A visit to Jaipur was on the cards for many days but the city kept me waiting till many days. Last week I had the chance to visit the royal city of Jaipur. We travelled from Delhi to Jaipur by road and we drove through the highway in our car. The roads were in excellent shape and except for some jams and few toll gates the journey was smooth.
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Amer Fort, Jaipur
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We arrived late in Jaipur around 11 pm in the night. The first thing that caught our attention were the gates build around the city.We drove through the city not knowing where to go. The map that we were carrying was a of little help as it didnt show the roads clearly. We were asking for directions but Jaipur has so many choupar that we got confused. Choupar are roundabouts made like game of choupar.
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| Hawa Mahal,Jaipur Hawa Mahal video |
While roaming we stumbled upon the most beautiful piece of art, in Jaipur. It was the Hawa Mahal , a palace for queens who could see the procession of King passing in the street from the palace. It looked glorious at night. The windows looked like gems and lighting made it look divine. It was truly magnificent at night than in day as we had the chance to visit it on day time.
After getting directions from almost 10 persons we finally reached our hotel, Maharani palace. The hotel lobby was beautiful with pictures of Rajasthani women dancing in their traditional dresses. The chandelier sparkling the Centre of hall was truly royal. We got our keys to the room and headed for what we needed the most, rest.
In the morning because of so much driving we woke up late. We dressed up and got ready to explore the city of Jaipur. A guide was arranged by the hotel itself and he was a quite a help in our whole trip of the city. He guided us through the congested roads of Jaipur and was constantly upgrading us on the history of Jaipur.
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Jantar Mantar, Jaipur
Jantar mantar video |
Our first stop was Jantar Mantar, built by Sawai Jai Singh, it symbolizes the scientific attitude of the King of Jaipur. His interest in stars and astronomy is evident in this beautiful complex which houses so many different clocks to calculate the time, latitude, longitude of Jaipur. The king built similar building in Delhi too, known as Jantar Mantar only. The beautiful giant solar clocks are still functional today. It was told to me that time with accuracy of twenty seconds could be told through these clocks. The position of sun ,moon pole star could be studied in this complex.
Our next destination was City Palace. A beautiful Rajasthani palace was in our sight. We entered the palace through a gate and were welcomed by a group of photographers who without us understanding what was going on, started taking our pictures. They said when you return your photos will be ready you could take them or leave them according to your wishes.
Our guide entry fee was free but we had to shelve out 75/- Rs each. Our guide took us to the commercial units operating inside the palace. We sat with some artists working there and were amazed by their skill. They were using vegetable colours to make their paintings. For example ,beet root juice was boiled and dried to make red colour and natural stones were used for orange colour. Black colour was made from kajal .He told us how squirrel hair were being used to make fine paintings.
The hall had other things to offer like perfumes and cosmetics. Antiques were displayed and clothes were on sale though a little expensive I suspect. I was in no mood to shop so I moved ahead.
We went in the cloth museum in the palace which boasts of clothes of Queen and Kings displayed in glass frames. The clothes were heavy and bore the prints of Rajasthan's dresses worn by Queens during festival of Diwali and other functions. Laheriya prints of Rajasthan representing the water were evident in their designs. The one item i really liked was the 7-8 feet long pyjama of King Madho Singh, famous for his bulging tummy .
Next was the weapon gallery, which was my favourite. The "welcome" sign at the entrance was written with knifes and swords. The museum boasted of swords and guns once used by the kings, the armour worn by the King and different kind of gadgets to take ones life.
The palace serves as the residence of real King of Jaipur even today and the royal family lives in other part of the palace.
We moved ahead in our journey and Amer fort was our list. The Amer fort is situated at a height and i had to drive the car though a narrow elevated road (I had never done this before driving in elevated road).The fort had two gates one for cars and other for people coming on foot. Elephant rides are also available in Amer fort in morning. The Amer fort is enormous and situated at a height so that enemy can be spotted from a distance. The entrance of Amer fort is huge and inside is a complex which houses a residential complex for King's army. As we go inside we are greeted by Kali's temple at the stairs. Then comes the Ganesh entrance ,where we took some snaps. The guide told us about a hot bath present in the bathroom at Amer. At that time when electricity was not there hot water channels were flowing inside the fort by burning wood. As we went inside the Ganesh entrance we were welcomed by a garden where queens used to take a stroll. The garden was near the wine room of king, which was cooled during the summer by channels of water flowing through the rooms.
Across the wineroom a room full of glass pieces embedded in the wall. It looked so beautiful and royal, that I was mesmerized. As we went further upstairs ,I was astonished to see a swimming pool at such height. I was told that elephants were used to bring water to this height. We had seen this enormous fort and my legs were aching. We had to go back to our hotel as it was almost 4:30 pm. Our guide told us to see Jal mahal ,which was in our way to the hotel. We drove to Jal mahal and sat there for few moments. We could see Jal mahal from a distance as it is located inside a lake. I fed some fishes there with breadcrumbs and enjoyed the evening stroll at the place. The lake is a little dirty but we could enjoy the scence nevertheless.
Next day we were up again to explore the Jaigarh fort in Jaipur but our plans were little delayed when some group members insisted on shopping first. We went to handicraft showroom and were soon engrossed in the extravaganza called shopping.
