Jaipur Day 1
Breakfast, not included
in the room rate, was the typical Indian buffet. The hotel was only a short
walk from the "old" city which was planned sensibly on a grid so
quite easy to navigate. As cities go, it's quite young, founded in 1727 by Jai Singh II, who had his previous capital at Amer just a few km away. So
it’s younger than NY or St
Petersburg. And, yes, it does have a definitely pink, or to be more accurate, terracotta,
hue. The story goes that the ruler in the 19th Century was keen to
impress the Prince of Wales who visited in 1876 and so had the town painted in
a welcoming colour. The main streets have long arcades of shops with pavements
so I am quite impressed. They are also building a metro.
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| Downtown Jaipur |
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| Downtown Jaipur |
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| Downtown Jaipur |
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| Downtown Jaipur |
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| Camel Cart |
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| Bullock Cart |
Right in the centre of
the original planned city is the City Palace which certainly lived up to
expectation. The Royal Family are still around and, it seems, still in control
through a trust which runs the palaces. They certainly do a brilliant job of
maintaining them in pristine condition.
I used the audio guide
which worked brilliantly and told me that the palace is now run by a trust set
up by the current Maharajah It has incredible architecture and three museums.
The painting and photography museum was my favourite; I couldn't get too
excited by the textiles and armoury. Although in the textile section, there was
a story of how the nephew of one of the kings wanted his kingdom and was
advised by a member of the king’s court that everyone would be performing a
Diwali ritual and would be unarmed. The nephew, presumably with a small army, attacked
and killed the king and all his entourage and seized the kingdom. Nice people, more
Mafia than aristocrats.
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| Mubarak Mahal. Houses the Textile Museum |
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| Palace Guards |
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| Palace Guard |
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| Chandra Mahal |
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| Chandra Mahal. Still the residence of the Royal Family |
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| Diwan-i-Aam, the Hall of Public Audience |
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| Just a Door |
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| Just a Door |
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| Another Door |
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| Upper Part of Peacock Gateway |
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| Detail from the Peacock Gateway |
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| Detail from the Peacock Gateway |
Had a light lunch in a
delightful restaurant in the palace complex.
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| Light lunch. There was some food too. |
Felt I ought to visit
the observatory but it rather convinced me that the king was a dilettante with
too much money. Yes he built the world's biggest stone sundial but it was
Greenwich which set the prime meridian not Jaipur.
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| World's Biggest Stone Sundial |
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| Small Bird on Long Legs |
The Hawa Mahal (Palace of the Breeze) was built to enable the women of the Court to
observe life in the city without being exposed to public gaze. It is a
stunningly beautiful building, one whose photograph shows up in all the
guidebooks.
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| Hawa Mahal |
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| Hawa Mahal |
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| Hawa Mahal |
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| Window on the World |
In the evening .
Worked out my itinerary for the rest of my trip. My original plan was to go
from Jaipur to Udaipur to Jodhpur to Delhi
before flying back to Kolkata and Singapore. But I can’t find any feasible
route from Udaipur to Jodhpur so decided to take Udaipur out. Then tried to book a train
ticket from Jaipur to Jodhpur but failed at the payment stage, after filling in
all the information, name (twice),age, passport number, address, email address,
phone number, credit card number etc when I got a message that the site was
unavailable. Wasn’t feeling happy.
Jaipur Day 2
I finally booked my ticket
from Jaipur to Jodhpur on the third attempt. Realised it was the HBOS site
which was down but still annoyed that after payment failure I had no choice but
to go right back to the beginning. Only then did I realise that I had inadvertently
booked a ticket that is only waitlisted, not confirmed. What a crazy system!
Had an omelette and mango juice in the room, much better than the buffet
downstairs. Got a tuk tuk to Amber Fort in Amber or Amer, the older capital
about 10 km from Jaipur. It looks fantastic from the outside and pretty
impressive inside too but I don't think it matches up to the City Palace. It’s
certainly huge; I wonder how many people lived and worked there.
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| Amber Fort |
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| Painted Elephant |
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| Gateway to Amber Fort |
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| Ganesh Pol Gateway |
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| Audience Hall |
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| Sheesh Mahal |
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| Sheesh Mahal |
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| Think this was for private dining |
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| Beautiful Gardens inside the Fort |
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Beautiful Gardens below the Fort.
I couldn't find any access to them |
Had a cappuccino at
Coffee Day where I could sit out on a terrace looking up at Jaigarh fort on top
of the mountain. It was only when I sat down that I realised half the chairs
were broken and the terrace was partitioned off from a large diesel generator and
a noisy air conditioning unit by a partition of steel framework and plywood
sheets, several of which had broken or been replaced by bits of cardboard
boxes.
I had arranged to meet the tuk
tuk driver at 3.30 but I got to the rendezvous early and couldn’t find him so had
a Thums Up, an Indian version of Coke, to wait for him. His brother/friend G took me to Jaigarh fort
high up in the hills. On the way stopped off at an amazing step well, the first
I have seen.
