Thursday, October 26, 2006
18 October, 2006
We started our city tour of Jaipur at the Amber Fort – 11km from Jaipur city. We met our guide who was a bit pathetic to start with and we had a choice of either taking an elephant or walking up to the main entrance. We felt sorry for the elephants because it is too hot for them and their feet apparently suffer in such conditions. There is no water facility for them at the fort itself and the government hasn’t sorted this problem out. When we reached the entrance there were loads of monkeys all over. It was actually very interesting and it was set in the mountains so there was a lovely breeze. It is a pink sandstone fort palace with beautiful art work. We then drove past the Jal Mahal (water palace) which is closed to the public. We stopped off to see how they create the beautiful designs on material etc by using the block printing and we saw amazing bed covers and tablecloths. Unfortunately we didn’t buy any. We got to the Royal Gaitor and this was basically a cemetery for the past Kings. There are domes which mark the Royal cenotaphs. We then went to the Jantar Mantar which I found quite intriguing. There are many different structures all depicting the time zones and zodiacs. This place was where one could tell the time in the old days (time of day, year, month etc). There were beautiful sun dials and in fact the biggest sundial in the world. We ended the tour with Hawa Mahal – a gorgeous building where the Royal ladies could escape to and watch the life of the city and its processions. Walking in the streets was just too hectic for us and not pleasant so we got Suresh to take us to a sweet shop recommended by the book and we had our first taste of Barfi (Indian sweet). It is a fudge-like sweet made from milk and it is very sweet but Rich fell in love with it instantaneously. Our driver said he has never had a request for this before! We had dinner at a lovely restaurant- we had to wait for a table – and then called it a night.
We started our city tour of Jaipur at the Amber Fort – 11km from Jaipur city. We met our guide who was a bit pathetic to start with and we had a choice of either taking an elephant or walking up to the main entrance. We felt sorry for the elephants because it is too hot for them and their feet apparently suffer in such conditions. There is no water facility for them at the fort itself and the government hasn’t sorted this problem out. When we reached the entrance there were loads of monkeys all over. It was actually very interesting and it was set in the mountains so there was a lovely breeze. It is a pink sandstone fort palace with beautiful art work. We then drove past the Jal Mahal (water palace) which is closed to the public. We stopped off to see how they create the beautiful designs on material etc by using the block printing and we saw amazing bed covers and tablecloths. Unfortunately we didn’t buy any. We got to the Royal Gaitor and this was basically a cemetery for the past Kings. There are domes which mark the Royal cenotaphs. We then went to the Jantar Mantar which I found quite intriguing. There are many different structures all depicting the time zones and zodiacs. This place was where one could tell the time in the old days (time of day, year, month etc). There were beautiful sun dials and in fact the biggest sundial in the world. We ended the tour with Hawa Mahal – a gorgeous building where the Royal ladies could escape to and watch the life of the city and its processions. Walking in the streets was just too hectic for us and not pleasant so we got Suresh to take us to a sweet shop recommended by the book and we had our first taste of Barfi (Indian sweet). It is a fudge-like sweet made from milk and it is very sweet but Rich fell in love with it instantaneously. Our driver said he has never had a request for this before! We had dinner at a lovely restaurant- we had to wait for a table – and then called it a night.
# posted by Heidi & Richard's travels @ 7:57 AM 
