Day 6 - Jaipur

Up, breakfast, and out to meet the new guide at 8.30.
Jaipur is more recognisable as a city in Western terms.  It's organised and laid out in a grid, like Glasgow.  It's the capital of Rajisthan, and is in two parts, the Old (Walled) City, and the New Gity.
The Old City was painted pink in honour of a visit by Prince Albert, and the buildings are still pink to this day.

Today we kicked things off with a visit to the Amber Fort.  This is reached by a steep path.  Fortunately, we were on the back of an elephant, so we arrived at the top without knackering ourselves.  The fort was the the original capital of Jaipur, with Rajisthan only coming into being in the 1950's.  (It was a collection of smaller states, all with their own Maharajas).  When the last Maharaja died, he had no son, only a daughter, and therefore no heir.  Knowing this, he formally adopted his grandson, who is the current Maharaja, but being only 14, is still at school.

There are stunning views down the valley, and some of the (50 or so) abandoned temples can also be seen.

Next stop was the Jaipur Observatory.  This has the most amazing instruments for observing the positions of the stars, for astrology, and has the largest sun dial in the world, it's simply massive.  All the instruments were designed and built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Sing II in the 17th century, and many are still in use today by astrologers.

After lunch, during which we saw and heard some traditional dancing and music, we headed to the city palace.  This had been until recently, taken over by local government, and used as offices, but the Royal Family is back in residence, the offices are out, and parts of the palace open to the public.  Local traders have been allowed to use some of the spaces in the courtyard, that were previously offices.
It's a really interesting place.  The Maharaja who built it had 12 wives, who all had their own chambers.  He had secret passages leading from his chambers, to each of the wives, meaning, he could visit one without any of the others knowing !

From the palace, we walked out through the gates onto the main street, so Karen could get some haggling done, which she managed pretty well (as usual.  She loves haggling).  Along the main street in the town is the Hawo Mahal, or Palace of Winds.  This was built in 1799 and is in the form of the crown of Krishna.  We also stopped to take pictures of the Summer Palace that was built in the middle of a lake.  For the last 30 years, the Royal family has been in dispute over ownership, and as a result, it's cannot be used by any of them and is currently sitting empty.  It's a real shame as it's a beautiful building.

Back at the hotel, we cashed some travellers cheques, and actually got a better rate than we had at the airport, which was the opposite of the information we'd been given before we went.  There was however a trade off.  We'd been told the money guy would be 10 minutes, so went to the bar to wait.  It was just over an hour when he appeared.  No hurry then.

Cash in wallet, it was time to pack as much as we could for tomorrow's departure, before heading to the get something to eat.

Now it's time to veg out for a bit in front of the most dramatically presented tv news I think I've ever seen.

Next stop Mumbai/Bombay

Day 5 - Agra/Jaipur

So, today started with an early start as we were up at 6.00am to get to the Taj Mahal.  It was only 10 minutes away, so we were there just after it opened.

We hired a photographer to come round with us. This was good, as the photos we selected are excellent, and he made sure people got out the way when we were taking our own pictures too, which was brilliant.  The Taj Mahal is surrounded by really nice gardens on a bend in the river, from where you can see Agra Fort (that we visited yesterday)

It's a bit surreal being here, it's such an iconic building that you can't quite believe that you're there.  It doesn't look real until your actually right up at it.

The Taj Mahal (and the seat that Diana sat on)

After visiting the Taj, it was back to the hotel for breakfast, before checking out.  Then it was back into the car and Fatehpur Sikri, another Moghul palace, which is HUGE!  The Emperor had married three wives, one Muslim, one Christian and one Hindu.  He was by all accounts, a bit of a philosopher, and thought all religions to be true, hence a wife from each of the three major religions.  This is evident in the carvings round the palace.  There are carvings representative of Islam, Christianity and Hinduism.

Each of the main three wives had their own palace within the main palace compound.  The rest of the wives lived in the harem.

There's a great story about him meeting a young boy, when he was travelling, and giving him one of his rings, saying "If you ever need me, come to the capital and I will help you".  

Years later the boy, now a young man, travelled to see the Emperor, but the palace guards, recognising the ring, thought he would be in for a bit reward from the ruler, so refused to let him enter until he promised to give them a share of whatever it was he received.  He duly agreed, and finally got in to see the Emperor.  The Emperor recognised the ring, and asked what he could give the man.  He asked for 100 lashes, so that the guards who had refused him entry, could share in his reward.  The Emperor recognised how smart he was, and gave him a position at court.

After the palace, it was back in the car, and onwards with the long journey to our next stop, Jaipur.

Apart from cows in the road, stopping for lunch, and to get a couple of pics of a temple, the journey was un-eventful.

Statues outside a temple on the road from Agra to Jaipur