JAIPUR

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September 7th 2007

Published: December 31st 2007

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The largest silver object

And some dudes set to guard it

India's famous pink city we found out has been that colour from when Prince Charlie visited in the 1960s. We had imagined it had been a decorative tradition that went back centuries and was not such a recent idea. It was a hectic city with some of the most freestyle driving anywhere. Not many vehicles were much bigger than an auto rickshaw, however we often used cycle rickshaws powered by me no less than double my age (J). It was a nice way to travel in the quieter areas and gave us the chance to have a good chat with the children who would ride along side us.

In Jaipur there were also some fascinating sculpture things- I don't know what else you'd call them. Anyway, these rather large, and some massive, structures were used for analysing the sky and stars. These things were truly odd, you could never imagine how they could be accurate. Even more thought provoking was when we saw some of the scaffolding being used by men repairing the large things. With only three men on it, it was bowing like crazy. Nearby was an interesting group of palaces, museums and their associated shops - which

The famouse Jaipur colour

Here being applied fresh to a building exterior

unfortunately never sold anything as nice as what was displayed.

In Jaipur we spent a whole day with a 'driver' (who ended up getting a bit annoying) who drove us to a once the once grand royal city that had been quickly abandoned to build Jaipur down the road. It seemed they found out there was not enough water just after they finished the city! It was so large that looking through the place, with nothing but a rather cryptic map to guide us, it was exceptionally easy to get lost. Especially with my (K) skills of navigation! We wove our way around stumbling across some magnificent architecture and details. Like a beautifully painted door that had just been left leaning against a wall - probably many hundreds of years old and very valuable.

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