The Pink City of Rajasthan - Jaipur

Lovely Jaipur!! That is what I can remember about Jaipur after more than a year visiting this city. Iy has everything as far as I concern, I mean, there are many interesting places, the heritage site, good restaurant and nice shopping places for cheap stuffs. The Amber fort is amazing though the horrible heat might be too much to adapt with, and the amazing Hawa Mahal is just as stunning though the bamboo scaffolder covering the whole palace was a little upsetting. I spent the most in this city and bought myself fancy sandel, skirts, colourful umbrella (not to be used in the rain though) and lots of souvenirs.  

We started our city trip pretty early in the morning, around 8.30 am. And our first destination was the Amber Fort. To get to the fort, all visitors need to ride an elephant uphill and it was pretty fun. The elephant ride costed Rps 200 per person, and the entrance fee itself is Rps 250 per person. And you have to tip the elephant 'rider' as well. If you don't, they will ask, and if you give too little, they will ask for more. You can either ignore him, or give more. Elephant rides are only available until certain period of time and each elephant has limited number of trips allowed. There was an incident where one of the elephant ran amok after making quite a number of trips ups and down, to and from the fort. 

Like any other forts, Amber fort is very unique and really. I can't recall the overall size of the fort. Not all area is accessible, though if one has a lot of time to kill, exploring the underground tunnel may be a good idea. The tunnel leads to the other fort at the upper hill, Jaigarh Fort. I have the feeling that tunnel is spooky, dark and narrow. I think I am beginning to feel claustrophobic. 

Amber Fort

Magnificient Amber Fort 

It was hot, but will be very pleasant during winter

Elephants on duty

Lining up to pick up curious visitors

Nice make up for the elephant

A garden on the lake

My favorite building in Amber Fort. Lovely paintings and decoration@Ganesh Pol entrance

Another area of the fort on the upper hill

Ceiling with pieces of small mirrors and really beautiful decorations

Another masterpiece

Sheesh Mahal

Observation tower, I presume

Please be reminded not to spend money here yet. Items sold by the street sellers are considerably cheap but will be much cheaper to shop in the town.

Jal Mahal

From Amber Fort to Jaipur city, we stopped by the road just to have a glimpse on a palace built in the middle of a lake, called Jal Mahal. Not sure what was the history, or facts about this palace but Google would definitely be helpful on this.

Jantar Mantar

After a few minutes drive from Jal Mahal, our driver dropped us at Jaipur city and we were on our own since the major attractions are close to each other, and the shopping arcades as well. We did the shopping first before visiting the attractions. I was so tempted with the fancy umbrella (made of embroidered cloth), although some people think it was pretty impractical to buy an umbrella which can't keep you from being wet. But during this mid day, this fancy, colourful umbrella helped a lot in protecting me from the extreme sun ray and I was glad to buy several umbrellas (love the patterns, colours and embroidery).

So we visited Jantar Mantar to get some information on the astronomy. Most of the structures are huge and I thought people in the past was brilliant. The visit to Jantar Mantar, which is the UNESCO World Heritage Site, would be fun if if we can totally understand the function of each structure. There are descriptions written but more on the history of each structure rather then the operational explanation.

We spent quite some times here as there were benches under the trees and we were able to shelter from the extreme sunlight and mid day heat. We haven't had lunch yet so we munched on the tit bits just and drank lots of mineral water to refresh ourselves. 

Near Jantar Mantar, there is another attraction, the City Palace, just less than 100 m away. But we were not interested to see merely because of the more expensive entrance fee than Jantar Mantar. And on top of that, we have visited the amazing Amber Fort so we thought it would be less impressive. So we headed to Hawa Mahal. By the way, the entrance fee for Jantar Mantar is Rps 200.

Palace of the Wind (Hawa Mahal)

Hawa Mahal is the most important landmark for Jaipur city. No one will forget this lovely palace whenever visiting Jaipur. But during this visit, I was so disappointed to see those bamboo scaffolders covering the palace. I didn't expect this but seeing the palace had already made me drop my jaw. Entrance fee is Rps 300 but like any other attractions in India (most of them), additional charge is applied to video camera.

After Hawa Mahal, we walked around the bazaar and bought several items before heading back to our room. That was the end of our day in Jaipur.

The Monkey Temple

We left Jaipur around 8.30 am to get to Fatehpur Sikri, and the to Agra. On our way to Fatehpur Sikri, we stopped at a temple, the Monkey Temple, which is 45 minutes from Jaipur city. The temple was interesting and as the name implies, there are a lot of monkeys there, especially at the pool. I think this place is more like a shrine.

The temple was built in between to hills. It was very calm and not many people there. There is no entrance fee but donation is anticipated, though we were charged for Rps 50 for our camera., each Ouchhh....

The monkeys here were not the tame monkeys and they seemed to be very aggressive and fierce. Most probably it was the mating period, or maybe the females protecting their babies. But whatever it was, we didn't want to get involve in this monkey business, so we left the temple in less than 15 minutes.

Four hours later, we reached Fatehpur Sikri, another UNESCO World Heritage site in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

The Romantic City - Udaipur

The route to Udaipur from Ranakpur was an ordinary one. It is the only route with a proper highway in Rajasthan. It was really hot outside and on our left and right were all stony hills. It was like passing through a barren land with nothing on it, only us. Mirages were almost everywhere along the road and I kind of remember the scenes in the movies where truckers need to pass through the desert road. Assured that nothing would interest me, I decided to just to sleep, whilst my buddy with her travel book.

Around noon, we arrived Udaipur but we didn't go directly to the hotel. We stopped by at a garden, known as Saheiyon Ki Bari. The garden was 'wet' with fountains and pools everywhere. At least it helped to cool down the environment. There is a small museum displaying basic knowledge of science. There is no entrance fee to enter this garden.

