Jaipur, also known as the Pink city and the poster child of Rajastan. Also the biggest city of Rajastan and one for cities in the golden triangle of tourism. Jaipur is the Pink City in reference to the colour of the buildings. It's seems to be the old walled part of the city where the buildings are all pink and apparently enforced by law.
Day 1
Have arrived after main attractions are near closing, so I decided to head into the old city to see the Govind Devji Temple and the famous bazaar.
The temple is said to be the second most important temple dedicated to Lord Krishna, containing a statue that's supposed to be an exact likeness of His avatar. The statute is actually behind a curtain and I could sense the excitment building as the moment arrived when the curtains opened to reveal the statue. The worshippers all began singing, clapping and chanting. Some even went as far as to prostrate themselves. After a bit of gawking, I just took a seat and enjoyed the sounds of the worshippers as they sang for another 30 minutes. I couldn't get close enough to test the veracity of the likeness claim and this picture was the closest shot I could get as cameras were not allowed inside the temple:
It was beginning to get dark now and I wandered towards the main road into the bazaar for a bit of looky see. The bazaar is actually very organized. Sections of the bazaar are devoted to specialities such as food, electronics, books and textiles etc. A walk here in the evening really fires up the senses, with the lights from the small shops highlighting their wares, the smell of food and the sound of people shopping. The textiles section appeared to be the biggest with hundreds of small shops. While colourful, the sheer number of textiles shop becomes quite monotonous, only broken by the sight of a shop or two that actually contained customers.
Day 2
One of the major attractions of Jaipur is the Amber fort, which is mainly coloured yellow, although that's just a coincidence. The fort is actually named after the village of Amer. Buying a ticket also gives access to Hawa Mahal, Jantar Mantar, Central Museum and Nahargarth Fort. So I got a taxi to drive me around for the whole day to do all 5. All the previous forts I visited so far have been magnificent buildings, even those pale in comparison to the Amber Fort, as it's in a remarkable state of preservation. The fort has many passages ways to wander into, opportunity to explore and get lost.
Hawa Mahal is another interesting monument. It's name means the palace of the winds, and is certainly cool inside. Built for the royal ladies at a time when the practice of purdah was in place. The windows are made in such a way so that it was hard to look in, but easy to look out. The windows have lattice works:
Jantar Mantar is collection of 300 odd years astronomical instruments. It's rather ironic we now view them more for their aesthetic appeal than for it's scientific purpose.
Want to guess my star sign?
Unfortunately, not much to see in Nahargarth Fort or Central Museum. And finally, I never actually visited the Jal Mahal, a palace in the middle of a lake. But here's a picture of it anyway.
Day 3
Galtaji is an ancient Hindu pilgrimage site on the edge of Jaipur. Galtaji is actually a vast complex of temples dotted around a number of hills. With paved paths leading from one temple to the next. A taxi driver offered to take me up the 9KM+ hills and temples. Just to prove my sheer manliness, I chose to walk the hills.
Here's the bottom of the hill. The temple on the top right is the Sun Temple. It only took 10 minutes.
Along the way, I bumped into 2 kids taking albino mice to one of the temples and were on their way back down. The younger one, Sunil, obviously saw an opportunity to make some money and offered me a photo with one of the mouse in my hand for 100 rupees, which I declined. He simply took this as an invitation to negotiate and the bargaining went something like this; "100 rupees ... 10 rupees ... 5 rupees ... 100 rupees ... 1 rupees". This boy will grow up to be a great businessman. I was amused enough to give him 1 rupee for this photo.
Along the paths, I met many pilgrams, many of whom were friendly and curious about me, some just wanted to say hello. Here's a couple of pilgrams I bumped into:
After only 3 temples, I was ready to head down into the valley to see the main temple and shrine of Rishi Galav and Lord Hanuman. Imagine the scene of the lost city of Petra in Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. That's the feeling when you finally reach the bottom of the valley. This picture shows a ghat, where worshipper are bathing to wash away their sins.
Here's some kids who were desperate to have to their photo opportunity with me. Obviously they've never met a talking monkey before:
After 4 hours of hiking and the blooming flowers making my hayfever go nuts, I was ready to go back to my hotel for a nap. After 3 weeks of travelling, I've yet to come across temples quite like this. It's like the holiness of the place has prevented crass commercialisation from developing. The best bit is that there's none of the usual infestation of taxi drivers, tour guides, souvenir shops and touts at other temples.
Rested, I went to the Chokhi Dhani in the evening. It's a kind of a rustic village resort with dancers, magic shows, puppet shows, fairground attractions and traditional games (no prizes, but you still have to pay!). It's mostly family orientated entertainment and even then, it's rather expensive for what you're getting. Unless that is, you get excited by medieval fairgrounds and crap dancing.
Day 4
I'm heading off to Jodhpur in the afternoon and have enough time to visit the City Palace. City palace is the royal residence of the Jaipur royal family, part of which has been converted into a museum. It gives a pretty good glimpse the history and immense wealth of the Jaipur royalty. Get the audio guide as well for that unique panegyric experience.
On the way back, here's one of the local getting fresh milk. The real surprise was that this is the first time I'd seen anyone handling the cows in India so far.
