Let's Go Fly a Kite at the Taj Mahal
This weekend was the beginning of a festival celebrating Jaipur. They kicked off the festivities with a kite festival. For those of you who have read the book The Kite Runner – this is very similar to the kites in that book. They fight with each other. The kites are small and made of paper, but the string is coated in glass, so if you’re a gifted kite flyer, you can slash the other kite strings. It’s an impressive sight to see.
The sky above Jaipur was literally full of kites. For the most part, the city shuts down for the day. Everyone hangs out on their roofs, flying kites and blasting ridiculously loud dance music. It was a warm and sunny day, so all in all the event was perfect. I’ll post pictures sometime, hopefully.
That afternoon, James and Steve (the other volunteers here) went with me to Agra. We arrived there via bus (about 5 and a half hours away through some beautiful countryside and horrible roads). We stayed at a guest house recommended by our current guest house. The location was perfect, right down the street from the entrance to the Taj Mahal.
Bright and early on Sunday morning, we walked over to the Taj, arriving at about 6:45 AM, before it got too crowded. What can I say about the Taj Mahal?? You’ve all seen pictures. It’s stunning. Huge. Captivating. Haunting. I loved it. It’s much bigger than I realized, to be honest. We stayed a few hours, just looking around and taking pictures – which I will post at some point!
Next stop - Agra Fort, also well worth the trip. It’s a huge sprawling red sandstone fort. We spent another few hours there, just wandering. And then it was time to hop back on the bus to Jaipur – definitely a whirlwind trip. The trip back was awful. The bus seats have virtually no leg room when the person in front puts the seat back. So it was a bit cramped. And the bus honked the whole way back – quite possibly the most annoying noise in the world. I think I’ll stick to trains to get around after that!
This week we’re working with some school kids, teaching them about bird watching – which is a huge laugh, since none of us know a thing about India birds, and quite frankly, we don’t really care all that much. But hopefully tomorrow we’ll get out to the lake and chop down some invasive trees or something. Saturday we’re going with one of the project coordinators to an Indian wedding reception. I am getting a sari top made as we speak and will be fully decked out for the event…. Then next week, I am off to Jaisalmer for a camel safari!
The sky above Jaipur was literally full of kites. For the most part, the city shuts down for the day. Everyone hangs out on their roofs, flying kites and blasting ridiculously loud dance music. It was a warm and sunny day, so all in all the event was perfect. I’ll post pictures sometime, hopefully.
That afternoon, James and Steve (the other volunteers here) went with me to Agra. We arrived there via bus (about 5 and a half hours away through some beautiful countryside and horrible roads). We stayed at a guest house recommended by our current guest house. The location was perfect, right down the street from the entrance to the Taj Mahal.
Bright and early on Sunday morning, we walked over to the Taj, arriving at about 6:45 AM, before it got too crowded. What can I say about the Taj Mahal?? You’ve all seen pictures. It’s stunning. Huge. Captivating. Haunting. I loved it. It’s much bigger than I realized, to be honest. We stayed a few hours, just looking around and taking pictures – which I will post at some point!
Next stop - Agra Fort, also well worth the trip. It’s a huge sprawling red sandstone fort. We spent another few hours there, just wandering. And then it was time to hop back on the bus to Jaipur – definitely a whirlwind trip. The trip back was awful. The bus seats have virtually no leg room when the person in front puts the seat back. So it was a bit cramped. And the bus honked the whole way back – quite possibly the most annoying noise in the world. I think I’ll stick to trains to get around after that!
This week we’re working with some school kids, teaching them about bird watching – which is a huge laugh, since none of us know a thing about India birds, and quite frankly, we don’t really care all that much. But hopefully tomorrow we’ll get out to the lake and chop down some invasive trees or something. Saturday we’re going with one of the project coordinators to an Indian wedding reception. I am getting a sari top made as we speak and will be fully decked out for the event…. Then next week, I am off to Jaisalmer for a camel safari!
posted by Kt at
7:45 AM
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