Jaipur- The Pink City

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Arriving at the station on time (roughly) we steeled ourselves against the deluge of rickshaw drivers and touts we had been previously warned about in our guide book. We thankfully managed to get to the booking office without too much hassle, just a friendly man (ulterior motive hidden at the point, but we had guessed) helping us find the way.

An hour later we emerged, our next 2 onward journeys planned, too find the guy still waiting for us. He took us to our hotel for 10rs - a bargain - as according to him “people matter more than money”. Obviously this was until he wanted us to book him for a day of touring the city. Sigh.

From the outside our hotel looked very inviting and as we had booked a room and both were in need of a shower (early start and grimy train) we eagerly followed the manager upstairs. However, although the room was lovely - a small seating area and separate shower section in the bathroom - the price was well over what we expected - 1100rs (£15ish). Apparently, as we were an hour later than we said we would be arriving, they had given our room away! All they had left was this room. We did try and negotiate a reduction in price etc, but we both realised quickly we were not going to win this battle so settled on a change of rooms the next day. Actually, it was very nice to have a smart, well positioned room for a change - it even came with A/C! We made full use of this facility I can tell you.

With the afternoon to kill we headed into the city to do a little bit of sightseeing before dinner. Jaipur is known as the 'pink city' due to the colour of the walls of the older section, chosen to hide the poor quality of the materials used in its construction. To be honest, it is now failing miserably in this effort as it is more of a faded orange colour and is in dire need of a revamp; plaster and paint crumbling everywhere.. The roads are hugely congested with noisy traffic, cluttered with stinking rubbish and occasionally open sewers. It was exceedingly difficult to walk on the small space allocated to pedestrians on the raised area between the 'shop' fronts and the drop onto the road. Thankfully the inner city is on a grid system - almost unheard of in India - so finding our way around was not too tricky. I'm sure Rough Guide (or guidebook) lied about the distance though - seemed like bloody miles to the 'Jantar Mantar' astrological site!

The site (as my sister will vouch) is quite unique in its construction. A collection of oddly shaped pieces are scattered across a small park area, each with an ability to accurately tell the time, measure positions of 'heavenly bodies' and consider constellations. As you can can see from the photos, they vary in size greatly. The explanations of each piece was detailed yet almost incomprehensible for anyone without a background in the field. Needless to say we wandered around, giving it the respect it deserved, but really feeling a little lost. Nice though.

That evening, after a VERY long trek back to the hotel, we spent a relaxing hour or so on the well appointed roof terrace looking out over the 'bright lights' of the city - neons signs galore. The temperature, due to the overcast nature of the day (with rain!) was very agreeable so for once we did not go to bed in need of another shower.

Sunday morning brought with it more threatening cloud, but we hastened out (after changing rooms at 11am) to explore more of the city. We had however learnt from our mistakes and got a rickshaw in - we needed the energy for the attractions! Our first stop was the Jaipur City Palace. Still resided in by the Maharajah, the palace is an elegant building with sand coloured stone and a variety of buildings, many of which were open to the public. The audio tour was again informative, taking us through the history of the family, their pastimes and textile traditions before leading us to the armoury and the two biggest silver pots in the world! An interesting feature was that the females of the family have been supporting some local artisans and housing them and their work in one of the vast hall areas within the complex. Here you could wander around and look at the artist's work and talk to them about it - which we did. A very talented man called Ram discussed the finer points of squirrel hair brushes and how he uses recycled paper in his work before drawing us an excellent elephant on our ticket! His actual work was beautifully detailed and rightly became our first official souvenir!

Once we had finished looking at the buildings, including an exquisite audience chamber, we moved on to the 'Palace of the Winds' just along the road. 'Hawa Mahal' was built so that the ladies of the court (who follow the tradition of purdah) could watch the goings on in the city below while still being unobserved. The 5 story building is pink in colour from the street and very pleasing to look at, but changes from the inside. The height is a façade as it is really a set of screens and balconies rather than full rooms, giving excellent views over the surrounding city area. It is also marble and lighter coloured stone giving a cooling affect - much needed in the height of summer. Worth a visit for the views of the fort on the hill beyond the city.

