Today, we left New Delhi and headed to the “Pink City” of Jaipur.  It is called “pink” as many buildings are painted pink to welcome the Prince of Wales back in the 1800s.  It still remains…

It was a very long, slow ride of 5 hours southwest of New Delhi through the Rajasthan province (state).  It felt like you never left the city…there was always a village, a store, a place of work…a tent community along the way.  It was amazing to see all the massive amounts of construction outside of the city and the continuous infrastructure and highway development that never ends.

At the same time, you can be passing by another vehicle on the right, while there is a man with a camel on the left pulling a cart on the same road.

After a day of driving, we checked into the new Fairmont Hotel in Jaipur.  Gorgeous.  Great location and great local food.

The funny thing was the local band playing for Sunday brunch…mainly tunes from the Police, John Denver and other 80s pop bands.  Funny.

Random thought: I found it difficult sometimes if you want to buy something small or give a small tip, rarely do you have the small currency denomination handy.  If you get cash from an ATM, the notes are in 500 or 1000 Rupee notes, but these are almost useless if you want to use a restroom for 5 rupees or buy a water for 8 rupees.  They shop owners don’t have the change…

Since most of our day was spent travelling, we spent the afternoon with a local elephant polo team.  Yes, elephant polo.  They gathered the elephants from southern India and have a large family ranch in the north.

We took a long ride into the mountains in the area and got to see a lot of local wildlife including many peacocks in the trees and lots of local goat ranchers.

The elephants are definitely characters.

Next random thought: Interestingly, sometimes you will see “tenderloin” on the menu of a restaurant.  This is not beef steak, it is water buffalo.  You just don’t eat cows in India, but for some reason, it is OK to export beef from India. Don’t understand that one…

We were lucky to get some local wine tonight.  We stopped by the local liquor store and snatched the last two bottles of the Sula Cabernet.  One minute later another tourist walked up and was also looking for wine…NO WINE he yelled. We got lucky tonight 🙂

• On to the day 2 posting we spent in Jaipur
• and the day 3 posting from Jaipur to Agra