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Step Well
Reminds me of Escher's Stairs |
Saw lots of wild peacocks
living in the scrubby bushes at the roadside but none of them were displaying
colourful tail feathers, possibly the wrong time of year. G insisted on showing
me photos of his three children on his
phone while negotiating the mountain bends. I think in India using your
phone while driving is mandatory just as all Indian vehicles use the horn as a “Dead
Man’s Handle”. If the horn isn’t used for more than 30 seconds the vehicle
grinds to a halt.
The fort covers quite
an area and is bigger than I expected.
It certainly commands the heights and was apparently never conquered. At
the highest point is a massive canon, claimed to be the largest wheeled cannon ever constructed, which I find
hard to believe. It is also claimed to have a range of 22miles but it was never
fired in anger and only ever fired once. The fort has now been taken over by a
large group of monkeys.
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| Jaivana, the Big Cannon |
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| Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance |
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| Jaigarh Fort Ramparts |
From there it was downhill, stopped briefly to see some pretty green birds which I later learnt were Rose-ringed parakeets, past the palace in the lake
for a photo and back to the hotel.
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| Rose-ringed parakeets |
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| Palace in the Lake ( Jal Mahal ) |
Comfort
Sapphire Hotel is fully booked for tomorrow night so I booked into
Hotel R across the road for one night.
Had a tasty dinner at the
Peacock rooftop restaurant with a musical accompaniment.
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| Entertainment at Peacock Restaurant |
Jaipur Day 3
Checked my train ticket
to Jodhpur and I am still on the wait list. Wasn't able to book another train
for tomorrow so booked one for Saturday as an insurance. Tried to book a train from Jodhpur to Delhi but now the
booking system tells me I have used my quota for the month! So booked a flight
through Expedia, a wonderful, hassle free experience! Checked out of the hotel
and was met by G who shocked me by telling me it would be 500 Rupees to go to
Nahargah Fort. It turns out that while it is close to the city as the crow
flies, the road goes via Jaigarh. In fairness to him, it was quite a distance.
He keeps talking, which I find quite difficult to follow. Think he is just trying
to be friendly but I was much happier with his brother /friend yesterday who doesn't speak English. Guess I am just
antisocial. Paid him his 500 and tried to convince him that I didn't want him
to wait but I obviously wasn't persuasive enough. He tried to get me to go to
the waxworks but I slipped away to the "modest" palace built in the late 19th and
early 20th century comprising ten comfortable apartments, one for the king and
one each for his nine concubines. I often wonder how that actually worked out in practice.
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| Restored Apartment |
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| Restored Apartment |
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| Why have a Boring Roof? |
As I
came out and was looking at whether to
go into the Shish Mahal, a hall of mirrors, couldn't believe it when G was suddenly
in my face telling me how great it is. Got rather annoyed and told him to stop
following me around. I know he is only trying to make a living but subtle hints
don't work. Decided I could live without the hall of mirrors when I found it
cost 700 Rupees and walked up to the ramparts instead. Hardly the great wall of
China but still impressive and you can see walls extending across the
hillsides. Not sure who these forts and walls were intended to defend against. Found
another step well at the side of the hill and eventually found the road down to
the town, several tight hairpins and obviously barred to cars and tuk tuks but
several people on motorbikes.
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| Step well |
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| Hairpin Bends |
The hairpins took me into the melee of the town
in a street where many men were working at sewing machines, and cows and pigs were
rooting through the piles of garbage. Reached the main East-West street with
the shopping arcades and got a tour of a temple by an artist. Surprised that
the few temples I have seen in India are far less decorated and flamboyant than
those in Singapore and Malaysia. Finally turned down along a street dominated
by sari shops at one end, marble statues in the middle and tailors closest to
the hotel. In the streets around the
hotel, jewellery shops predominate.
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| Marble Gods |
Picked up my bag and took it across
the road to Hotel R where I checked in. The hotel
looks lovely with traditional style furniture but fails to live up to its
appearance. The guy on reception totally ignored me while he talked on the phone, then there was no hot water, the
fridge doesn't work and instead of providing me with bottled water I get a
flask of what I am told is drinking water. I am sure it is but for all I know
he filled it from the nearest tap.
Dinner failed to live
up to expectations too. Initially there were no staff in the restaurant. When I
asked the guy on reception if the restaurant was open he told me it was and
assured me someone would come in to take my order. I ordered a Rajahstani speciality
which turned out to be another vegetable curry with pastry like dumplings in
it. No diet Coke, no naan bread. Ordered a beer to take up to the room, "we'll send it up" but it
never arrived. Had to go and get one from the bar later.
I feel guilty moaning
about all these little issues when I know I am in the lap of luxury compared
with most people in India, or elsewhere for that matter. I complain about the state of First Class on the trains
while the vast majority are crammed into "Sleeper" Class. Outside the
train, children are scavenging for anything of value in the garbage. I know
India is a fundamentally poor country but is this really the best they can do?
I am always impressed by the fact that the early PAP in Singapore, before
independence, started out by picking up
the rubbish and cleaning the streets. Yes, it was symbolic gesture and possibly
a political gimmick but what a powerful statement of their intentions and commitment
to building a better society. They may have been authoritarian but they
certainly transformed a country.
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