JAIPUR

JAIPUR Jaipur is  know as the Pink City, as the buildings in the old town are all pink The original buildings were sandstone, but with the visit of the British Prince Albert in the 19th century, the City decided to paint the buildings pink to honor his visit, not sure why pink, but they remain this colour even today. Took us about 4 hours to get here from Pushkar.  We are staying in a very modern high rise hotel, The Vesta International which is in the new City.   On our first afternoon here we went to visit Jaigarh Fort which overlooks the famous Amber Fort. Yes folks....a lot of forts and temples in this country. Notwithstanding this, they are all unique in nature, but one common feature is that they are huge and their surrounding walls cover several kilometers.  Wonderful views of the City from here, including the lake.   We then drove by and stopped to take a picture of the Hawa Mahal or The Palace of Winds. This is a famous structure which is simply a facade which was built in 1799. It is five stories high with an ornate facade and only one room deep and projects windows and balconies with perforated screens.  We see these perforated screens everywhere, mainly in marble. They allow a breeze to come through, yet provide privacy for the ladies looking through the screens. They can see out, but one cannot see in. Almost impossible to stop by to get a picture as the traffic is insane, as usual!  We stopped at a couple of  jewelery stores and Robin was very generous and bought me earrings, ring and pendant in Peridot, a lovely light green semi precious stone...there goes the kids inheritance! Also stopped to look at some beautiful pottery, no purchases though.  It's funny here in India, children are taken with Caucasians, always shouting out ..."hello, hello, quite charming. On our way back to the hotel, a motorbike with a father and 4 kids passed us, they all waved and smiled. We got a lovely picture of them.  Suzanne and I are having fun noting the misspelled signs....All king of scrap, prohably, Spenish, scrumbled eggs, chilld beer, batrey, hair dresar, air break or air braik, departmantel, kwality.....o.k. too much time on our hands in the car! We love looking at the people going about their every day lives, carrying their tiffins ( metal lunch container incorporating a series of tins), driving crazily on the roads, women in saris working in construction, in the field and brick-factories.  We have seen beautiful stone work which we would love to have in Canada. One thing that constantly crosses our minds is what the artists themselves would be paid vs. the final seller! Probably the same in all third world counties.   During our second day in Jaipur, our guide brought us to "Jantar Mantar" which is an observatory built between 1728 and 1734 by Maharajah Jai Singh. We found this complex so interesting.  The Maharajah himself was a keen astronomer  and was aware of the latest astronomical studies in the world. The complex is made up of 16 instruments which forecast time, the location of stars and planets, the arrival of the seasons, the latitudes etc. Our guide was very knowledgeable and we found these instruments amazing, considering the time in which they were built and the precision of same, even today.  Next, we visited the City Palace. Once again a beautiful series of buildings which incorporated a museum of textiles, armaments  and pottery of the day.  The present Maharajah is only 14 yrs. of age and is attending school in Ajmer, so no flag flying on the Palace. One of the most incredible features of the palace are two large silver vessels , said to be the largest silver objects in the world. They were made to carry water from the river Ganges so the late Maharaja  could drink this water on a trip to England.  Then onto Amber Fort which is built of white marble and red sandstone and was constructed in 1592. Beautiful carved walls and exquisite gardens and  another mirror room. One of the most interesting features of this fort was the construction of large underground cisterns which were filled with water and provided cooling for the fort, very ingenious.  Today the tuk tuks were on strike, which was part of a National strike by more than eleven unions to protest taxes; so not as many vehicles on the road.