On Monday morning we caught a rickshaw to the Amber Fort. It was painted a Rajasthan yellow and perched half way up a mountain. Above was the Jaigarh Fort on the summit, with huge walls, that ran along the crest of the mountain and down into the valley and up the mountain on the other side enclosing the Amber Fort and an enormous area including the old town which was once the capital of Rajasthan. We walked into the small garden complex with its lovely pavilions, two were painted and the other two red sandstone, and through a couple of gates to commence the climb towards the Amber Fort entry. On the way up was a procession of elephants carrying tourists, and then coming down empty. We noticed some of them blowing water onto themselves with their trunks on the way up in an attempt to stay cool. We walked up and entered the fort through a large gate into a courtyard where the elephants were unloading their cargo. As we walked into the fort, there were some musicians (unseen) playing drums and some sort of Indian wind instruments in the gallery above us. We checked out the small Siladevi Temple with very beautifully carved white marble and remarkable painted green banana plants with bunches of brown bananas on either side of the door to the deity. Goats were sacrificed here until 1980! From here we took the main steps to the upper courtyard where there was a Diwan I Am or Hall of Public Audience with rows of red sandstone columns and latticed galleries above. We went through a beautifully painted gate to a higher courtyard with a garden and the Jai Mandir or Victory Hall with thousands of mirrored pieces and some white marble carving of plants with cartoon like insects as well. The women's quarters (Zenana Mahal) surrounded another large courtyard with central pavilion but this area of the palace was the oldest and the most ruined. The higher you got the better the views of the surrounding walls, mountains and town below and the imposing Jaigarh Fort above. The mountains were steep and almost completely empty of any life – there must have been a fire because the few trees were black and dead and there was no green to be seen, just rock and soil and baking heat. In the distance on one side was the water palace.
We left from the gate we had arrived and took a sharp turn around the Amber Fort and climbed up the mountain to Jaigarh. We entered through another gate and were taken for a tour around the palace complex which was much larger than we had expected. The best features were the incredible views and a courtyard at the very top which had a lovely garden and water features with fountains etc (now dry). However the garden was irrigated from the tanks in the fort and it was lovely and green. The top was peaceful and quiet – not that common in India! We wandered round the walls, saw the huge cannon on wheels and the cannon foundry before heading down. We drove back stopping for a photo at the water palace (Jal Mahal) - a large building sitting in the middle of a lake. Finally we stopped at the Royal Gaitor (the site of the Royal Cenotaphs) just outside the city walls. These monuments were made of different shades of marble and were intricately carved with flowers and musicians.
The next day was our last day in Jaipur and we had a sleep in and spent the morning catching up on a few chores. We'd had some issues with our Indian SIM card so we went to the office where we found out that our SIM card and phone number had been suspended because the reseller had not submitted the paperwork. We also found out that we paid too much for our SIM card! We decided to write this off to experience and not to worry about getting a replacement SIM. In the afternoon we visited the Government Emporium to look at the Kashmiri and Rajasthani handicrafts. We were particularly excited about the carpets and spent quite a long time looking at a selection of pure silk Kashmiri carpets. At 11 pm in the evening we caught the overnight train to Udaipur. One of Udaipur's great claims to fame is that Octopussy was filmed there.
At 5.30 am on Wednesday morning, we arrived at Udaipur station and caught a rickshaw straight to Poonam Haveli where checked into the "suite" – extra large room with a bathroom and a rather crusty tired looking spa. It didn't have TV or air conditioning but a rather noisy evaporative air cooler. We had breakfast on the rooftop restaurant where we had glimpses of the lake and the Hanuman Ghat on the other side. After breakfast we walked to Pichola Haveli and Jagat Niwas Palace Hotel with spectacular views over the lake from the rooftop restaurants. We walked up and down Jagdish Temple Road and saw the City Palace and Jagdish Temple. We walked across the bridge to Hanuman Ghat and saw the great views from the other side of the lake at Ambria Restaurant. We saw a whole heap of Indian men harassing a scantily clad European woman in the street – they were offended by her lack of clothing but were still compelled to take photos of her!
It was almost 6 pm when we finished using the internet and when we went back to our room it was really hot because the Western sun was shining straight through the windows. We turned on the air cooler but it really didn't seem to do anything so we decided to go and check out the rooms and prices at Pichola Haveli before meeting some friends for dinner. The room at Pichola Haveli was really beautiful (with satellite TV and air conditioning) and it was also the same price as our room at Poonam Haveli so we decided to move the next morning. We went to the rooftop at Jagat Niwas Palace Hotel for a pre-dinner drink of Kingfisher beer and enjoyed watching the sun go down over the Ghats and the Lake Palace Hotel. After that we walked over to Hanuman Ghat for dinner at Ambria Restaurant.
