The Pink City
Trip Start
Feb 20, 2008
1
7
22
Trip End
May 08, 2008
Where I stayed
Jaipur, India
Sunday, March 9, 2008
The city itself is really just a modern city which happens to have some old buildings in it. Even though the old city is effectively preserved within the old city walls its doesn't feel like an old city in the same way as Jodhpur or Jaisalmer. Nevertheless we did our mandatory sightseeing and headed for the bus the next day both feeling pretty happy that one day was enough in such a place. It just had the typical Indian probelms of too much traffic and pollution and not enough organisation. There were some very interesting things like the Jantar Mantar, an observatory built 400 years ago and featuring some crazy constructions for viewing the heavens. Seemed like everything there was a way of calculating the time of day using the position of heavenly bodies, very elaborate indeed but baffling also.
Before leaving for Agra the next day we checked out the Jawa Mahal, a narrow palace built so that the ladies of court could view processions and the like while still respecting purdah the tradition of women not being seen. Its 5 storeys high but the top 3 storeys are only one room deep-about 6 feet. The facade is all made up of jaalis, carved stone screens to look through but through which you can't be seen from the other side.
Anyway after purchasing a couple of souvenirs we left for the bus to Agra. This was the first overcast day we'd had and as we boarded the 3pm bus we even felt some rain falling. What's that about?
