From the moment I arrived in Jaipur, India there was a mystical feeling that swept over me. Maybe it was the history of the palaces and forts or it could have been the craziness of the streets where animals roam free in this urban jungle of a city. These photos of Jaipur make me want to go back and hopefully they give you a serious case of wanderlust, inspiring you to travel to Jaipur and experience the magic of the ‘Pink City’ for yourself.
Let’s start with the people. From tuk-tuk drivers to kids on the street to vendors to people welcoming us into their homes for Chai. I honestly couldn’t have had a better experience with the Jaipurites. Overall I found the people of Jaipur to be incredibly generous and hard to find without a grin or a wise-crack. It was either calling me Jesus as we walked down the street, checking out my tattoos or inviting me to subsequently dominate me in a game of street cricket. Thanks for having me in your city guys. Disclaimer for the next few photos: I do love photographing people with bears so there is a slight overload!
I was trying to record myself talking about the gem store we had just left and these two girls came right up to my lens and started making fun of me. Doesn’t matter how highly you think of yourself, a six-year old kid can always humble you pretty quickly!
After being dominated by an older group of teenagers in a game of stret cricket where my bat never even came into contact with the ball, these younger guys invited me to play days later. Finally, I was able to smack a few of the bowlers around the streets. Granted they ranged from 12 to 15 years old but it was a good confidence boost for my shaky cricket skills and they enjoyed trying to see who would be the next to bowl me out for over an hour. It happened often but they wanted me to keep batting after I sent a few balls far into the neighborhood.
Each morning people frequent these baths at the Monkey Temple. They believe the water is holy and has healing benefits. Women, men and children frolicked in the water while thousands of monkeys crept around the temples.
The forts and palaces that were built to protect Jaipur are now beautiful structures to be marveled at. My friend Jackie and I had some of the best sunrise and sunsets walking the walls of the forts up in the mountains.
Jaipur is a different beast at night. The same crazy intensity but a whole new look. These two photos were taken after sunset at the Sun Temple.
And finally during our expedition looking for gemstones I snapped a quick photo. The stones are poured over a desk for the buyer to survey before selecting a stone. The vendor then scoops them out and empties a new box onto the desk for inspection.
