Great Wall of Jaipur - The India version

Day 6 (30 December 2004). Serious… am not kidding you!

Due to ignorant and lack of googling "expertise" during those "wonder" days, we did not (duh of us!!!) allocate lot more days in Jaipur which happens to have more to offer, so you guys out there, please spend few days (4 days at MINIMUM) in Jaipur - trust me! NO REGRETS unless ofcos you hate architectural buildings or historical stuff lar. I rugi liao lor... And because of this ignorant brain of mind, I have a darn pack itinerary on day 6 BUT I won’t complain as it was KEWL & FABTABULOUS DAY!!!! How I longed to visit Jaipur again! Now with Air Asia, I can and cheap cheap too! Hehehehee… Sounds like AA ads huh.

Our first stop is Jaipur’s very own Jantar Mantar and their’s is in yellow unlike the one in Delhi. I got to know that Jaipur’s observatory is the largest between this two. The observatory consists of fourteen major geometric devices for measuring time, predicting eclipses, tracking stars' location as the earth orbits around the sun, ascertaining the declinations of planets, and determining the celestial altitudes and related ephemerides. Each is a fixed and 'focused' tool. [from Wikipedia]. And MUI took a pic at the sundial… (wow! Normally I get to see the smaller version, to think I actually set on one… WOW!).

Am in AWE!!! Seen this is TV programs before but to think I finally am here… breathtaking! It’s THE HAWA MAHAL or also known as "Palace of Winds". Built in 1799 by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh in the form of the crown of Krishna, the Hindu god. This unique five-story exterior looks like a honeycomb of the beehive contains 953 small windows called jharokhas are decorated with intricate lattice work (Out of ignorant, I googled “lattice“ => A structure, such as a window, screen, or trellis, made of or containing such a framework). Apparently the intention was to allow royal ladies to observe everyday life in the street below without being seen, since they had to observe strict "purdah" (Muslim face cover).

The best part is that I always thought it was a building BUT when I “peep” behind, it is only that one layer window. In fact, if you look hard enough, you can see the other side or the sky/window piercing through the front window. Hence to see, it is a “structure” !??! (Still in doubt though, hemm….).

Our 3rd stop - Jaipur City Palace. Sounded big? Well, it is. We eve waited for the Maharaja to walk around which the guide said occasionally he does walk around. I felt like in one of Indiana Jones movie…
:P

There are 2 main places to see :

1) Mubarak Mahal - meaning the ‘Auspicious Palace’, was built with a fusion of the Islamic, Rajput and European architectural styles. Inside is a museum; a variety of textiles & royal formal costumes can be seen here.

2) Chandra Mahal - Currently is the residence of the descendants of the former rulers of Jaipur (Remember me mentioning waiting for the Maharaja, ahhhh… Didn‘t manage to see him though). It’s not THAT BAD, as the ground floor is allowed for visitors where a museum (YUP! Another museum) is located that displays carpets, manuscripts and other items that belonged to the royal family.
My favourite - Pritam Chowk / Green Gate, also called the Leheriya (meaning: “waves”) gate, in MY absolute FAVOURITE COLOUR green colour suggestive of spring…PWEEEETY.

NOPE! It’s not the end of the day as yet, for we head to the 4th and LAST stopover (Tiring, believe me!). And luckily we did Amber Fort as the last stop especially since the “FORT” is SUPER DUPER HUGE!!!!

It consists of 2 forts, Amber Fort at the bottom and Jaigarh Fort on top overlooking Jaipur. The greatest of the maharaja empire.

I half felt as if I was at Great of China; not that I have ever been there before lar… REALLY! Look at the “wall”, the GREAT WALL of JAIPUR it should be named. Can you see the wall over the yonder? It’s small but still visible… amazing. And the square thingy at the bottom is the play area (garden lar) for the maharaja family - lucky them!
The sad thing is that it has been abandon despite that is it turned to a tourist site, you can feel the ancient abandonment feeling creepy down your neck (at certain small pathways) - mysterious & thrilling.

Oh yah! As it is a tough climb, you can actually take the elephant or camel ride up, looks fun but I decided to be macho honcho and climb up lar - aside from the fact the elephant smells awful :P No hard feeling yah Mr. Elephant! Hahahahhaha… I do need to give them due credits though, thus Mr. Elephant Sir & Mdm. Camel, say “CHEESE”!!!!!

One thing one need to take note is of its carving in Sheesh Mahal, hall of mirrors whose beauty beyond words. It is also considered as one among the best architectural of Jaipur. Sheesh Mahal (Hall of Mirrors) received Global recognition thus; y’all globetrotter - GO! GO! GO!
As I thought that’s all we were covering in Jaipur, we saw from afar a palace built in (on?!??!) water. Apa lagi….. We screamed - STOOOOOP!!!! And asked the driver (min English remember) what is the name; he said Jal Mahal, we can’t swim/boat over, hence we took a pic lar…. Jadi lar, better then nothing kan.

Anyway, this Jal Mahal ie water palace is located in the middle of the Man Sagar Lake. And I remembered, dreaming I’m a princess living in the water palace and only visit the town by boat during festive season. Ofcos, there must be a prince to rescue me from my evil step mother lar… else what’s the point of dreaming kan? Kan? Kan?

OK! OK! Abit tired by now, but we pulled all our mighty strength to get some souvenirs from the city, I bought 4 beaded sandals, hemmm… happy! But just about then, we caught this little malnutrition boy selling balloons. HONESTLY, am not sure how to react, the scene stuck in my mind till now. I manage to take a pic to show my siblings how lucky we are. Till now, I will remember to count my blessing (or reminded me-self hard!) and be grateful of what god has given.

As the moon appears we make our last pic stop at Albert Hall, NO! Not the one in London! I found out (via google) that it house a zoo, a greenhouse, an aviary, a museum and a sports ground. Rugi tak masuk man!


2D1N in Jaipur is definitely NOT ENOUGH!

Hyperlink credits : Indiasite, Wikipedia