The Pink City

Welcome to Jaipur, after a 6.5 hour drive from Agra and some of the hairiest night driving I've ever seen, positively the worst roads we encountered in India, we made it to our hotel just in time for dinner and bed. A good thing considering or hectic schedule the following day. First we went to town to see the pink city. Its a remarkable place and the palace is impressive.

Hawa Mahal, overlooks the main city street of Jaipur, in years gone by, women of the court used to sit and watch the hustle and bustle from behind the screen of this magnificent structure. Thats our car in the foreground.

Chandra Mahal also know as the Moon Palace and the City Palace. It is still used by the royal family to this day and it also has a museum, but unfortunately, no photography is permitted.

Ornate displays of weapons adorn the central pavilion

The worlds largest silver pots, originally it was used to carry "holy" water from the Ganges river to Brittan.

The summer palace where the royal family holiday. It would have been majestic in its prime when the lake was full of water and no trash lying everywhere.

Jantar Mantar is an observatory built by Sawai Jai Singh. Its a park filled with sundials and star mapping devices all carved out of stone. I found this place fascinating, its highlight is a massive 5 story high sundial that can accurately tell time to the minute.

MacDonalds in India, we couldn't help ourselves. Here is a Mc Curry Pan and a Mc Tikka Aloo ;)

Amer Palace

Built by Raja Man Singh in the 16th Century, its splendidly constructed in red sandstone and white marble in a beautiful mixture of Rajputand Mughal design. The Raja was the commander of Akbars armies and the most impressive feature was the "Hall of Mirrors".

Elephant ride up to the Palace

Garden at the entry to the Palace

Main court where Man Sing would adress his subjects

Jai Mandir, also known as the Temple of Victory was the place where the Raja's queen would welcome him from battle and greet him through the window above the door way

Sheesh Mahal, the Hall of Mirrors.

The Raja had 12 wives. They were kept separated and this is where they lived, the small pavilion is the only place where they could interact with each other.

Amer Fort, sits atop of the mountain and looks over the Amer Palace. There is also a huge cannon thats only ever been test fired once, apparently its the worlds largest wheeled cannon and took 6 elephants and 14 men to operate and reposition the gun.

When the sightseeing got too tough for us we retreated to the Polo bar at the Rambargh Palace hotel for some Kingfisher Lagers and Bombay Sapphire Gin. It was truly exquisite and grossly opulent. A real throwback to the British colonial days.

Finally, what do you do at night in Jaipur, visit the famoue Raj Mandir movie theater. We went and saw the latest Bollywood blockbuster Humko Deewana Kar Gaye. It was in Hindi, but we could follow the plot and enjoy the classic musical numbers. I really loved this theater, it had real charm and the sound was spectacular, definitely worth the experience. Oh the movies not so bad either, if you keep an open mind and remember the context.