Who Forted?

---

Hadn't updated the blog in a while cuz well it turned out to feel like work and hell I'm on vacation. But seeing as how one of you has taken the time to express concern over our whereabouts (charmed, Joanna) will try to dredge up some of our last encounters. So now in Rajasthan, the State of Kings. Before Britain arrived and put the leather submission outfit on India, the natives thrived in an era of opulent dynasties and kingdoms. The most notable clan of these times were the Mughals and Rajputs who at their peak built grandiose palaces and forts in the north. The "Golden Triangle" located in Rajasthan is the most travelled region in India as it offers some fine examples of royal wealth and architecture.

I commented back in China how sometimes you hit a pocket where most of the towns in one region offer up the same thing. In Rajasthan, it's a trifecta of fort, palace, and color theme. Unfortunately, it makes it more difficult to differentiate one city from the next but here goes: Jodhpur, the "Blue City," so named for all the homes and buildings throughout the city painted sky blue. The color is supposed to denote the home of a Brahmin, the highest class in the Hindu caste system but it's also been claimed to repel insects (but not cow pies and relentless touts). This unified color scheme is hard to detect from street level where it appears quite abyssmal with all the traffic and garbage strewn about but take it in from 60m above where looms the fort, large over the city and you will be taken aback by the view. Jaisalmer is the "Golden City." Being on the edge of desert (Thar) where everything gets coated in sand and dust, the most efficient defense is to simply match the town to its the surroundings. If you plan on doing any travel to or from Jaisalmer by train, heed this advice. Spend the extra $8 for an air conditioned car. Not because the desert produces an oppressive blanket of heat upon the region, (on the contrary, it kinda got cold overnight with the fans going as it's Feb) but because it kicks up a mighty swirl of sand and dust. The sleeper cars usually have their windows fixed open b/c of the need to circulate air which leaves you to choke on dust for 12 hrs and go through the reverse Michael Jackson effect of emerging 3 shades darker from all the dirt that cakes onto you. Inside the fort, the palace is not so impressive and the view only decent.

Finally our last town in Rajasthan: Jaipur, the "Pink City." Some centuries back, the Maharajah had all of Old Town painted pink, the traditional color of Welcome for when the Prince of Wales came to visit-- no one bothered to repaint the town since. We didn't make it to the fort but went to the city palace, the most disappointing of all. More souvenir shops than history and the architecture was shit. Not that I have a keen eye for this stuff but it's apparent how in some of the previous palaces you could see the painstaking effort worked into the intricate marble or sandstone carving. Here it was 2-dimensional, flat-paneled terracotta. Windows were actually painted on(!) and much of the other space was filled in with outlines of arches and trim. It gave this mock air like one of those t-shirts with a tuxedo on it. I still wouldn't skip it though as the town itself is pretty nice- cleaner than the others and with wide sprawling avenues. It would have been better had we traveled in the opposite direction so that the sites got increasingly better but what can ya do? Delhi and the Taj Mahal next- saving the best for last.

---