shopping for gifts

Comments

• joycesw

  June 2017

  This trip seemed to have a wide range of souvenirs in all price categories. Other posters talk about the "bus bazaar" where the TD negotiates a price with the hawkers panting away outside the bus and then brings the wares on board for everyone to check out. That is fun, and those things are more in the trinket category: beads, parasols, scarves, little purses, etc. Kerala was the only place we saw little wooden "puzzle boxes" in the shape of a cat or butterfly, a nice gift for little kids. I got a great necklace on the elephant train on Elephanta Island...we started at $20 and I paid $4...
  My husband loves boxes and bought a high-quality white marble box with inlaid stones in Agra (a shop that employs descendants of the original artisans of the Taj Mahal). It was beautiful but not cheap. If you get the opportunity to visit this shop (above the theatre with the Shah Jahan and Mumtaz show), do not miss it. The items there were stunning. I had a silk tunic made in a shop in Udaipur. I also got a lovely pashmina at the shop at the Taj Lake Palace (we stayed there instead of the Oberai in Udaipur). I didn't need it, but it was beautiful, and when the price dropped by a third, I couldn't resist. Udaipur also has some beautifully painted larger ceramic elephants. A couple in our group had one shipped home.
  We were told that Delhi and Mumbai were not the best shopping spots. It seems that Jaipur is the best place to shop, especially for textiles and jewelry. The Gem Palace has very nice selections at a pretty good price. I got a nice pair of stone stud earrings for under $50, while some others went for the more expensive items. We also visited a sort of co-op in Jaipur with all sorts of items. I bought a small print done on fabric.
  You will learn to show caution and not show too much interest in the wares. We had a large number of shoppers in our group, and the hawkers were so agressive at the Amber Fort, it became almost claustrophobic.
  This is a wonderful trip with a rich itinerary and so many unique experiences.

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• susietb

  July 2017

  Thank you so much joyce for your reply. My husband is a collector of "boxes" and is now quite intrigued with finding a new one.
  
  Thank you so much for the info.

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• chirag

  December 2018

  Well! for handicrafts products shopping Udaipur is also the best place. With the great old customs and traditions of Udaipur, the handicrafts products are crafted by the local persons of Udaipur

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