We had a pretty poor night's sleep because our room was so hot and we were also bitten by mosquitoes, so we were happy to be checking out on Thursday morning. We carried our packs around to the Pichola Haveli where we checked in and then headed out for the day. We visited the Jagdish Temple which was supposedly the largest Vishnu temple in North India. It was very similar to the other temples we had seen with detailed carvings of apsara dancers and musicians on the outside and relatively plain on the inside. We walked into the City Palace complex through the picturesque Tripoliya Gate with three arches. We went to the City Palace Museum. This was made up of several palaces including the Mardana Mahal (Palace for the Royal Men) and the Zenana Mahal (Palace for the Royal Ladies), courtyards and gardens. From the windows, pavilions courtyards and gardens there were panoramic views over Pichola Lake and its island palaces. Some of the chambers in the palaces had elaborately painted murals of court scenes, battle scenes and religious festivals. Many of the rooms contained exquisite miniatures, and paintings and photographs of the royal family. There were rooms with coloured panes of glass and patterned tiles, and some were decorated with glass and mirror inlay work. The most impressive courtyard was the Mor Chowk (Peacock Courtyard) – this had a richly decorated glass inlay balcony with three peacocks made out of blue glass and mirrors. After we left the palace we walked out of the tourist area through a local bazaar which seemed to be divided up into sections – fried snack foods, saris, jewellery, shoes, fruit and veg etc – and out of the Dehli gate in the hope of finding a carpet warehouse. From there we walked to the Elephant Gate where we caught a rickshaw which took us to another tourist shop. This shop had the largest selection of Kashmiri carpets that we have seen to date. However it was much more expensive than the government emporium that we visited in Jaipur and most of the carpets we were shown were silk on cotton and had less knots per square inch than the ones we saw in Jaipur. We spent quite a bit of time there looking at the carpets before taking a walk through the Sajjan Niwas park nearby and then walking back along Lake Palace Road to the Lal Ghat area and our hotel.
On Friday morning we walked to Kashan Carpet Industries where we looked at several beautiful carpets. They had a huge range to choose from. After that we walked to Sunset Point on Pichola Lake where we could see Jagmandir Island in the distance.
At 5.30 pm we went to meet our Canadian friends at Shashi's Cooking School. Shashi was a really interesting lady who started the class by telling us about herself and how she came to be running cooking classes. She was from the Brahmin caste and was married at 19. She had two sons and her sons were 7 and 9 when her husband died in 2001. She had to spend 45 days inside the house in mourning and money became a real issue because as a Brahmin she couldn't work, she had no education and her husband's family were not supportive. Her sons collected laundry from guest houses in secret and she would wash dishes early in the morning to earn some money. Then she met a tourist and after tasting her food he suggested that she start a cooking school. With a little help from various tourists over a period of time, she learnt to speak English, had her recipes typed up in English, French and German, and had a website set up – and so her cooking school evolved.
The first thing she showed us how to make was Masala Chai. Then we moved on to pakora, masala sauce/paste, naan, tomato chatni, paneer with garlic and pepper, Kashmiri pulao and cauliflower, potato, tomato and pea curry using the masala sauce. Then we rolled and cooked naan, chapatti, potato paratha and coconut paratha. We had a good time and a spectacular feast before getting back to the hotel at 11pm.
The next morning we caught the bus to Jodhpur. It left at 8am and arrived in Jodhpur at 3pm – 2 hours later than expected. The bus climbed initially and we passed a lot of dry stone walls, then wound through a mountain range and followed a dry river bed for a long way. There were lots of large trees growing in the river bed but the mountain slopes were covered with dead, grey tree skeletons. We saw langurs, black faced sheep and a couple of peacocks. On the other side of the small mountain range it was noticeably hotter and the people were dressed in vibrant turbans and saris in various shades of orange, pink and yellow. We noticed that some of the ladies had numerous large white bangles on their upper arms. The bangle just above the elbow was quite a tight fit and secured the other bangles above the elbow. The other bangles gradually increased in size thereafter until they reached the armpit. We saw a different antelope – looking like a brown cross between a horse and a camel with no hump. Eventually we reached Jodhpur and checked into Devi Bhawan. It had a pool and a beautiful room for Rs 1,800 ($45AUD) so we took it and went for a swim which was magic because the heat was so intense.
On Sunday morning we caught a rickshaw to Mehrangarh Fort, a red sandstone fort standing at the top of a perpendicular cliff behind the old city. The second gate we walked through was scarred by cannon ball hits. Beside the third gate and covered in red powder were the tiny handprints made by the widows of Maharaja Man Singh as they left the palace for the last time and threw themselves on his funeral pyre in 1843. The fort contained a museum, the intricately screened Rajput palace complex and a network of courtyards. We visited the Moti Mahal (Pearl Palace) so named because of the pearl like sheen of the plaster (made from crushed sea shells), the Sukh Mahal (Pleasure Palace) with its beautifully decorated gold inlay ceilings and the Phool Mahal (Flower Palace) which was decorated with a combination of gold leaf, glue and cow's urine. In the main courtyard was a small marble seat that was used for coronations. We saw some howdahs (elephant seats), palanquins, exquisitely embroidered tent canopies, a small armoury containing amongst other things, swords decorated with gold inlay and rhinoceros hide shields, ivory cosmetic chests and other collectibles. From the windows and the courtyards, there were views of the old city with its indigo coloured buildings. Apparently the indigo colour keeps the mosquitoes away. After visiting the palace complex we walked along the ramparts where there was a display of cannons and you could look over the edge to see the sheer drop below. We left the fort and walked to the Jaswant Thada which was a white marble Cenotaph for the Rathore rulers of Jodhpur-Marwar. From there we decided to walk to the old city – it was a gentle downhill walk along the road and then down some stairs into the centre. The city centre was really busy – there were a number of floats containing Hijras, young men and women in costume and they were all playing very loud music. We walked around the bazaar next to the clock Tower before catching a rickshaw back to the hotel for a swim and a rest.
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