After a late arrival yesterday to Jaipur today will be a full day of excursions. From the outset I like the look of Jaipur. Even from the bus there are some interesting things to see. These first group of photos are taken from the bus as we zoomed past on our way to the Amber Palace. Some of the places I can identify are the gates to the city park, the “World Trade Centre”, a statue of the father of India, Mahatma Ghandi and a Ganesh Temple (the white temple with the fort in behind it). These alone are reasons to want to revisit Jaipur. For now though we moved on to the Fort and the Amber Palace.
Once at the fort we transferred to smaller ‘jeeps’ for the trek up to the palace. Like many forts there is an outer wall and an inner wall. Between the two is the original town whilst within the confines of the inner walls is the Amber Palace. The outer wall is very reminiscent of the Great Wall of China but naturally much smaller. Also like many forts it is big, lavish and intriguing. As we were changing vehicles we noticed a local snake charmer nearby doing his ‘thing’ with his cobra. Good stuff but no-one was getting too close.
Once inside the Amber Palace the first thing that I noticed was the elephants. You just have to love these great, gentle lumbering giants. This pack though was here taking people for a ride through the fort grounds.
The Amber Palace is a fine example of Indian Raj life. It took 22 years to build in the mid 1600’s. We investigated public meeting places, decorated halls, baths, the parterred gardens known as Char-Bagh or four gardens, the ‘ladies quarters’ (with secret passages to the maharaja’s bedroom). One part that stood out was the Jas Mandir where the walls were highly decorated with floral art and many mirrors. This was one fascinating place.
As we headed back to our next excursion (to a textile factory) again there were some intriguing sights to see from our bus. A temple on a lake, camels by the roadside and we allowed a street boy on to the bus where he quite deftly demonstrated the art of the ‘shell game’. This kid was good, very good and he served as a warning not to take on the local gamblers as you can’t beat them at their game. We applauded this young bloke’s efforts, gave him some tips and let him go to find another hapless tourist to trap.
At the textile factory we watched some block printing and were amazed at how the colours of the dyes changed once they were aged. Also here we witnessed some carpet weaving and production before we were hit with another sales pitch to purchase some local product. I was lured (more like pressured) into trying on an Indian style vest and maharajah’s turban. After this we stopped at a jem cutting jewellery factory/shop before getting to what was the highlight of my day, the astronomical observatory.
