Entering the Desert

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From Agra we caught the bus to Jaipur in Rajasthan. As we drew closer the landscaped changed, becoming more desert like with dust and sand everywhere, scabby trees and basically just dust on the horizon. And of course there was a steaming hot desert wind to match. There were camels though, and that made it all worth it.

Have to have a special mention for our guesthouse, Hotel Pearl Palace - it is an awesome building all done up with local art, handicrafts, and plants. The rooftop restaurant has awesome wrought iron chairs in the shape of animals and a giant peacock on the roof. The view over the city is pretty awesome, especially at sunset, when it finally cools a little. We also got a room with a TV here which meant we got some World Cup Action, weeeheee!!!

We spent our couple of days in Jaipur exploring the city palace, the Hawa Mahal, the Amber Palace and the Jaigarh Fort. The City Palace was ostentatious, but we couldn't get into the main building as the current maharaja still lives there. There was one beautiful white marble hall which held the largest silver objects in the world. Inside sari-clad women were dancing to traditional music, it was pretty cool.

The Hawa Mahal is like a giant honey-comb, kinda like Gaudi's La Pedrera in Barcelona. It's also known as the Palace of the Winds, but unfortunately the wind wasn't blow too much when we climbed up it, checking out the pink city below.

Amber Palace and Jaigarh Fort were the highlight. Two huge, old buildings with stunning Muslim Gardens that were as green as anything despite the dust and the heat all around. The architecture was once again amazing... we are really enjoying the mughal style, it's just mindblowing. The views all across the valley were fantastic, and there actually was wind up there which was a nice change. Can't really say enough about these two places, I just wanted to dress up in a flowy dress and prance around pretending I was one of the princesses who maybe lived there once upon a time. Here's hoping we actually manage to put up some pics in Delhi.

So we are over the fevers and the tummy bugs, still got a little cough going on though the dust and smog can't really help that, and are back on our game. Totally excited to be in Rajasthan and looking forward to exploring some more forts and seeing some more camels soon.

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