Forts and Tombs - Part 2

Excerpts from the Week Away (Part 2):

10/23/12 Jaipur (The Pink City)

Hawamahal

Yesterday we explored Jaipur’s Old City a little.  The ‘pink’ of the city is actually more of a sandstone, but the architecture and archways dispersed among the place are ever impressive. 

City Palace was grand – the colors beautiful, the exhibits of clothes and weapons and art fascinating, the design outstanding.  On weapons: swords and sabers and daggers and guns were interesting, but the ‘tiger claws’ were intensely incredible.  (Think Wolverine claws worn like brass knuckles – metal daggers to hold between your fingers!)  Hand-to-hand combat must have been grotesque and traumatizing.  History, man, conquerors - gruesome.

City Palace

"Tiger claws"

Jantar Mantar is an astrological observatory built in the early 18^th century.  Words used by our group to describe it were: futuristic, trippy, awesome, weird.  It may be my favorite site.  The lines, sharp and curving and intersecting, and the circles are modern and ancient simultaneously.  Crop circle designs reverberate in stone.  

 

Other highlights of the day: arguing with auto drivers (an incessant, pervasive India experience!) and deflecting questions from men about our names, our country of origin, our jobs, etc.  But the city is not as crowded as others and therefore is less threatening than a busy night at Charminar.

Today, a lot of wandering happened.  After getting a late start, we went to Hawamahal – the palace where the Maharajah’s harem stayed.  A maze of intricacy that overlooks the city, it was spectacular.

 

Oldest temple in Jaipur

A meander down the streets of the Old City took us to a temple tucked above and behind the shops.  Quiet and empty, we roamed the beautiful structure in solitude until a man greeted us as we were heading out.  He told us the type of temple it is, about the guru who mostly travels, and that the temple is the oldest in Jaipur.   We thanked him for his time, slipped on our shoes, and continued on our wander.

After lunch – a long lunch – we strolled down to Albert Hall, a British built museum that is a haven for all of the pigeons in Rajasthan, seemingly. It is a beautiful building.  More art and history and weaponry.

Continuing on our path, we shopped a little, looked a lot, and squeezed through fabrics brilliant and many in the alleyways of the bazaar.  

Dinner.  Plan-making for tomorrow. A little yoga. End of day 6.

Happy, full, satisfied.  I have left H’bad in the recesses of my brain.

10/24/12 Jaipur

After a morning of lounging and packing (and reading Julia Child for the second time), we bid adieu to Zuha and headed up to Amber Fort/Palace.  The bus was quiet when we hopped on, but quickly filled with children on a field trip and families on holiday.  (Dussehra fell on this Wednesday.) 

Water Palace

As the children were led in a chant, I watched the woman sitting in front of me.  The bright scarf of her sari was draped over her head and her bright brown eyes bounced over the top of the statue of the goddess she held in her lap.  With the soundtrack of drums and music resounding in the streets, the familiar images of urban Indian life flew past the windows in Pink City-style.

The Water Palace, camels, and elephants created a fantastical ride up to this grand fort of my namesake. Climbing the stony road to the entrance, backward glances and over-the-wall peering was necessary for taking in the view.  The palace was grandly intricate in its layout.  Unable to navigate every nook, we lost each other and ourselves in the labyrinth of rooms and corners and windows.  A beautiful structure covered in a mirror and tile mosaic was breathtakingly stunning, but the entirety of the palace was so carefully designed that it was hard not to gape in wonder of it all.  

 

 

 

Regrouping slowly, we unraveled ourselves from the palace toward the fort that towered above.  A tunnel inspiring Indiana Jones-theme song humming opened into more (steep) stone roads and stairs.  Arriving breathlessly at the top, gorgeous views and impressive architecture rewarded our efforts.  Monkeys (glorious monkeys!) intermingled against the backdrop.

Once we peeled ourselves from this place, we caught an auto back to earth (the Pink-shaded earth), gathered take-away parcels and dined and laughed on the hostel roof until our bus brought us to a new-color-town.

(Click on images to enlarge.)