We’re now in a new state, Rajasthan and a new city, Jaipur which is the state’s capital.
Jaipur is otherwise known as the Pink City, this is because back in 1876 the then Maharajah had many of the buildings in its old, walled city painted a pretty, rose colour to welcome Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s son on a State visit.
Jaipur is teeming with absolute gems of typical Rajasthani architecture. It’s much more akin to the India we’ve visited before; it’s flamboyant, chaotic and colourful - we love it!
We stay at a super hotel, Umaid Bhawan. It is beautifully decorated in traditional Rajasthani style.
The rooms are fab as is the lovely rooftop terrace and the staff are really kind and helpful. We have no hesitation in recommending this place.
Janet and Chris have also arrived in Jaipur along with Chris’s brother Michael and Michael’s wife Gaye, so we meet up and head out for lovely meal in the swanky restaurant in the City Palace - great choice Chris!
Janette and Janet waste no time in flagging down a tuk-tuk and making straight for a beauty salon in preparation for the big day which is only two days away now!
Nick heads off to meet the others to indulge in more cultural pursuits and take a tour of some of Jaipur’s more notable historic sites.
The first stop is Amer (or Amber) Fort which actually stands about 11 km outside Jaipur. The Fort is actually a palace and not a fort at all; it was protected by Jaigarh Fort further up the hill, the two buildings being connected by a tunnel which could be used if the palace came under attack.
A Jeep takes everyone up the steep, busy and very narrow streets to the palace entrance… of course dodging around the elephants encountered along the way!
This place is immense, utterly beautiful in its structure and exquisite in its decoration. It’s been the photographic backdrop to many Heads of State visits over the years.
There can be few buildings more beautiful.
The King lived here with his 12 wives. They each had separate apartments - and the King had a balcony above with access to each apartment unseen by any of the other wives to avoid jealousy. Initially the wives weren’t allowed to communicate with each other, but in later years the King had to acknowledged the ‘happy wife, happy life’ theory and had a pavilion built where the wives could meet and socialise (or gossip as he rather condescendingly put it).
Extending the view around the fort and its grounds is a wall which looks very similar in design to The Great Wall of China. It is 12km (7 miles) long and is an impressive structure now, let alone for its time.
We head back towards the city, passing the Jal Mahal palace which is notable for the fact that four of its five floors are underwater.
Built in 1699 as a hunting lodge for royalty. There was no danger of it flooding at the time but subsequently a dam was built and Man Sagar Lake came into being - flooding Jal Mahal.
Apparently the interior of the building is even more beautiful than the golden stone exterior.
The place stood derelict for many years and renovations will be eye wateringly costly so the government has granted a lease to a company who will foot the bill for the restoration and turn it into a hotel which will no doubt be spectacular.
Next it’s on to Jantar Mantar. An ancient observatory which houses eighteen huge, stone astronomical measuring devices built between 1728 and 1734.
These devices can identify the position and movement of stars and planets, tell the time and even predict the intensity of the monsoon - amazing!
There is even one sundial there, the Samrat Yantra, standing at 27 metres high. It’s the worlds largest sundial and it can calculate the time to within two seconds accuracy!
As we arrive back in the Pink City, we drive past the building for which Jaipur is perhaps most famous, the Hawa Mahal or The Palace of Winds. Built in 1799 it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its purpose was to allow the women of the royal court to watch processions and other events taking place in the street below whilst maintaining purdah; this was achieved by the construction of hundreds of windows and balconies covered with cleverly angled screens which allowed those inside to see out whilst remaining concealed themselves.
Final stop is the City Palace. The royal family still lives in part of this amazing building whilst the rest is open to us lesser mortals.
This is another exquisite building which seems to be the hallmark of Rajasthan.
By the time Nick and co have finished their tour, Janet and Janette have been fully ‘beautified’, so everyone piles back to Chris and Janet’s hotel for very welcome G&Ts.
For all Jaipur’s beauty, its traffic is diabolical! Although it wins over Shimla because the roads are wider. All road users - whether horse or camel drawn carts, bicycles, mopeds, tuk tuks, cars, lorries, agricultural vehicles, cows, camels, elephants, dogs and of course people - can duck and weave and try to find a way through. It certainly makes for a white knuckle ride!
As we discovered, there’s no doubt that here, as is the case all over India, that mopeds and tuk-tuks are the way to go.
They are certainly very sociable and easier to nip about in than a car!
Next day we have a bit of a poke about the back streets of Jaipur. We sit in a small park for a rest and we’re approached by two little girls begging for money. We give them a small amount of change as they are irresistabe
Nick takes their photos, he’s especially affected by one of the girls, a happy little soul who will no doubt face some hard challenges in life.
As we wander about we happen upon a barber’s shop which is doing a brisk local trade. Not to be outdone by Janette, Nick wants to be beautified in readiness for the wedding… so in we go!
A cutthroat razor is produced, washed and disinfected only to be dried off with a grimy looking rag… oh well, it’s the thought that counts!
Janette is the only woman in the place but she isn’t left out, the boss man invites her up into one of the chairs and we both get a face massage.
This isn’t the gentle, relaxing experience we had hoped for. A device that looks like a miniature buffer you use on cars is firmly applied to our faces, when it’s turned on it feels a bit like resting your cheek on the handle of a pneumatic drill!
We decide to have dinner on the roof terrace of our hotel this evening, rather than doing battle with Jaipur’s traffic again and anyway, the terrace is lovely, the food is delicious and a show of traditional dancing is laid on.
There’s even a puppet show which is very similar to Punch and Judy although it involves snakes rather than crocodiles! We buy a couple of the puppets with the bright pink dresses - cerise will always make us think of India, it’s their version of navy blue!
After dinner it’s back to our room to pack and get a reasonably early night, as tomorrow we’re all being collected in a fleet of taxis and heading off to the amazing Samode Palace for the big event - Jen and PK’s wedding.
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