This marks one week for me in India. I had arrived a day before Amber, but we had both now officially begun the downhill slide to the end of our trip. But we still had plenty left to do and see. Today was the day that we were heading to Jaipur.
I had heard of Jaipur before, but that was where my extent of the city’s knowledge stopped. I did not know it had 4.2 million inhabitants. I did not know it was the capitol of Rajasthan. I did not know there were four forts in or around the city. I did not know it was nicknamed the pink city. I did not know Amber was most excited about it and that this city and the Taj inspired her to pick India for her next big trip.
Our journey to Jaipur was relatively seamless. Bablu only had to stop and ask directions a few times. Amber and I were not sure what we would be doing and what we would see when we arrived around 1:00pm. What I did know is that we had prepaid two lunches and two dinners at the hotel in Ranthambore but we only had one lunch. I had texted Kasif, the main point of contact for the tour company, and he said he would arrange something for us. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I learned not to question anything and just go with the flow.
When we were arriving, Kasif told me he would text me the address of the hotel and we would use Google Maps to get there. Fortunately that was unnecessary. Unbeknownst to us, our first stop would not be at the hotel, but at the Elephant Village. Now I am very conflicted about animals in captivity. And I will say this at the start: had either of us known where we were going, we both probably would have skipped the visit there. But we were sort of just taken there and had to figure out what to do given our current predicament.
As we drive down this winding road, we actually see two elephants walking freely on the side of said road. They had had their trunks and legs painted with bright colors in traditional Indian styles, very similar to those found in mandalas or seen in henna tattoos. I was in awe of these majestic creatures lumbering slowly and jovially down the road. I wasn’t sure where they were coming from, but I could tell they were on their way home.
When we arrived, we were ushered in to a court yard next what we were told was an elephant’s room. It was a large chamber with three walls, and open on one side. There was sugar cane and hay on the floor, but the elephant was no where to be seen. The gentleman who was sitting down with us told us a little about the elephant village. He said that in 2012 the Indian government legitimized their institution and made it a refuge. He also told us what the options there were for us at the refuge and how we could interact with the elephants. We were given the choice of riding an elephant (hard pass), painting an elephant, walking an elephant or feeding one. We opted to walk and feed an elephant.
This is total justification for something that I probably, and ethically, shouldn’t have done, but I figured we were giving the elephant some exercise and some treats. There couldn’t be too much harm in that.
Amber and I were whisked away to another elephant’s room. This one had an elephant in it, contently chomping down some sugar cane. We were introduced to her as Roni. She was massive and had been painted recently, though most of the paint had faded. The elephant trainer, who we were told lives with Roni in the room next door, told us the paint is chalk based and poses no risk to the elephant in any way. I am going to believe that.
Amber and I got to bond with Roni a little before our walk. Her eye was about at the level of my forehead. I am sure that it is all in my head and way for me to justify any guilt I had about potentially exploiting such a noble creature, but looking into to her hazel eyes, I didn’t see any stress or discomfort. She seemed to like me and nudged me with her massive face. A lot.
As we walked around the grounds, which took us twenty or so minutes, Amber and I posed with Roni for some fantastic shots. I made the mistake of wearing a shirt that was a smidge too tight, so I resembled Roni a little more than I was hoping to. I guess the exercise would be good for both of us.
Once our walk was complete, the staff had arranged a makeshift picnic for Amber and I, which was what Kasif had arranged in lieu of our lunch in Ranthambore. I had ordered butter chicken (as per usual), and Amber got the Chicken Tikka. For those who are unfamiliar, Chicken Tikka is basically Tandoori Chicken (bbq chicken Indian style), only bonless. We also ordered 4 servings of naan, but Bablu ordered an extra there for us. We also ordered some sort of paneer which came in this deliciously rich butter cream tomato sauce. It was the highlight of the meal. I don’t think, no matter how many days in a row I’ve had it (so far seven), I could get sick of this food.
After we finished our lunch, it was time to give Roni her snacks. The elephant trainer had brought out several loaves of bread and a few bunches of bananas. If you’ve never had the opportunity to feed an elephant, do it. It is super fun. We started out by handing Roni some bread via her prehensile trunk. She would grab them from us, occasionally snorting a thank you which covered us in elephant snot and would deposit them in her mouth. After a few snorts, Amber and I got braver. Roni allowed us to place the food directly on her tongue.
Roni would lift her trunk and open her mouth. She would then thrust out her tongue. An elephant’s mouth is not quite the same as ours. Her jaws seemed to move more inwards, like a trash compactor, than up and down the way ours do. Also, her tongue did not protrude from the bottom of her mouth. Instead it sort of curled out of her cheeks like a ribbon tied at both ends with a little slack in the center. While I don’t have a lot of experience with them, my female travel companion said that her mouth had a certain resemblance to a particular part of the female anatomy.
We had a grand ole time feeding Roni. She expressed her contentment by nudging us again with her trunk and forehead. When we were all out of bread and bananas, we said our goodbyes to Roni and she went back to munching her sugar cane. We left the elephant village and headed to our hotel.
Looking back on the experience, I still don’t mind doing what I did. Do I think elephants should be in captivity? No. Do I think that if they are they deserve fresh air and plenty of room to roam around? Yes. Did this place provide those things? Unclear. But what was clear is that these elephants were there, for better or worse. And I would like to think Roni enjoyed her time with us as much as we did with her.
Remember how I said we were going to have to use Google Maps to get us to the hotel? Thank god we didn’t need to. One of the managers from the elephant village was going to guide Bablu to the hotel. Jaipur is a massive city with an old part with incredibly narrow roads. After driving through the old city, it was evident that Google Maps wouldn’t have cut it. Even with a local guiding us, we still nearly drove down an unpaved one-way road that I’m pretty sure was for pedestrians.
Fortunately we found the hotel in one piece. I must note though, that driving through Jaipur has been the scariest to date.
Our hotel was quite nice, but an overwhelming aroma of jasmine and lotus hit us in the nostrils as we walked in. I actually liked it, but Amber is quite sensitive to smells. I knew we needed to get up to the room as soon as possible. Two copies of our passports later, we had the key to our room. With one king bed. Again. It really wasn’t that big of a deal for either of us though.
Since we arrived in India, this was definitely our nicest hotel. We had a room on the seventh floor with a gorgeous view of the city, looking towards the Tiger Fort. The bathroom was spacious and had a shower with nary a bucket in sight. We were on cloud nine. But the best part of the hotel was that they had a spa. Both of us were a little stiff from the safari the previous day, so we decided to take a gander at the spa menu in our room. I saw a deep tissue massage and was definitely interested.
We headed down to the spa and inquired about pricing. They informed us that there was a Valentine’s day special where if you buy one service you get the second for fifty percent off. We each decided on a massage and facial, since the deal was fantastic and the prices were insane. We each ended up paying one third of what one massage would cost in DC for two treatments.
After two hours of pampering, we were finished with our treatments. Neither one of us were particularly hungry since we had a massive and relatively late lunch. We decided to call it a night without grabbing dinner. Amber had brought some nutrigrain bars, so we each housed two of those bad boys and fell asleep watching the live action remake of Aladdin. For those curious, I fell asleep at “Friend Like Me.”
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