Week 7 – India – Chitakrut to Jaipur

On Monday morning we checked out of the hotel and caught a tempo to the train station, where we planned to catch the 10.38 am train to Gwalior. Keith bought the tickets and we sat on the platform to wait – 11 am came and went and then we found out that the train wasn't coming until after 1 pm. Then 1 pm came and went and we found out it was coming at 2pm! We watched a couple of general passenger trains come in. On one of them there were women with big bundles of sticks perched precariously between the carriages. When the train stopped, they jumped off and with difficulty extracted their bundles of sticks. Then they placed a roll of fabric on their heads and with a little manoeuvring and help hoisted the bundles on to their heads and carried them out of the station. We sat and watched the pilgrims washing themselves at the station pump, mangy station dogs and the monkeys foraging on the tracks. Reached Gwalior at about 10 pm and checked into the Hotel Mayur where the toilet paper had to be purchased, the toilet was black and the shower and sink taps were broken!

We had a lovely breakfast at the Indian Coffee House where the waiters were dressed impeccably – with wonderful turbans complete with a starched concertina fan. After breakfast we caught a rickshaw to the Urvai (Eastern) Gate of the Gwalior Fort. We could see the fort on a plateau atop a hill as we drove around. There were some impressive Jain carvings on the valley walls as we climbed the valley road. Jain carvings of the Buddha are easily identifiable because they always show the Buddha's genitals. Many of the faces and genitals had been defaced or removed by Babur's Muslim army in 1527.

When we reached the top we took the right turn to Tel Ka Mandir, the oldest temple on the plateau from the 8^th century. It was still in pretty good condition – a stone gopuram style construction with a wagon top. We visited the large white gurdwara, or Sikh temple. Took a couple of photos of tiled ceiling and the large pool outside before leaving via the avenue of green shrubs and trees which formed a lovely approach with some stone carved peacock seats in the garden. The Sikh temple was very clean, calm and friendly.

Then we walked to the Man Singh palace along a section of the fort wall with impressive views of the wall snaking around the contours of the plateau, sheer drops down the rock and steep hillside, periodic onion dome lookouts to provide sentries with shade and the town buildings stretching out like a carpet below. The palace had impressive (but fading) tile work of elephant, tiger, ducks, trees and geometric patterns in yellow and blue. Inside were a couple of large courtyards with beautiful carving of different geometric designs and some blue tile work. Downstairs were two levels underground with large rooms containing circles of immense columns. We walked around outside seeing many ruined buildings, tanks and towers and some great views off the walls. Then we headed out the eastern gate right next to the palace. From here a small road snaked down very steeply to the town below. After checking out of our hotel, we caught our train to Agra. At only 2 hours, it was mercifully short – nothing like the epic journeys that we have already had. At Agra we got a rickshaw to one of the many hotels lining Fatehabad Road and Suzie sat in the lobby of one of them while Keith looked around and viewed some rooms. We settled on a room at the Grand Casa Agra – it was small but relatively modern and came with Satellite TV and miracle of miracles – WiFi!!

We had a rest day on Wednesday. We spent a little bit of time in the room catching up on emails and reading the guide book before heading out to walk around Agra and the Taj Mahal. We had lunch on a roof top in the Taj Ganj – and got our first sight of the Taj Mahal. We walked around the Taj complex through some narrow alleyways and down through a urine stained staircase to the Western Gate. We walked through a garden to the Yamuna River which was absolutely filthy. Piles of rubbish lined the banks and the water was fetid and black. Back at the Western Gate we checked out the Mosque and then walked 2 kilometres to the Agra Fort. We walked around the imposing red stone walls of the Agra Fort and then caught a rickshaw back to our hotel. The touts in Agra are really persistent – they don't seem to accept no for an answer!

On Thursday morning, we got up at 6 am and caught a rickshaw straight to the Eastern Gate of the Taj Mahal which led into a large outer courtyard bounded by massive red sandstone walls. From there we entered the complex on the south side through a free standing red sandstone gate which was decorated with verses from the Koran and floral pietre dure on white marble on both sides. In front of us were some ornamental gardens with rectangular pools at the centre. The Taj Mahal itself was located at the northern end of the gardens on a raised marble platform with four minarets at each corner and the Yamuna river running behind it. We've seen many pictures of the Taj – but what the pictures fail to show is that every single surface is decorated with carving, pietre dure and calligraphy and it is all symmetrical. Each of the four sides of the Taj are identical. To the West stood a red sandstone mosque and to the East an identical building (the Jawab) built for symmetry. Inside the main chamber below the main dome, behind exquisitely carved marble screens lay the two false tombs of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan. Their real tombs are in a locked basement below the main chamber – which is not open for viewing. We spent a couple of hours wandering through the gardens and visiting the Mosque, the Jawab and the huge red sandstone gate. Afterwards we caught a rickshaw to the red sandstone Agra Fort – where Shah Jahan spent the last eight years of his life after being imprisoned by his son Aurangzeb. The fort was protected by two moats. The outer moat was wet and the inner moat was dry. It contained a maze of buildings – marble and red sandstone palaces, towers, mosques, audience halls and a couple of beautifully manicured courtyards. After visiting the fort we caught a rickshaw to the busy Kinari Bazaar where we found the Jama Masjid – a once striking red sandstone mosque which was undergoing renovations. Back in the Bazaar again, we found a rickshaw to take us to Akbar's Mausoleum at Sikandra, a ten kilometre ride away. We entered the courtyard through yet another beautiful red sandstone and white marble gateway. The mausoleum was also constructed of red sandstone and white marble with decorated inlay panels inside. A dark tunnel led to Akbar's tomb inside. The mausoleum was surrounded by green lawns on which deer/antelope were grazing. We went back to our hotel – exhausted but happy – we saw so many beautiful things today!

On Friday morning we boarded an extremely ram shackle local bus to Fatehpur Sikri. The exterior of the bus was more painted over "bog" than bus. On the inside all the panels (roof, walls and floor) were loose because the rivets had fallen out and one of the seats had completely collapsed onto its back. The vibrations from the bad road meant that the bus was gradually being shaken apart! Thankfully it was only a short (1 hour) journey. Once at Fatehpur Sikri, we had to walk though a busy bazaar through a maze of old streets to climb up a flight of stone steps to the Jama Masjid. We entered the mosque complex through the 54 metre high red sandstone Victory Gate built to celebrate Akbar's victory in Gujarat. Inside was a large courtyard with a small pool in the centre. Directly in front was the mausoleum of a famous Muslim saint built from white marble with ebony wood doors. Adjacent was another red sandstone structure containing other tombs. Around the entire courtyard was a covered terrace of red sandstone so we walked around. Inside the white marble mausoleum was some excellent carving, Quranic writing and floral inlay work together with the huge mother of pearl tomb.

We walked out the side of the mosque to the palace buildings. The first and largest building was the Jod Bhai with enclosed courtyard and a couple of roof sections still with some Persian blue tiles. The rest of the complex was set around the large ornamental pool with four walkways onto the central platform over the water. There were small but beautifully carved palaces for each of Akbar's three wives and his own palace complete with huge stone bunk bed. The Hall of Private Audiences had a magnificently carved stone central column and the Panch Mahal was a five storey pavilion with each storey decreasing in size. We also saw the large stable building with stone rings for tethering the horses/camels. We had a late lunch on the edge of the bazaar before rushing off for another bone jarring encounter with the bus to Agra.

We checked out of the hotel on Saturday morning and caught a bus to Jaipur. After our bus journey to Fatehpur Sikri yesterday, today's bus (even though it wasn't air conditioned) felt like pure luxury. It was reasonably cool provided the bus was moving. The bus obviously had decent suspension because although we took the same road yesterday, it felt a lot smoother. We saw working camels harnessed to carts along the highway and one section with many smokestacks baking bricks made from mud and the straw from the wheat fields. Rajasthan was even drier and hotter than the other states we had been to.

We arrived in Jaipur at 2 pm and settled on a spacious marble floored room at Sajjan Niwas in a heritage building with coloured panes of glass and beautifully painted ceilings and walls. We had a rest in our room before catching a rickshaw to Panch Batti to begin our walking tour of the old city. We walked through a series of busy bazaars, past marble craftsmen, textile artisans with pots of dye, stores selling metal tools and kitchen utensils, silver jewellery and resin bangles. We walked past the Hawa Mahal palace and past stores selling bright, sequinned, tie dyed fabrics, clothes and bedding. It was quite difficult walking through the bazaars because the pedestrian and road traffic was so heavy. We had to keep stepping over and around people, gypsy beggars, bicycles, rickshaws and scooters.

On Easter Sunday, we walked into the old city though the Ajmeri Gate. We had a short climb to the top of Iswari Minar Swarga Sal (Heaven Piercing Minaret) where we enjoyed sweeping views over the old city. From there it was just a short walk to the observatory, Jantar Mantar. At first sight this looked like a modern art sculpture exhibition, but on closer inspection turned out to be a series of sun dials and other astronomy instruments which were totally beyond our understanding. Next to Jantar Mantar was the City Palace which was a complex of gardens, courtyards and buildings surrounded by an outer wall. There were some remarkable displays of textiles and royal costumes, arms and weapons, and two 1.6 metre tall silver vessels in the Hall of Private Audiences (used to take water from the Ganges to England). In the armoury and the Hall of Public Audiences, the ceilings were decorated with stunning gold inlay and floral paintings. There was a courtyard (Pitam Niwas Chowk) with four gates representing monsoon (peacock), summer (lotus), winter (rose petals) and spring (green). We walked to the Hawa Mahal (Palace of the Winds) which was a five storey honeycomb sandstone palace with views over the City Palace and Jantar Mantar.