Jaipur

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Jaipur day 2We woke to thick fog and the news that North India was in the grip of an unusual cold snap. During our drive to the Amber fort we drove through the Pink City. The guide pointed out various buildings and statues of interest which no one could see which was pretty funny. We arrived at the Amber fort ready for our ride to the top- on an elephant! Yah! While waiting in line we were saddened to see a child, no more than 18months old begging for money. She was rather gorgeous but was already being taught how to appeal to the tourists. The fog made our elephant ride up the steep route quite magical, the wall was much lower than our elephant so you sat way up high and looked out into the white mist. The Amber Fort was constructed during Emporer Akbar's reign by his commander. We visited the temple and then the pavilion and courtyard. Three palace areas are built around a garden, each one built to allow for the different weather conditions of the seasons. The mirrored apartments were stunning and the engineering designs to keep warm in the winter and cool in the hot months were impressive. We then visited a fabric printing workshop and saw carpets and textiles. We bought duvets and Sue had an outfit made. It was delivered to us while we were at dinner. Amazing! Then we got taken to a jewellery manufacturer where we were shown how they cut and polished precious stones by hand. The salesman did not do well out of us! Lunch in the sunshine was lovely and we drove past several famous monuments - the amazing pink Hawa Mahal, the Amber Fort lake, the lake palace(Jal Mahal) and Albert Hall and then we arrived at Jantar Mantar, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Jantar Mantar is an outdoor observatory built in 1734 by Sawai Jai Singh II who was passionate about astronomy and amazingly clever. All the 'instruments' he designed are very accurate and show the time, eclipses, and where the moon, stars and planets are at any time. It was a fascinating and surprisingly beautiful place, especially the giant sundial. Grant is not well which is not good- hopefully he'll be back on deck tomorrow.

Having trouble loading photos -will try tomorrow - this hotel has been hilarious - intermittent hot water and power outages add to the fun.

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