Jaipur is definitely not my favourite place so far. It’s the capital city of Rajasthan, has a population of over 3 million and feels like a big, dirty city. That said, we’ve checked out the tourist attractions, walked the streets and ticked a few things off our list.
Bryce and Lewis got the phone number of the tuk tuk driver that drove them from the train station to the hotel, so we messaged him, and he and a friend picked us up from the hotel for a day of sightseeing.
The main thing we wanted to see was the Amber Fort but there were a few other things along the way.
The Amber (Amer) Fort is located in the small town of Amer, just over 10km from Jaipur. Built out of red sandstone, it, like most of the tourist attractions, seems to have had minimal maintenance. It sits proudly on a hill, overlooking Maota Lake which would have been the main water supply to the fort back in the day. Walled cobblestone paths zigzag up the hill to the fort and we joined the crowds of people making their way up the hill. Every now and then our path crossed with the procession of elephants that were carting people up to the fort. The poor elephants didn’t look particularly impressed with their day job but until tourists stop paying money for such activities, this will no doubt continue as the locals make a living.
The fort is huge and parts are decorated with intricate mosaic tiling and colourful painting giving insight into the original grandeur of this place. Other areas are open to the elements and well weathered. There’s a need for steps to be taken if the structure is going to survive another few hundred years.
Very close to the fort is a stepwell. BJ had been wanting to photograph one and had researched where a few were. This one was only about 6-7 levels deep, so not the largest one in the area, but BJ got his photo opportunity.
Our tuk tuk drivers were keen to be tour-guides for the day so they took us to what we were told was an “elephant sanctuary” where rescued elephants were looked after. There was in fact only one elephant there and no sign that it actually lived on the property. We were able to have our photo taken, feed or pat the elephant, all at a price. We opted not to stay.
Next stop was a block printing workshop. I’d read about block printing when we were researching places to go in India. The town of Bahru, about 30km out of Jaipur, is famous for this art where fabric is stamped using hand carved wooden stamps with layer upon layer of coloured ink being added to make up the design. We saw two people stamping fabric, adding different colours that transformed the design. We were then ushered into a side room so they could try to sell us scarves, bedspreads etc. I suspect the tuk tuk drivers were on commission, but they weren’t getting anything out of us today.
Last stop on our tuk tuk tour was Jal Mahal – the Floating Palace. I don’t know a lot about this but it was a great photo opportunity.
We got our tuk tuk drivers to drop us in the main part of the old pink city. It was now mid afternoon so almost midnight in NZ so we celebrated NZ New Year having a beer and fries at a rooftop bar overlooking Hawa Mahal, the Palace of the Winds. This is a palace on the edge of the City Palace, extending the women’s chambers. It’s made up of 953 small windows, decorated with latticework originally intended to allow royal lades to observe everyday life and celebrations in the street without being seen (given they were required to cover their faces in public).
From the rooftops of buildings around us, people have been flying small paper kites. They’re not always easy to spot in the smog but when we looked closely, at times there would be 20-30 in an area.
Day 2 of our sightseeing was a bit of a walking tour around the pink city including a visit to the City Palace and Jamta Manta – a collection of astronomical instruments built in the 1700’s, including worlds largest stone sundial.
The palace buildings themselves were similar to what we have seen elsewhere however they had a fantastic collection of art and also a textile museum with exquisite garments from the past. The embroidery on some of the royal gowns are so intricate, it must have taken months to hand stitch, especially given that one of the maharajas was a big lad so there was a lot of fabric needed to dress him.
We got invited into a temple that overlooked the hustle of the bizarre below. It was a peaceful retreat, away from the constant approaches from the store owners – or so we thought – this temple had a gift shop which we somehow ended up in on the way out.
Most of the time we’re patient with people touting for business but today I just wasn’t in the mood for it. There are only so many times you can say ‘no thank you’ before you just want to say ‘f**k off’!
We ate dinner at a place called Sweet Dreams – dodgy name but excellent food – then back to our hotel for an early night ahead of our early start tomorrow.
Amer Fort
Floating Palace
Hawa Mahal
Block Printing
