The Bus from Agra to Jaipur

When Merilee and I were planning our trip, we originally planned to go to Agra to see the Taj, and then up to Delhi to fly out. we thought the tickets would be cheaper from Delhi than Agra....but then we realized that we really didn't want to go to Delhi, we looked at a map and realized that we could get to Jaipur pretty easily, see "the pink city" and then fly out of Jaipur. Plus, i'm not ashamed to admit that the real reason i wanted to go to Jaipur is that my favorite clothing store is based there, and i heard they had a HUGE store there (it didn't disappoint...pretty much everything else about Jaipur did though). I'm glad we did the little jaunt...it was good, but not in the ways we expected.

Our bus left about 45 minutes late, and stopped lots and lots of times along the way to pick up and drop off more passengers. By the time we reached Jaipur it was almost 2 hrs longer than we were told the trip would take. in addition to this, we were the entertainment on the bus. 2 white girls...stare, stare, and then stare some more. when new men came to stand in the aisle it got repeated over and over. Now obviously i don't think this situation is good - but the one redeeming factor (in my mind) is that it allowed Merilee to understand what life is like for me here. i get stared at a lot - and some days its easier to handle than other days. While i am not thankful that Merilee had to experience that, i am thankful for how she can understand me more now.

It was hard for me to drive through Rajisthan. As we drove along the highway i saw brick kiln after brick kiln. i know that not all brick kilns hold people in bonded labor - but i know that a lot of them do. I know that entire families work from dawn to dusk carrying clay, water, mixing mud, shaping brick, putting brick in the fiery kiln, removing brick, stacking bricks etc...and i know that they do this for months on end and receive hardly any pay. i know that their children don't get to play or go to school because they have to start helping the family as soon as possible. It was hard for me to drive by and see people working...and knowing what was really going on in so many cases.

It was hard for me to drive through Rajisthan because i know there is a lot of community based prostitution there. Where girl children are raised knowing that they will work in the dance bars or do prostitution and send money back to their families to live off - they've seen their older sisters and aunts do it...their fathers say things like, "What's the big deal, this has been our family tradition for generations." So in the midst of the picturesque drive, with camels pulling carts, hills and fields - my heart was very heavy.

Once we finally got to Jaipur our bus dropped us off that this random place instead of the bus park, and it took us 1 1/2 hrs to get to our hotel. when we went to the palace that is supposed to be so pretty it was under construction, the walled in city was nothing like i imagined it to be (it was just like any other city, only there were discernible blocks), and the entry fee to the city palace was double what we expected. All in all Jaipur was a bust...but on the other hand...

it was a great end to our trip - a great dinner out...a visit to the Anokhi "mothership" (my fav store), time on the rooftop garden of our hostel processing and thinking, a nice breakfast on the roof, and some great desserts...its funny...all the best things about Jaipur had nothing to do with the reasons why most people go there...