With still a couple of hours to spare our attention turned to the park and city museum that is situated to the south of the old walled area. Again, we misjudged the distance a little but eventually found it. To be honest, it was rather disappointing. The garden areas were fenced in and we had no desire to enter then as the seemed to be the resting place for the homeless of the city. The museum building stood proud (though slightly aged) at the end of the road through the park, but the entrance fee was ridiculous considering the reviews we had read so we gave it a miss. A cycle rickshaw ride back to the hotel was slow and eye-watering. The effort these guys seem to have to exert in order to get the contraptions moving is enough to knacker you, but I suppose it keeps the poor of the city in work.

For our last day in the area we decided to travel a little further afield so to save on hassle and possible hidden extra costs we hired a rickshaw for the day to take us to a few attractions (bargain really at 200rs). Firstly was the monkey temple. Now, originally we wanted to go to a place 3km outside of the city called Galta which has a valley, ruined temples and many monkeys. However, this got lost in the translation so we ended up at an alternative temple but still got our full quota of monkeys! The steep path up to the temple was full of them, all preening, playing or fighting. Fun, if not a tad nerve racking to watch (the last thing our driver said to us was not to touch them as they bite! Reassuring...)

From here we had a bumpy and wet journey to the town of Amber (the heavens had opened on s on our way down from the temple...sun god my ass). Amber is where the Maharajahs of the area were based until the early 18th century, when they relocated to Jaipur and it is famous for its Palace and the Jaigarh fort, both of which need a hefty climb to allow access. We arranged a time with our driver and headed to the first of the two buildings.

The palace is in 3 main sections, built by successive rulers and looks very impressive from the outside as it clings to the hilltop, towering over the town. This was where the admiration stopped though. Inside, not including the initial courtyard, it was dilapidated and smelly; certainly not worth the entrance fee. As we did not opt for the additional audio tour (and cost it entailed) all we could do was wander between empty rooms mostly guessing at their purpose. Other places we had visited had some additional information around for non-audio guide visitors but this had very little. Disappointing.

We thought we would try and reclaim the success of the day by venturing up the hill to the fort. OMG!! Our initial mistake was to descend down the path from the palace to where we thought it veered off to the fort. The steep climb to half way up - mammoth in gradient - proved pointless as we realised we could have taken a short cut from the palace at the same level. My legs were not thanking me at this point. The rest of the climb was taxing by gentler on the rise so I made it to the entrance of the fort. We has great views of the valley and as we wandered around the Mughal stronghold we were impressed at the style and more importantly, by the biggest cannon in the world. Standing at 20ft long and weighing 50 tonnes, the cannon can supposedly shoot to a distance of 35km - pretty impressive.

The way down was much more civilised but we did feel a bit guilty as we were late meeting our driver - but hat the hell we were paying him. The journey to our last stop - a floating hotel - betrayed our driver's irritation; smooth and sedate it was not. The palace was nice to look at with the additional endearing feature of small surrounding 'cow' islands! We collapsed back in our room that afternoon with just enough energy left to get something to eat from a local place (Warren had another thali and I had a scrummy biriyani) before crashing on the rooftop terrace to plan our next stretch in Agra - home of the Taj Mahal.

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Comments

[Lil Sis]

I WENT THERE!!!
He he! How wierd! Now you have the same pics as me...but I sat on the other side of the green peacock doorway! Either way, that palace has truely been blessed by beautiful Penticost arses! All my love and enjoy the 'fresh veg' - the mangos are to die for!xxx

[ByeByeWhitleyBay]

mangos
Indeed truely blessed! Did not have fresh mangoes but have become addicted to mango juice drinks which everywhere seems to sell. MMM...xxx