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Our next destination was City Palace. A beautiful Rajasthani palace was in our sight. We entered the palace through a gate and were welcomed by a group of photographers who without us understanding what was going on, started taking our pictures. They said when you return your photos will be ready you could take them or leave them according to your wishes.
Our guide entry fee was free but we had to shelve out 75/- Rs each. Our guide took us to the commercial units operating inside the palace. We sat with some artists working there and were amazed by their skill. They were using vegetable colours to make their paintings. For example ,beet root juice was boiled and dried to make red colour and natural stones were used for orange colour. Black colour was made from kajal .He told us how squirrel hair were being used to make fine paintings.
The hall had other things to offer like perfumes and cosmetics. Antiques were displayed and clothes were on sale though a little expensive I suspect. I was in no mood to shop so I moved ahead.
We went in the cloth museum in the palace which boasts of clothes of Queen and Kings displayed in glass frames. The clothes were heavy and bore the prints of Rajasthan's dresses worn by Queens during festival of Diwali and other functions. Laheriya prints of Rajasthan representing the water were evident in their designs. The one item i really liked was the 7-8 feet long pyjama of King Madho Singh, famous for his bulging tummy .
Next was the weapon gallery, which was my favourite. The "welcome" sign at the entrance was written with knifes and swords. The museum boasted of swords and guns once used by the kings, the armour worn by the King and different kind of gadgets to take ones life.
The palace serves as the residence of real King of Jaipur even today and the royal family lives in other part of the palace.
 |
Amer Fort,Jaipur
Amber fort video |
We moved ahead in our journey and Amer fort was our list. The Amer fort is situated at a height and i had to drive the car though a narrow elevated road (I had never done this before driving in elevated road).The fort had two gates one for cars and other for people coming on foot. Elephant rides are also available in Amer fort in morning. The Amer fort is enormous and situated at a height so that enemy can be spotted from a distance. The entrance of Amer fort is huge and inside is a complex which houses a residential complex for King's army. As we go inside we are greeted by Kali's temple at the stairs. Then comes the Ganesh entrance ,where we took some snaps. The guide told us about a hot bath present in the bathroom at Amer. At that time when electricity was not there hot water channels were flowing inside the fort by burning wood. As we went inside the Ganesh entrance we were welcomed by a garden where queens used to take a stroll. The garden was near the wine room of king, which was cooled during the summer by channels of water flowing through the rooms.
Across the wineroom a room full of glass pieces embedded in the wall. It looked so beautiful and royal, that I was mesmerized. As we went further upstairs ,I was astonished to see a swimming pool at such height. I was told that elephants were used to bring water to this height. We had seen this enormous fort and my legs were aching. We had to go back to our hotel as it was almost 4:30 pm. Our guide told us to see Jal mahal ,which was in our way to the hotel. We drove to Jal mahal and sat there for few moments. We could see Jal mahal from a distance as it is located inside a lake. I fed some fishes there with breadcrumbs and enjoyed the evening stroll at the place. The lake is a little dirty but we could enjoy the scence nevertheless.
Next day we were up again to explore the Jaigarh fort in Jaipur but our plans were little delayed when some group members insisted on shopping first. We went to handicraft showroom and were soon engrossed in the extravaganza called shopping.
.
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Jaigarh Fort, Jaipur
watch video Jaigarh click here |
After two hours we were driving towards Jaigarh fort and that too is placed at a height. We drove the car inside the Jaigarh fort after paying a parking fees. As we got down from the car we spotted a historical museum with pictures of King and royal family members in it. We went further inside the fort and witnessed a puppet show there. The fort has 12 apartment for queens and a apartment of King situated above the apartments of queens in the centre of 12 apartment was a beautiful room with no walls where celebrations could be made in the presence of king. We witnessed a water reservoir of king where we had to go down stairs. It was cold and damp there but I was told that musicians would play music inside this water reservoir because of good acoustics in this room.
The Jaigarh fort had gardens for queens and had jails for prisoners. It was said that King used to hide his treasure in Jaigarh away from the eyes of Mughal emperor. The Jaigarh fort is famous for its Giant cannon which is the biggest in world and has been used only once. It can fire the cannon ball to a distance of 40 km. It is quite huge and requires 1 elephants to move it from one place to another.
The Jaigarh fort had gardens for queens and had jails for prisoners. It was said that King used to hide his treasure in Jaigarh away from the eyes of Mughal emperor. The Jaigarh fort is famous for its Giant cannon which is the biggest in world and has been used only once. It can fire the cannon ball to a distance of 40 km. It is quite huge and requires 1 elephants to move it from one place to another.
watch puppet show at Jaigarh fort ,for video click here.
It was quite a fun and my history improved further with this tour. I hope to explore more of Rajasthan in my next trip.
Related posts
1.Kedarnath http://travellingontreks.blogspot.in/2010/08/trekking-in-kedarnath.html
2.Manali http://travellingontreks.blogspot.in/2010/08/travel-to-manalia-group-adventure.html
3.Vrindavan http://travellingontreks.blogspot.in/2012/04/delhi-to-vrindavan.html
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