I've always imagined India to be this dusty, chaotic city sprinkled with slightly worn but grand looking ancient cities and temples; just like in the movie "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel". So after visiting Bangalore, Ladak and Kashmir I was starting to wonder if this image I had was just some Hollywood stereotype, until we arrived in Rajasthan. Rajasthan, which means "Land of the Kings" in Hindi, is said to have more history packed into the state than the rest of India combined. We went to Jaipur, Jodphur and Jaisalmer where we visited ancient cities, forts and palaces where different Maharajas (King) ruled for centuries. The kingdoms all ended when the state of Rajasthan was created during the Dominion of India in 1949.
Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan and is known as the "pink city". In the late 19th century, the Maharaja had the city painted pink, the colour of hospitality, in honour of Prince Edward VII and Queen Victoria's visit.
Hawa Mahal, the Palace of the Winds, was built by one of the Maharajas for the ladies of the royal household so they could live in purdah, which is the religious and social practice of female seclusion. Women (apparently only those of upper class) were not allowed to be seen in public so they would travel by covered palaquin and would live behind these honeycombed windows that allowed them to see out into the city but people on the street could not see in. The Hawa Mahal was a beautifully carved pink sandstone building where every window was covered with this honeycomb stonework.
Next door is an observatory, Jantar Mantar, built in 1728. The site looked like a collection of oddly shaped sculptures but each one had some purpose of measuring a celestial object in the sky!
The Amber fort was our last stop here. It was a 20 minute autoricksaw ride out of the old city where the royal capital was before Jaipur. The fort sat on top of a hill with a great vantage point to see approaching enemies!
It also had a beautifully carved and bejouled palace inside.
Jodpur, on the other hand, is known as the "blue city". The Brahmins, the highest and priestly cast, always painted their houses blue and at some point, more recently, others in Jodphur started to paint their houses blue (some have told us to compete with Jaipur's reputation).
The fort and palace here were our favourites! The carved stone walls are beautiful and so detailed.
There were several rooms that were restored and decorated so you can get a good sense of what it was like back then.
Jodphur was my favourite city. The streets were twisty, winding and, at times, so narrow that an autoricksaw barely fit. Not to mention that I found it the most picturesque.
Jaisalmer; the final frontier! This is the end of the train line in Rajasthan and lies on the edge of the Thar desert. Here the fort is still filled with inhabitants running hotels, restaurants, and shops. It was nice to wander around but it felt a bit like walking through Disney Land; filled with tourists and gifts shops with the same useless stuff I don't ever want or need. The palace was also much smaller than the others we visited and heard that it wasn't really worth the 500rupees/person ($10CAN).
We came here to see the desert. Originally we wanted to go on a camel safari but then read reviews and decided it really wasn't for us (not to mention, it's apparently very uncomfortable and they don't use stirrups). So instead we hired the driver from our hotel to visit a few sites and the Sam dunes.
We had imagined that the Thar desert would be barren, rolling sand dunes as far as the eye can see but it's actually scrub land filled with shrubbery!
After visiting these three cities we were definitely fort-ed and palace-ed out! I'm so glad we came here because this truly was the India I have always pictured.
We also had another wonderful cultural experience - we ended up at a wedding! We were walking down the main road in the old city of Jodphur when we saw a parade of people surrounding a decorated man on a horse. We realized that this was a groom and it was the wedding procession. As we stood to the side to watch, some in the party waved at us and ran over to take photos, next thing you know we're being dragged along with them! The little girls held my hands and wouldn't let go. So we decided to walk through the streets with them figuring we'd be let go in a few minutes - nope, the father of the bride invited us to have lunch and they would not accept 'no'.
Turns out this was the last day of the three day celebration and there were two marriages going on (the brides were sisters). The men and women ate separately, the grooms sat separately from their brides (entirely different floors actually) and the tradition is that the men's faces are covered with flowers so you can't see them at all and the women's faces are covered with their veils. They will then remove these during the official ceremony that would take place that night, when they would see each other for the first time! Arranged marriages here are the norm and traditionally the bride and groom don't meet. It sounds like the more modern people now have chaperoned meetings and both have the option of accepting or refusing the proposal from their families. Also with Internet and cell phones, there are many unchaperoned conversations that go on :) The wedding was definitely an experience and the food was amazing: curried chicken, chapati and sweets.
Now back on the train for an 18hr ride to Delhi...
Hawa Mahal, the Palace of the Winds, was built by one of the Maharajas for the ladies of the royal household so they could live in purdah, which is the religious and social practice of female seclusion. Women (apparently only those of upper class) were not allowed to be seen in public so they would travel by covered palaquin and would live behind these honeycombed windows that allowed them to see out into the city but people on the street could not see in. The Hawa Mahal was a beautifully carved pink sandstone building where every window was covered with this honeycomb stonework.
Next door is an observatory, Jantar Mantar, built in 1728. The site looked like a collection of oddly shaped sculptures but each one had some purpose of measuring a celestial object in the sky!
The Amber fort was our last stop here. It was a 20 minute autoricksaw ride out of the old city where the royal capital was before Jaipur. The fort sat on top of a hill with a great vantage point to see approaching enemies!
It also had a beautifully carved and bejouled palace inside.
The fort and palace here were our favourites! The carved stone walls are beautiful and so detailed.
There were several rooms that were restored and decorated so you can get a good sense of what it was like back then.
Jodphur was my favourite city. The streets were twisty, winding and, at times, so narrow that an autoricksaw barely fit. Not to mention that I found it the most picturesque.
Jaisalmer; the final frontier! This is the end of the train line in Rajasthan and lies on the edge of the Thar desert. Here the fort is still filled with inhabitants running hotels, restaurants, and shops. It was nice to wander around but it felt a bit like walking through Disney Land; filled with tourists and gifts shops with the same useless stuff I don't ever want or need. The palace was also much smaller than the others we visited and heard that it wasn't really worth the 500rupees/person ($10CAN).
We came here to see the desert. Originally we wanted to go on a camel safari but then read reviews and decided it really wasn't for us (not to mention, it's apparently very uncomfortable and they don't use stirrups). So instead we hired the driver from our hotel to visit a few sites and the Sam dunes.
We had imagined that the Thar desert would be barren, rolling sand dunes as far as the eye can see but it's actually scrub land filled with shrubbery!
After visiting these three cities we were definitely fort-ed and palace-ed out! I'm so glad we came here because this truly was the India I have always pictured.
We also had another wonderful cultural experience - we ended up at a wedding! We were walking down the main road in the old city of Jodphur when we saw a parade of people surrounding a decorated man on a horse. We realized that this was a groom and it was the wedding procession. As we stood to the side to watch, some in the party waved at us and ran over to take photos, next thing you know we're being dragged along with them! The little girls held my hands and wouldn't let go. So we decided to walk through the streets with them figuring we'd be let go in a few minutes - nope, the father of the bride invited us to have lunch and they would not accept 'no'.
Turns out this was the last day of the three day celebration and there were two marriages going on (the brides were sisters). The men and women ate separately, the grooms sat separately from their brides (entirely different floors actually) and the tradition is that the men's faces are covered with flowers so you can't see them at all and the women's faces are covered with their veils. They will then remove these during the official ceremony that would take place that night, when they would see each other for the first time! Arranged marriages here are the norm and traditionally the bride and groom don't meet. It sounds like the more modern people now have chaperoned meetings and both have the option of accepting or refusing the proposal from their families. Also with Internet and cell phones, there are many unchaperoned conversations that go on :) The wedding was definitely an experience and the food was amazing: curried chicken, chapati and sweets.
Now back on the train for an 18hr ride to Delhi...
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