So that plane that was supposed to leave at 9:30PM? Yeah, we didn’t leave until around midnight. The entire Air India experience getting here was horrible. They ended up taking us to a downstairs room at JFK airport where we waited more and this whole time there was no communication as to what was going on. When we finally boarded, despite there being TONS of open gates(including the one our plane was supposed to be at), they bused us off to the middle of the airport where our plane was off on its own away from gates. Okay, so that’s how it started. The plane itself... y’all! There were people moving seats because their seat belts didn’t work, only half the tv’s actually worked (of course neither Kyle’s or I’s did), and they ran out of toilet paper in all the bathrooms about 1/3 of the way into our 15 hour flight (it was extra long due to a super round about path to avoid coming anywhere close to Pakistan). The bathrooms. OMG. I hope this isn’t typical, but they were covered in piss by the end of the flight. No exaggeration... pee all over the floors and all over the toilets. The carpet outside the bathrooms wet from the shoes exiting. Every one of them. We have taken a lot of flights and used a lot of airlines not US based, and never had experiences quite like these. I am thankful for arriving safely first and foremost, but they will be receiving an email from the Krays when we return. We have a couple other flights using them before we are home... hopefully those are better!On to Jaipur! We landed in Delhi a little past 1AM. Met our driver, Tarum, and headed out for Jaipur. We got into Jaipur at 6AM, showered, and headed out at 8AM to start seeing what Jaipur has to offer! Happy Maha Shivaratri to the Hindus!! Today is a huge holiday in the Hindu religion as they celebrate the Lord Shiva. There were big celebrations and really long cues to get into certain temples today.
Jaipur is the capital and largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is also known as the Pink City because of the colors of the buildings in the
city. In 1876 the Prince of Wales came to Jaipur and the king made the city pink to welcome him. Still to this day, buildings are not allowed to be any other color (although not really my idea of a true "pink").First stop was the see the Albert Hall museum. We did not go into the museum though because of time constraints (pic to the right).
Next, we headed to the Amber Fort (Amer fort in Hindu). Amber Fort is the main attraction of Jaipur. It is on a hill and constructed of red sandstone and marble. It consists of 6 separate sections each with their own gate, and is laid out on four levels with their own courtyards (you know the Krays love their courtyards!). The Diwan-e-Aam, or "Hall of Public Audience", the Diwan-e-Khas, or "Hall of Private Audience", the Sheesh Mahal or Jai Mandir “Mirror palace” (winter section), and the Sukh Niwas (summer section) where a cool climate is artificially created by winds that blow over a water cascade within the palace. Kyle and I rode an elephant named Mala to the top of the hill and entrance to the Fort. Fun! Here are some pictures...
We came across a snake charmer in route to our next stop so we wanted to check out these crazy people with their cobras. This guy convinced me to sit next to him and pet his cobra. When I first went in to touch it, the thing hissed and snapped at me. I jumped so big, LOL. He told me if it bites no big deal because the fangs are out. Ummm, still... no thank you! So then he held the snakes head. :)
Next, we went to the Jal Mahal, or Water Palace. It is a palace in the middle of Man Sagar Lake and was the former house of the royal family, but they are currently converting it into a hotel. 
Next, we stopped at the Hawa Mahal (Wind Palace) which is a palace that is basically just a cool looking wall made of red sandstone. 
From there we went a few other places. The City Palace which includes the Chandra Mahal and Mubarak Mahal palaces and other buildings. It was the seat of the Maharaja of Jaipur, the head of the Kachwaha Rajput clan. The Chandra Mahal palace is 7 stories & houses a museum, plus, is the residence of descendants of former rulers of Jaipur. The Mubarak Mahal is a museum of textiles. The Pritam Niwas Chowk is the inner courtyard with 4 gates that have themes which represent the four seasons and Hindu Gods. The 'Diwan-I-Khas' is a marble floored chamber located between the armory and the art gallery. There are two huge sterling silver vessels over 5 feet tall (750 lbs) with capacity of 4000 liters and on display here. They were made from 14,000 melted silver coins without soldering. They hold the Guinness World Record as the world's largest sterling silver vessels. City Palace gate is to the right.
The Jantar Mantar monument is a collection of nineteen architectural astronomical instruments for measuring time, predicting eclipses, tracking locations of major stars as Earth orbits, etc. It was built by the Rajput king, Sawai Jai Singh II. It features the world's largest stone sundial, and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It was really neat!!! We took some pictures with our astronomical signs and of the huge sundial. 
After the Jantar Mantar we went to an elephant sanctuary where we were able to feed and paint elephants. Maria (our elephant) was amazing, and it was the highlight of our day!! ...Even though I am not 100% convinced the treatment of elephants is great (painting, riding, etc). Indian people do love the elephant and mean well with animals. We were told Maria would never forget us ;). Apologies for picture overload...
When we were done feeding and painting the elephants, Kyle tried his hand at cricket, which is a huge sport in India. He needs practice... it took several strikes (or whatever they are called) before making any contact with the ball. HA! After that we were so tired but decided to make the trek to Nahargarh Fort at the top of a mountain to watch the sunset over Jaipur. Panoramic below.
WE WERE SPENT! Jaipur is amazing, and has totally exceeded our expectations!! Time to go to bed!!!!!!!
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