Americans, and I was told that Pakistan and Al-Qaeda often send a few people to things like this to create havoc. There were one hundred thousand Muslim people in the procession, and I am sure that 99,995 of them were great people. The fact that we were stuck in traffic meant that if one of them wanted to do something to us, they easily could have. Anyways, even though it was a little tense, it was amazing to see that many people from one religion marching for peace. Eventually, we got out of the atrocious traffic jam and had lunch at a place called Moorti Mahal (not Moti Mahal). It was a fantastic last lunch. I bet (if you have been reading the previous blogs) you can guess what I had… Butter chicken, reshmikabob (another kind of chicken), vegetable and cheese pakoras, and (of course) naan! I once again had a huge lunch, which is good because I will probably be eating airplane food soon. We were going to have a walk in the middle of Jaipur after lunch, but with the Muslim peace procession going on it was not a good idea. Therefore, we decided to go to a nearby store where all kinds of fabrics and rugs and bedcovers are sold. It was a really nice shop, and a man showed us how they make all of the designs that they put on the rubs and bedcovers. Will and I bought Maharaja hats, which (as the name implies) are hats that the Maharajas wear. At the store, I talked to one of our tour guides, Mahesh, and learned how cool a person he is. Mahesh is the one who arranged the village trips, which were my favorite part. It also turns out that he is an actor! He designs sets for plays and acts in them, which is SO cool in my opinion. All three of our tour guides, Solanki, Johnson, and Mahesh, were so great. Solanki is the extremely knowledgeable one, Johnson is the yoga-loving cool and calm one, and Mahesh was the quiet one who made our trip truly memorable. After the store, we headed for the airport (nooo L). We dropped Solanki off, thanked him, and then said goodbye to Johnson and Mahesh once we arrived at the airport. It was tough to say goodbye to them, because of how connected I became to them over the five days we were together. We all said that we would see each other again, which is something I definitely want to do. Our flight was normal and not particularly interesting. We landed in Hyderabad at 930 at night. Our flight was at 655 the next morning, which meant that we would have to get up at three in the morning. We said our goodbyes to all of the students, which was also sad because travelling with them was so much fun. After that, we met Prasad (hooray!) once again, which I was happy about. We stopped in at KFC and got some “hot and crispy” chicken for dinner. Prasad is a vegetarian, so we made sure to put the chicken in the trunk. We then drove back to our apartment, ate our KFC, packed, took showers, and got about three and a half hours of sleep. We woke up at 3 AM the next morning and got all of our stuff together. We went down to Prasad, who was waiting for us. Once again, even though it was three in the morning, Prasad was happy to take our bags and plop them into his trunk. He drove us to the airport and Will and I said goodbye to him. I told him he was a great driver and he smiled like he always does. Prasad was amazing. He knew the streets of Hyderabad like the back of his hand. All you had to do was tell him some random destination and he would go there. The last person Will and I said goodbye to was my mom, which was the saddest one. After saying goodbye to her, we walked into the airport. We did security and bags and all that and I had one last masala dosa for breakfast. We then boarded the plane to London, which marked the end of my trip to India.

Overall, it was one of, if not the best trip to India (and to anywhere) I have ever had. The only thing that would have made it better is if my dad and sister were there. I saw family, met new friends both my age, older, and younger, learned a ton, went to a couple of classic Indian villages, visited five major cities in India, travelled halfway around the world with just Will, and saw one of the seven wonders of the world. All I can say is that I’m looking forward to the next trip to India J.

Amber Fort: