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Our days and evenings in Jaipur - The Pink City
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| Journey
to Jaipur 17th April |
Jaipur
& Amber Fort and Palaces 18th April |
A
Memorable Evening Out 18th April |
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| Home Page | Delhi-arrival | Ranthambore | Agra | Delhi-departure | Goa |
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Our
journey from Ranthabore on Easter Monday 17th April was partly a quiet
road scene like this.
Note the camel as well as the motor bike! |
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| A Highlight of the day was to visit this huge elephant carved from one massive lump of rock! |
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A
typical village street scene on our journey.
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We arrived in Jaipur after a long day on a hot, thundery and wet evening. Then
we were taken to the Bazaar and There
were those in the group
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This what he missed - the beautiful Birla Temple. | ||||
| Tuesday 18th April - a day of forts and palaces | |||||
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Built in 1799 A.D. the Hawa Mahal or Palace of Winds was our first iconic building that we saw on this extremely memorable day. | ||||
| Wherever you looked there were forts or palaces. |
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And animals - is this a deer or a holy cow? | ||||
| Our first view of the Amber Fort |
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How
we had thought we were to travel to the Fort.
We were glad
that we didn't but it was a handsome sight - note also the primitive
scaffold behind. |
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| Everything
about this Fort was awesome.
The workmanship the detail - amazing! |
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Amazing is the word - such superb use of natural stone carved and inlaid with skill and the most simple tools when it was built. |
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| A
happy and thrilled group pose for a photo at the entrance to the fort.
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One of the many decorated ceilings. | ||||
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eight miles from Jaipur, Amber (pronounced Amer) Fort preserves its
glory from the days when it was the capital of the ruling Kachhawa clan
of the princely state before it was shifted to Jaipur in 1727.
Set amidst the picture-perfect beauty of the rugged hills, it is not less charming in its majestic manner. Presenting a delightful blend of Hindu and Mughal architecture, its construction was begun by Raja Man Singh I in 1952 and was finally completed by Sawai Jai Singh I. Built in red sand stone and white marble. |
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The Hall of Mirrors. | ||||
| More decor and a beautiful stained glass window. |
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It seems never ending - just so beautiful. | ||||
| Even some simple painting - notice the elephant gets in on the act! |
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A
tip was offered to the elephant driver after a photo was taken but he
said no give it to the elephant.
He received it in the tip of his trunk and passed it to the driver. Helen and Anne were very impressed as were we all!
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| At
a visit to the Bhandari Jewellers Anne was treated to an early and well
earned birthday present - she was very pleased as you can see - so was
Les!
Jaipur - known as the capital of the gem/jewellery of India - had many such emporiums but we were lucky to visit this one as part of our tour. |
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In every street animals and cattle mixed with the throngs of people, rickshaws, cars scooters and motor bikes! | ||||
| Later
we visited the intriguing and beautiful Jantar Mantar an astronomical
and astrological masterpiece built between 1728 and 1734.
It remains accurate to the second! |
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Les
enjoys getting to the top of his Virgo astrological Star |
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| And then on to the City Palace which as the flags show is the residence of the Rajasthan Royal Family. |
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This
building at the City Palace is the Diwan-E-Khas meaning hall of private
or selective audience which
houses the two world's largest sterling silver vessels.
These were made for Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh II to carry water from River Ganga to drink on his voyage to England in 1896 for a coronation. |
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| Here is a close up of one of these vessels - water going to England. Did he bring water or whisky back? |
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The Dymonds with Raj our superb mentor, guide and kind friend in the company of our excellent driver and local guides Singh and his colleague. | ||||
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Later that evening we all went out to a most delightful al fresco dinner and entertainment. Here are photos of the ten lovely
couples who made up our
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| Alison
& Phil Hukin - our honeymoon couple.
What a start to a long life together! |
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Lesley and Allan Witton | ||||
| Joyce & Alec James |
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Kausha & Rohan Deheragoda | ||||
| Helen & Dave Farrer |
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Maggie & Dale | ||||
| Jan & Russ Greenland |
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Lesley & Colin Gibbons | ||||
| Eruned & Sean Innes |
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Anne & Les Dymond | ||||
| A
lovely evening.
A Super Indian entertainment in a delightful setting. |
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More entertainment - our new friend Usha's granddaughter enjoys the puppet show as we did. | ||||
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biggest surprise of all was for Raj to take the stand, guitar in hand
and entertain us in music and song - it was delightful.
Raj is full of surprises - each evening there was one. Usually a rum and coke but this was by far the best! |
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