Jaipur – annotated by Jean.
Jean told me I needed to make my titles more attractive so here we are, me taking credit for a better title from an iconic movie.
So the thing is, I’m throwing caution to the wind and changing up the writing schedule.
I’m so wild. Wow. Crazy.
Basically, we did a pit stop in Delhi and Alwar before going to Jaipur, but because we also went to Delhi after I’ve decided to merge the two and save it for last.
Insane I know.
On our way to Jaipur, we stopped by the Chand Baoli, that super famous stepwell that inspired Batman: The Dark Knight Rises. In our case it was more like:
Batman: Dontfalldontfalldontfall ooh pretty dontfalldontfalldontfall
These stepwells we’re used to gather water for the villages. Now they’re mainly background for cool instagram pictures.
Quick tip: if you’re having lunch anywhere near here, it will be tourist prices and essentially tourist food – good food, but just bear that in mind.
Jaipur is the Pink City. The inner walls, buildings, palaces, forts and all that are just that: pink. It’s beautiful.
History time! In 1876, Maharaja Ram Singh II painted the city’s buildings terracotta pink, a color symbolizing hospitality, to welcome the Prince of Wales, a tradition maintained to this day. Ok, back to our regularly scheduled programming.
The architecture is incredibly well maintained, it’s clean, impressive and warm. I love it every time.
We started out off our time in Jaipur seeing our hotel, which deserves a special mention: it’s a Haveli that’s around 200–300 years old. The building was really well kept and they made a beautiful hotel out of it: Chelon Haveli.
We got there quite late so we had an easy dinner, walked around the main shopping street to find an ATM (with these views?? Girl please).
Expectations were low for dinner at the hotel but the chaats were bangin.
The next day we headed up to the Amber fort, a 16th-century UNESCO World Heritage Site. More history time! The fort was built by Raja Man Singh I in 1592 on older ruins. It combines Hindu and Mughal architecture using the same red sandstone and marble that is found throughout the rest of the city (granted this is slightly older so the city came after). It served as the royal residence until 1727.
We spent the morning exploring the fort (ok I stared mostly at the elephants), wandering the halls, and Jean taking silly pictures.
It’s one of my favorite places in the world.
We headed back but before we could go for lunch our driver found it a shame that we weren’t taking full advantage of being in Jaipur and instantly thought:
You need to shop.
You can’t not shop while in Jaipur. The main reason being that Jaipur is known for its artisan handicrafts, leather goods and gemstones.
SO. We went to a giant department store. Were we the only foreigners? Yes. Was everyone focused on just us? Also yes. Did they kind of stop when I started to speak Hindi? Well let’s just say they stopped talking to me and talked to Jean and his parents instead.
Oh this was a recurring theme. They look at Jean, I speak in Hindi, their brain freezes, and they leave.
That’s right people.
I speak.
HINGLISH.
I honestly impressed myself with the amount of Hindi I can speak. Usually when I go to India I kind of transform as a human and go full on: head-swivel, hand gestures, Hindi, the full package.
After heading back to the hotel we had an easy lunch, and rested. It was hot.
Later that evening we went for a afternoon walk around the City Palace. The City Palace was built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II between 1727 and 1732, the City Palace in Jaipur is a premier example of Rajput and Mughal architecture.
Imagine Versailles, but much less bombastic. And pink.
So, the last time I came here was twelve years ago. My parents had just moved to India in 2014 to start a 4 years posting in Delhi. I was so excited for them to be here. To be honest, it was more for selfish reasons than anything else: I just really wanted to travel and live in India for months at a time. Which I did!
Anywho. So I visited them in September 2014 and we took a weekend trip to Jaipur, where we saw: Amer Fort, City Palace, some more ellies. And that essentially really kick-started my whole vision of wanting to stay as much as possible in India.
Of course this time around I HAD to take a before and after so you could see the damage Jean has done to me the last years.
Quick note: in 2014 I had spent days being in the sun. In 2026 it was February, and Belgium doesn’t understand the concept of sun.
Moving back to the future: That evening we had an easy rooftop dinner. There was a nice sunset and people were getting ready for Holi. Which. We were not.
Next post will be about Delhi. Forgive me as it’ll be quite nostalgic. Or don’t. Do what you want. Who am I to tell you what to do.
But do as I say.