Saheiyon Ki Bari

Later, we checked in at Raj Palace Hotel and rested. We had lunch in the hotel restaurant and later we walked to the Udaipur City Palace. Entrance fee is Rps 300 with camera fee Rps 150 each. Udaipur is known to be a romantic city for it has the romantic view during sunsets and romantic settings of the posh hotels. Well, the romantic environment will be well defined only if a couple is willing to spend an exorbitant amount of money for the least romantic items. The cost of the cheapest juice in a restaurant facing the sunset would cost around Rps 300 a glass.

From certain part of the palace, the views of the lakes, Fatih Sagar lake and Picchola lake were, however, awesome. We were strongly recommended to take a boat ride across the lake but the price didn't sound nice at all. And taking a boat ride during mid day is obviously not a good idea. So we just spent some time in the palace where the air was much cooler and relieving.

There is a museum displaying various weapons used by the king/maharaja during the battles in the past. Judging by the size of the weapons, I bet people in the past must be physically huge and strong. Otherwise they would not be able to carry the weapons.

Udaipur City Palace

The main gate/entrance to the palace.

Different palace/fort in India has their own special decorations. In Udaipur City Palace, I think it is not that lavishly decorated, compared to Amber Fort in Jaipur but it does have special paintings/carvings which is much more interesting. Most of the decorations in Indian palaces/forts have a little bit of Persian influence. Obviously reading the history books will explain how does this influence occur. Unfortunately I am lack of such resources.

One of the most expensive hotels in Udaipur. One needs to take a boat ride to get there.

My favorite spot in this palace

Door after door

There are several shops in the palace compound selling really cool stuffs, and expensive too. I was tempted to buy the shining and shimmering bangles but after a second thought, I didn't buy anything. It was not possible to bargain here and things would be much cheaper outside the palace.

After the visit to city palace, we returned to the hotel. We have a lot more time to kill in Udaipur, so we decided to go to the internet cafe. As for me, I did have some work to check so I took the chance to ensure everything is in good order back in the office. There is free wifi in the hotel but I need to used a computer to check some data from the external hard drive.

So basically our day in Udaipur was an ordinary one but at least we know how the city is like. Things would be much more interesting during winter time, not during summer.

From Udaipur, we visited the last city in Rajasthan, Jaipur, where things were more interesting here, and cheaper.

The Desert State of Rajasthan - Ranakpur - Khumbalgarh

Ranakpur is actually a small town which surrounded by the rocky hills. From the coarse view, it is much cleaner and it is not a crowded place. Ranakpur is also located nearby to the Kumbalgarh National Park. According to Mr. Gyan, this place is beautiful outside summer and the green lushes everywhere within this area. 

We stayed at Hotel Roopam and the cost was within our budget. It was something different compared to our stay in the other hotels, in the sense that more trees, more greens and much more tranquil. We had lunch at the hotel restaurant. At least they have more variety of food here. And it seemed that my buddy has already tired eating paneer in every meal. Hihihi...

While having lunch, we discovered two big trees with massive beehives on each of them. And that explained where the bees come, disturbing our peace of mind while having lunch. And guess what, I got stung TWICE and that was totally not awesome. Ironically, I have never got stung be the bees in Malaysia, not even when I visited any bee farms anywhere. My forehead and my knee were the 2 spots stung. Thank god I don't have allergies to most of the allergens known.

Then, around 2.30 we went for a visit a Ranakpur Jain Temple. To be honest, I don't even know the difference between Hinduism and Jainism until I read something from the internet (wikipedia of course). While entering the temple compound, I saw several women with white sarees and they put on a a piece of paper tied with rope or something, to cover their mouth. Didn't mean to tease them or being funny, i thought they covered their mouth  to prevent small insect like flies or mosquitoes. And asked Mr. Gyan, it is true they do not want any living thing to enter their mouth. The fundamental of Jainism is the practice of non-violence towards all, I mean ALL, living things and promote equality and spiritual independence in all forms of life. 

There was one Jain temple in Jaisalmer fort and the design was more or less the same with what we have seen in Ranakpur. The entire Ranakpur Jain temple is made of marble and when we entered the temple complex, it was pretty cooling inside. By the way, any form of photography is strictly prohibited and we left our camera in the locker. We were worried about keeping our belongings in the locker but we were assured that we could count on people of Rajasthan.

The temple was very close to our hotel and since there is not much to see around Ranakpur, we returned to the hotel and spent time around the hotel area. It was too warm to stay in the room so we took the chance to breath the free fresh air and enjoy the nature.

I was a little bored so I tried to find any subject for my camera. And what a lovely moment to see many colourful birds nibbling on the ground. Not sure if these are parrots, or lorikeets. They were sharing food with other birds and chipmunks too. So cute.

It was really a relaxing day and less exposure to sunlight so there was nothing much to tell here. There is no internet and no TV, which means we were totally disconnected with the outside world. But we could live with that.

The next day, we left the hotel around 8.30, heading to Udaipur. We passed through the Kumbalgarh national park, consists of winding road, uphills and downhills. Not many vehicles on the road and yet Mr. Gyan drove cautiously. If he sped, then most probably we would throw up and ended up having headache for the rest of the day.

While passing through road, monkeys were everywhere. There were 2 -3 types of monkeys but the black-faced monkeys seemed to dominate the road. I guess there were expecting food from the passers-by. Would be great if we have a pack of peanuts and feed these creatures

Around 4-5 hours later, we reached Udaipur, the so-called 'Romantic City'. Sheahhhh right!!