Last few days of the trip

On Monday, we woke up in Jaipur and had a big, beautiful city to see in one day. Jaipur was one of the first cities in India that was pre-planned, as in streets are wide and straight and the whole city is organized on a grid. In 1876, the city was painted pink in honor of the visit of Edward, Prince of Wales. Much of the city is still this beautiful rosy pink color. The city became one of my favorites in India. I'm not sure my pictures fully captured the rosy-pink charming place that it is. 

Here's what we did:

We took elephant rides up to a beautiful Amer Palace on a mountain outside of town, built in 1592. 

Elephant ride selfie!

Lindsey and I 

Megan and Peter

Disco ball room! I wanna see this place lit up with candles at night. 

We visited a jem shop and watched some of the men make beautiful jewelry. 

Fees trying on a $250,000 bracelet. No big. 

Next we visited a textile factory.

This man was working on block printed cotton fabric, which is a specialty here in Jaipur.  

We all got to give it a try.

And then we saw some men making carpets, which gave me a new found respect for this incredibly labor- intensive craft. 

Hand knotting the carpet. 

Washing the carpet, which they do over and over for hours. 

And then we went to he factory store and I bought so many beautiful pashminas and other fabrics. So fun.

Then we took a beautiful walk through the market. 

A handsome guy selling paneer on the street. 

Spices and pasta. 

We ended the day with a cooking class, in which we learned to make a few different veg and non-veg dishes. The main dish was a mutton tikka misala which I can't wait to try making myself. 

I took a picture of aloo masala (spiced potatoes with tomato and onion). And then I got wrapped up in it all and forgot to take a pic of anything else we made. Oops!

On Tuesday, we drove back to Delhi. Megan and I had issues with our visas that I won't bore you with here. We spent Tuesday afternoon and almost all of Wednesday in the government office trying to get permission to leave the country. And we finally did! Thank goodness. It was a little sour note to end the trip on but these things can't be helped.

On Wednesday night, we headed to the airport for our flight home. 

It's been a long, crazy trip and I'm relishing some quiet time at home this weekend. 

Thanks for reading the blog, y'all. I've enjoyed sharing our experiences and my photos. 

It's been a wild six weeks.

Xoxo,

Lily