In the bazaar we came across these ladies and a gent patiently threading marigolds and roses onto thread to make the garlands used in the temples when offerings are being made and when people are welcomed as we were at the start of our trip. The man gave me a rose to smell – it had the most beautiful scent I’ve ever known in a flower.

Shopping completed, it was time to return to the hotel. Instead of taking a minibus we all piled into three tuk tuks for a more traditional journey through the streets of Jaipur! It’s certainly more smelly, more noisy and quite hairy at times as the tuk tuks, cars, buses and scooters all vye for the space! But you can’t come to Jaipur and not have a ride in a tuk tuk!

Wow, we’ve been so busy and our schedule has been quite frantic at times. I’ve also developed a cold and a cough so been feeling rather tired by the time we got back in the evenings. Anyway, here’s a quick catch up starting with Saturday at the blue pottery workshop. It’s a traditional pottery if this area but this method is dying out. No wonder as it’s very Hands on and time consuming. All the patterns are hand drawn – no transfers or printing of any kind. We got to design our own plates and they’ve been fired for us. They look very different when the painted colours are fired and the true colour comes out!

We spent Sunday morning relaxing in the hotel garden getting henna tattoos on our hands. The men doing the patterns were extremely talented and we all had very intricate designs on both the palms and backs of our hands. The tattoos will last about three weeks!
The afternoon was another shopping opportunity at an Indian Department store called fab India. We were able to buy items of clothing and household textiles and I managed to get my table runner for Christmas!

Monday morning saw us doing another workshop in the hotel with Andy who has been very entertaining all week. He is a talented artist and we’ve learned a lot from him. in the afternoon we were excited to get up close and personal with elephants. We visited an elephant sanctuary that looks after retired animals and makes sure they are cared for. We were able to stroke and hug the elephants, then feed them with sliced bread and bananas. They also enjoyed being painted with powder paint. Apparently they like the touch of the sticks used for the paint as it massages them. Some others took a ride around the field which was great fun. Everyone had a brilliant afternoon and it was a real highlight for some people who had never seen elephants before.

Today, Tuesday, we visited the largest paper making factory in India. They use cotton rags from the textile industry along with cardboard and other paper which is all recycled together into a pulp and pressed in a frame to make sheets of paper. We were in heaven when we saw the warehouse with all the colours stacked up. Even better we discovered the cost was only Rs.50 per huge sheet for paper that would cost around £3 for an A4 sheet at home. We all came home with a roll of various sheets wondering how we would fit it into our suitcase but determined we would.

Before returning to the hotel we visited a bazaar area for our final shopping trip. We found a shop selling ribbons beads and other decorative items and spent ages choosing some beautiful things. The shopkeepers told us they had two more floors but we needed to move on! This bazaar was good fun and we didn’t feel hassled in anyway. It was less touristy and had more variety of shops as used by local people. The colours, the noise and the smells were incredible!

Friday update from Jaipur! We travelled about an hour from the city to the village of Bagru which specialises in a particular kind of block printing with mud as a resist. We each made our own cotton stole, choosing the blocks for the design and getting to grips with the black clay. As sections were printed, they were sprinkled in a kind of sawdust which stuck to the clay. Once  the whole design was printed and dried they were dipped in dye – either indigo blue (very popular!) or a smoky grey from black kasis ( a green mineral which turns to a black dye when diluted in water. Who knew that indigo dying came out green and turned that lovely colour as it dried?!?

Drying, then a second dip was followed by washing and drying again. Once all the sawdust and clay was removed, our pieces were  washed, dried and the designs revealed. It was a long day, hot and sweaty, but an incredible experience which we all thoroughly enjoyed.

With a guide on board, we left our hotel around 8.30 am for the start of our morning tour of some of the major sites around Jaipur. A daytime visit to Hawa Mahal, the Palace of Winds and then to the temple of Ramchander Ji started our day. It was still busy, but many of the little bazaar shops hadn’t yet opened, so slightly less frantic! There was even space on the pavement for a couple of snake charmers! Not something you see every day, so happily gave 20 rupees (around 23p) after taking this picture!

In Jaipur, everyone tries to make a few rupees out of something. This disabled man had stopped the traffic to help us cross the road and was rewarded with good business – a set of postcard books and maps for all o& us to use in one of our workshops later this week. A great start to his day!

A quick look around the temple followed:

The main attraction of the day was Amber Fort, just a few kilometres outside the city. We decamped to a couple of jeeps for the ascent through the narrow streets up to the main part of this amazing Rajasthani palace – the second most visited place in India after the Taj Mahal.

On to Palace of The Lake – just a photo stop as this isn’t open to view! A busy market is set up beside the viewing area – any opportunity to sell,

After a very hot and busy morning our next stop was the tailors and fabric warehouse. Measurements taken, garments ordered then back to the hotel for a quick change and dinner. It’s all go here in Jaipur! 😀