Last Saturday we finished our teaching early, at lunchtime - it's still exam time for Ken's college students - and wanted to get home as soon as possible to get ready for the following week before packing for our trip to Jaipur in Rajasthan. So, we hailed an auto-rickshaw, agreed the fare and off we went. However, our driver was a little odd. He started talking to himself - fine, we can live with that. Then when we confirmed, yet again, our address, D1 VK, he made up a little song, "D1, D1, D1". Not that imaginative, but novel for a driver. He also kept looking back and touching his CNG tank (auto-rickshaws run on gas, not petrol). It appeared that he was very low on CNG, so we then had to take a detour to the nearest CNG station. There was a long queue and when our man was served he indicated he wanted us to pay! We gave him our agreed fare, but made it clear that was it. It took us about an hour to get home with our poor, singing driver. We actually gave him a tip, because it had been a terrible journey - and he had given us an unusual drive home.
5 am Sunday morning. The alarm goes! Up we get to be ready for Freddy Martin. He was driving us to Jaipur for the weekend. We left at 6 am and there was incredibly thick fog for the first hour or so of our journey, which didn't seem too bad or that long really (it's a 4 hour trip in light traffic). Thanks Freddie for brilliant driving and the unusual breakfast stop!
We visited:
- the Amer (or Amber) Fort, near Jaipur, where we had a elephant ride up to the Fort - Heather loved it, although she spent most of it arguing with someone trying to sell her a quilt cover. I wasn't so keen on the ride - but that's another story. Something to do with being very close to a sheer drop and the fear of death!
The three of us captured in the mirror.
- Jal Mahal.
- Nahargarh Fort at sunset, with views over Jaipur. The Fort is at the top of a high hill. Great views. A bit scary!
- the City Palace. Marvellous.
- Janter Manter (Sawai Jai Singh's Observatory). Fascinating is the word.
- Hawa Mahal (only from the outside). The Palace of winds.
It was an amazing weekend and great to be with Freddy as he knows Jaipur so well. We enjoyed wonderful local guides as well as Freddy's knowledge of the best jewel shops and his favourite sweet shop!! Sweet and savoury kachoris!
On Wednesday it was the birthday of one of my students, so Tuesday evening we went to the Supreme Cake Shop in R K Puram Sector 8 to buy a cake. No problem getting there, but we just couldn't get an auto-rickshaw to take us home. They were all full. However, a kind lady stopped her car and asked where we were going. When we told her she said she had a flat in the same area and would take us there. A very kind woman.
By the way the next day my lesson was a birthday party. We did no work at all. The cake was very good, and we all drank too much fizzy drink. My students were very noisy, but you can't have a quiet party when you're dancing, singing, acting and telling jokes in Hindi (I wasn't telling the jokes - just trying to understand them).
Truthfully, we are looking forward to the end of the working week tomorrow, as we are both feeling very tired and a little under the weather (as many Diliwallas are). We are going to take it easy this weekend and chill out.
5 am Sunday morning. The alarm goes! Up we get to be ready for Freddy Martin. He was driving us to Jaipur for the weekend. We left at 6 am and there was incredibly thick fog for the first hour or so of our journey, which didn't seem too bad or that long really (it's a 4 hour trip in light traffic). Thanks Freddie for brilliant driving and the unusual breakfast stop!
We visited:
- the Amer (or Amber) Fort, near Jaipur, where we had a elephant ride up to the Fort - Heather loved it, although she spent most of it arguing with someone trying to sell her a quilt cover. I wasn't so keen on the ride - but that's another story. Something to do with being very close to a sheer drop and the fear of death!
The three of us captured in the mirror.
- Jal Mahal.
- Nahargarh Fort at sunset, with views over Jaipur. The Fort is at the top of a high hill. Great views. A bit scary!
- the City Palace. Marvellous.
- Janter Manter (Sawai Jai Singh's Observatory). Fascinating is the word.
- Hawa Mahal (only from the outside). The Palace of winds.
It was an amazing weekend and great to be with Freddy as he knows Jaipur so well. We enjoyed wonderful local guides as well as Freddy's knowledge of the best jewel shops and his favourite sweet shop!! Sweet and savoury kachoris!
On Wednesday it was the birthday of one of my students, so Tuesday evening we went to the Supreme Cake Shop in R K Puram Sector 8 to buy a cake. No problem getting there, but we just couldn't get an auto-rickshaw to take us home. They were all full. However, a kind lady stopped her car and asked where we were going. When we told her she said she had a flat in the same area and would take us there. A very kind woman.
By the way the next day my lesson was a birthday party. We did no work at all. The cake was very good, and we all drank too much fizzy drink. My students were very noisy, but you can't have a quiet party when you're dancing, singing, acting and telling jokes in Hindi (I wasn't telling the jokes - just trying to understand them).
Truthfully, we are looking forward to the end of the working week tomorrow, as we are both feeling very tired and a little under the weather (as many Diliwallas are). We are going to take it easy this weekend and chill out.
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