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Published: January 21st 2010
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Jaipur sea of blue
Taken from the top of the fort After our stint of Government buses and shifty camel rides we were back on the main indian train lines on our way to Jodphur. It is known as the blue city due to the indigo tinge of the whitewashed houses around the Mehrangarh fort.
The main reason we came here was to see the Mehrangarh fort which is on top of a 125m hill. Its the first thing we noticed when we got to the city, its huge and stands out above the city, it seems to just grow out of the mountain. It is one of the largest forts in India and houses a collection of relics from the Maharaja times including some rather ornate palanquins, miniature paintings, a well stocked armoury and much more. What is a palanquin I hear you say? Its one of those covered chairs that usually royalty use, they sit in it and get carried around by other people. I guess everyone can't be as intelligent as us and know these things! Its also from the fort that you really see the meaning of the blue city - it is quite a striking view looking down from the fort to the city to see
The clock tower
Centre of the market area in Jodhpur the sea of blue for yourself.
There is an audio tour you can do around the fort. We had heard it is one of the best in India and it lived up to all expectations. Produced by an Australian company apparently (no suprise as to the quality then!!) it was mainly narrated by the son of the last Maharaja of Jodphur and was extremely interesting and surprisingly educational.
We also spent a good couple of days running the gauntlet of Jodphur's main shopping areas. A tough experience, the high pressure salesmen, lies, overinflated prices, more lies, and low quality produce that we were assured was of the highest quality of course. Eventually we had decided we wanted to buy a Rajasthani mirrored style, hand made bed spread. After a couple of days of talking to every dodgy phil and his brother, we found an emporium that we were "sure" was honest, until we found the same bedspread for half the price around the corner. Such hard work for one bedspread but we think it was worth it. It also helped refine our bargaining skills for the rest of India which we are sure will be needed!
At
the same bedspread shop we ended up buying at, we also had the best meal we've had in all of India, paneer tikka and vegetable jalfrezi, as well as some of the best views of the fort in the city. Who knew cheese and vegetables could taste so good!
It was another short train ride to Jaipur, which is known as the pink city. The reason for this is that in 1853, the city was painted pink as a welcoming gesture for the visit of the Prince of Wales.
There seemed to be a lot of things to see in Jaipur so we decided to do a governement sponsored tour of the area. It took in a number of the sights, such as Lakshmi Narayan Mandir temple, the city observatory (called Jantar Mantar), the City Palace, Amber fort, Nahargarh fort and Jaigarh fort (which has the worlds largest cannon on wheels). The tour was very interesting, it taught us that the ruling families of Jaipur seemed to be more into the arts and science than gigantic forts, hence the massive observatory we went to which is the biggest stone observatory in the world and holds the worlds largest
sun dial. So big that you can tell the time accurate to the nearest 2 seconds. The structure is so large and the markings so fine that it's quite easy to watch the shadow move from one 2 second marker to the next. The city palace also has one big claim to fame, it holds the largest silver objects in the world - two large silver urns. The reason behind these is a bit weird, years ago, according to hindu belief, it was deemed unholy to travel overseas to lands inhabited by heathen races. So when the Maharaja wanted to go to London with all those heathens, it was only when they agreed that the water for his bathing and cooking be brought with them that the council let him go - hence the large silver urns!
We also spent a day wandering around the pink city itself and checking out the local shops, which was a pretty good effort on Garrys part considering delhi belly had reared its ugly head for the first time.
The old city inside the pink city walls is very organised compared to most other indian cities. The streets are very wide allowing
Normal street scene
Just to give you an idea of what we are walking around in our thongs/flip flops! for a little less chaotic traffic, and all the shops are organised by type so that all the clothes are in one street, marble shops in another, metal work around the corner etc. We walked by a lot of these but the marble cutters were most impressive - how they can carve the most amazing things out of marble by hand is beyond us. We also walked by Hawa Mahal palace (palace of the winds) but unfortunately it was closed so we didn't get to go inside.
We took the obligatory stroll by all the souvenir shops and of course got coaxed into a few by the very persistant shop keepers - "now you have seen his shop, come into mine", "looking is free", "come and feast your eyes" etc etc . Garry was looking for something in particular but was having no luck and the shop keepers were unfolding all their items trying to show us what they had. When we couldnt find what we were looking for in one shop, the shop keeper got very angry with us and told us to "Get out!" quite rudely even though when he had hounded us to come into his
shop we had told him we weren't interested in buying today. Its definitely a different way of doing business than what we are used to!
We left Jaipur very tired at a stupid hour of the morning, struggling firstly to find a rickshaw driver, and secondly one that could understand where were wanted to go to. Its funny how the price of a rickshaw suddenly drops when a second rickshaw comes along looking for business! Its very exhausting work sometimes especially at silly o'clock but its all worth it when your on your way and excited about the next stop, Agra and the Taj Mahal.
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Brady
non-member comment
Lads, ye're looking the better of it every time I see ye!! Brings a bit of excitement into my life as I sit here in the wild wesht translatin a very exciting document on iTunes U - whatever the hell that is!! Chat soon x