Jaipur, the pink city

 I’ve always wanted to see the Jantar Mantar in Jaipur, astronomical instruments to view celestial events.  But I didn’t realize the palaces here were so beautiful and extensive.  The fort above is perched on a hill with a fortress wall that surrounds it a little like a “Great wall of China”.  The city of Jaipur is called the “Pink City” because most of it was painted pink by à mataraja of the late 19th cen.

 To get here we had to suffer the Indian highways which are calculated chaos.  Holy cows directing traffic , tuc tucs at every angle, a mess.  The lines on the road don’t mean anything the horn rules.  They don’t use their rear view mirrors because they are so busy looking at what’s happening in front of them so they all have signs on the back “blow horn” so they know you are in back of them.

It seems the cows get high on the exhaust of cars that’s why they hang out near highways.

We stopped along the way at a baoli or step well. I met these three women on the left and they wanted to take pictures with me. Anyone with white skin or hair is a novelty and some have never seen a whitey in the flesh.  I saw some whiteys dressed funky and hamming it up as if they were Lady Gaga. It’s a real meal booster to have people clambering for your photo, unless you are Julia..

These wells, there are many in India supply water to the community. It is filled by rain and ground water and usually has a temple near it.  Looks like an Escher drawing.

This is one of the large instruments at the observatory Jantar Mantar.  Astrology is a moving force for the Indians.  This is to calculate the time and the astrological time of year by signs. We are in Aries now.

You can see our shadows and the line it makes.

This is the Amber Palace.  The actual Mataraja has no political power but is super rich and he is only 25 years old.  

This is Rajadthan where we are,we have come from Uttar Pradesh.  It’s is hilly here and there is not as much agriculture. This used to be a capital but was changed because there was not enough to feed the masses.

This is a peacock gate.

This huge silver pot was made by one of the matarajas to fill it with Ganges water and to ship to London so he could have the sacred water to drink while there.

Palace of the Winds is a sort of facade that women used to observe the street from behind screens.

This is the kind of organic growth of the houses.  

Many brides will come for a photo shoot here at the Palace.

A beautiful doorway in the Palace.Red sand stone and marble.

This is where Jai Singh had his hall of mirrors. Jai Singh II was under Shah Jahan and AurangzebThe mirrors came from Belgium, Dutch connection?

There was the festival of Durga. It lasts 9 days and they offer alcohol and fruits to the goddess.

It created some massive traffic jams as the elephants were on parade. Below is the rush to the temple and a snake charmer.  The poor snake must get tired, no threat here, he is defanged.

We also met a magician on one of our stops who did a 2 min. performance .  This is the place of origin of the gypsies.

This is the garden on the lake that is geometric in design. Almost looks like Versailles