Upon our arrival in our first Rajasthani city, Jaipur, we took ourselves on a hellish mission to find some accomodation for less than 500 rps. After TWO hours with a tuk tuk driver who took us and a funky Aussy girl around to every hotel and guesthouse in the guidebooks plus some more of his own choice, we finally settled on the very first place we found for 500rps anyway (6 British pounds)! Murphy’s law! There doesn’t seem to be anything other than prison cell style rooms with stained walls and dirty bedding for less than this in this whole town! However, the Atithi Guest House was clean and we would certainly recommend it as it has a lovely rooftop terrace with a panoramic view (even if the menu is limited), clean rooms, wifi and, unlike many places we‘ve seen, the owners do seem to be investing their money into making improvements rather than just pocketing the cash. Chris liked this about the place.
In Jaipur we had our very first Bollywood experience at the Raj Mandir cinema, apparently the number one Hindi cinema in India. I had to queue in a ladies’ only line for our tickets - there are separate queues for men and women in many places we’ve visited: at train stations, cinemas, even at the Taj Mahal!
The Raj Mandir cinema is immense! Inside the lobby, it’s so lavishly decorated it’s like a five star hotel. But this wasn’t the best bit. When we entered the auditorium and the lights began to dim, everyone started screaming and cheering! The film, ‘Haddipa’, began with some very Baywatch-style, slow motion, wind-in-the-hair shots of the main actors and was met with even more screaming! Haddipa perhaps epitomized a common, if not overly stereotypical dream here: young woman from small village is the best cricketer in town. The national trials come up and the only way she can run for the team is to dress as a man. Very over the top and rather pantomime in style, yet all the more poignant considering the segregated male-female queuing on the way into the cinema.
All in Hindi, the film was easy to follow as it was very much about the visual, with so much colour and Bollywood dancing every now and then - so sharp and wonderfully choreographed! I’ve GOT to convince Chris to come to a Bollywood dance class with me!
If ever you visit India, make sure you take a trip to the cinema! It’s a fab experience - Indians must think us such boring cinema-goers in the West, just sitting there in silence with no screaming or shouting whenever someone says a controversial or hilarious line!
On our second day in Jaipur, we took a bus out to the Amber Fort, dubbed as a fairytale castle. Chris especially loved it here and said it was the best castle we’ve been to on our trip for sure. There was a lot to explore and passageways that led to different rooms and sections of the castle.
Jaipur’s a great, desert city and there are some tiny clues that there may be a small wealthier class living in parts; we saw a few fancier restaurants here as well as some American stores such as Levis and also had our first Indian Pizza Hut experience!
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