Rajasthan Part 1: Jaipur

Entering Jaipur the highway snakes through a rocky ravine.  Cliffs sprinkled with bands of red and gray rock hang over the narrow two lane road.  Cars rush into and out of the city.  Our driver, KP, had his favorite hindi pop song blaring from the radio.  As our small Tata sedan raced into the city there were escarpments everywhere.  It was hard to tell which were hundreds of years old, and which were part of a more current motif.  Like most cities this big- people, donkey carts, camels, motorbikes, rickshaws, buses and elephants littered the streets.  As we sped across town to our hotel our driver KP was pulled over for running a red light.  It was a bit uneventful.  Somehow in a sea of cars crossing the intersection we were singled out by one police officer watching the traffic.  They don't have flashy vehicles or lights and sirens like in the United States.  Instead it was a single traffic cop standing in the center of the intersection with a baton and whistle.  Violently he blew his whistle and pointed to our car, motioning for us to pull through the intersection and off to the side.  I was a bit clueless where we were supposed to pullover as streets have little room for multiple lanes of traffic, much less a lane for parked vehicles.  KP found a spot to squeeze into, grabbed his registration book from the glove box, and hopped out of the vehicle.  I'm not really sure what exactly what was said during the interrogation, but I remember seeing the accused pull out his wallet, hand the cop 100 INR, then return to the car.  Nothing was said and we continued on our way.

Jaipur, also known as the "Pink City" is a favorite amongst tourists coming to Rajasthan.  It was also the first stop on our two week tour of Rajasthan.  Along our drive we quickly left the lush jungles along the Yamuna River valley and entered into hilly arid forests along the eastern edge of the Great Indian (Thar) Desert.

Gretchen in front of the Pink Palace.

We spent two nights and three days in Jaipur.  Just on the edge of the city is the great Amber Fort.  This was one of my top three favorite forts.  It reminded me more of a medieval style castle then what we were used to seeing.  Maybe it was the labyrinth of passage ways, parapets along the roofs perimeter, or the moat like channel circling the fort where I imagined alligators waiting to gobble up enemies invading from Pakistan. 

Walls connected several different small forts and watchtowers along the hills overlooking parts of the city.

Rajasthan is known for its ornate style of decoration on everything.  Heritage hotels are covered in bright vibrant paintings.  Within the inner buildings of the Amber Fort were these gorgeous wall paintings.

Wandering around palace passage ways, with more neat stone lattice letting in the light.

Unlike any other fort we visited, the gardens here were spectacular.

The Maharaja's bedroom had mirrors covering the wall as decoration.  Again my imagination ran wild wondering what this place must have looked like when people lived here.  Vibrant silks hanging from the ceiling.  Velvety sheets and pillows spread atop ornamental rugs on the floor.  Musicians throughout the palace playing classical music on the sitar and tabla. Smells of spice wafting throughout the rooms.  It would have been so rich in color, sound, and activity.

Usual crowd hanging outside the tourist entrance.

More animals wandering the narrow streets outside the Amber Fort.

Neighborhoods tucked into the valleys below the Amber Fort.

After visiting the Amber Fort our driver insisted we take an Elephant ride.  So we wove around Jaipur to the stables.

A 30 minute elephant ride  costs 1300 INR, which is about $30.

Riding an Elephant was actually very comfortable.  We made a couple loops into the suburbs and farmland around Jaipur.

Jaipur has several nice lakes around the hilly city.  Some have floating palaces built in them.

In the city is the Jaipur Palace.  There is still a local king that lives here so parts of the palace are closed for living quarters.  Other parts of the palace are set aside as museum exhibits.

More ornate painting.  This peacock art was on the entryway to the door above.

Within the city palace was an art studio where you can visit people working.  This gentlemen invited me to sit down and gave me a brief lesson on using the loom. I felt like I was making a fancy bathmat for Austin Powers.

Our last stop in Jaipur was to visit a rug factory.  Despite the usual pushyness to purchase a rug, we really enjoyed seeing how they were made.  Gretchen was even invited to tie a couple knots.  It was amazing to see how intricate the patterns get with many strands of color.  The dyes used are all natural, mostly coming from various vegetable oils.  I believe these are somewhat similar to a persian rug.  No, we didn't buy one.

India Road Show Kickoff

After one full day in Delhi we were ready to get out and see the country.  Our driver picked us up early and we headed South.  First passing out of the city into the province of Haryana, then crossing the border into Uttar Pradesh.  Despite spending almost two months in India, I haven't quite figured out what sort of autonomy, rights, and power the states have in line with the federal government.  Fact: India is the largest democracy in the world.  I say this because crossing borders was a big deal.  We were required to stop.  All drivers are required to stop and turn over proper documentation along with paying a small fee.  In some cases it appeared cargo trucks were stopped for hours getting proper registration.  

Just North of Agra we stopped at Sikandra, site of Akbar the Great's mausoleum.  Akbar was one of the great muslim rulers unifying large parts of Northern and Western India in the 16th century.  We would end up visiting a couple sites associated with his rule, this being the first. 

Gretchen stands in front of the great gate, the main entrance into the tomb complex.

Mughal architecture was very symmetrical, and very geometric.  All the tombs, forts, and palaces were laid out in grids or patterns of four.  They would also use multiples of that number in domes or peaks along roofs. 

An interesting wild deer within the outer walls.

Feeding the wildlife.

All four cardinal directions had mosque style shrines like the one above.  The mausoleum lay in the center. The symmetry was beautiful, as you can see in the repeating arches behind me in the photo below.

More repeating arches.

The white marble and red rock were gorgeous color contrasts.  It was hard to believe this shrine was over 400 years old.  I've visited Civil War cemeteries less than 200 years old in much worse condition.

Gutters ran down the middle of most walkways to channel off heavy monsoon rains in the summer. Having these channels or pools of water also served as an air conditioning systems in some places.

Gretchen walking out of the inner tomb.

More amazing stone lattice.  Two men guarding shoes.

The main entrance gate, looking from the inside.

It was really hot here, probably the hottest we had been the first couple weeks.  The temperature was well over 100 degrees with extremely high humidity.

After a hot afternoon walking around Sikandra it was good to reach Agra.  We checked into our hotel, and enjoyed the air conditioning.  Later we went out to see the Taj Mahal.

On our way out of town we stopped by the Agra Fort.  I liked this fort better then the Red Fort in Old Delhi.  The fort here was a little less crowded and allowed more freedom to wander.  Visitors can only see a small portion of this fort as large sections are still in use by India's military.

The major fortifications of this complex were laid upon pre-existing earthworks by Akbar the Great around 1565.  The fort spans a nice hillside overlooking the Yamuna River and the bustling city of Agra.

I was pleased to see this two story library.  Its amazing to think about books and what knowledge they might have had back then.  Akbar was an advocate for books, later we saw more bookshelves at his other palace Fatehpur Sikri.

Similar marble to what was used in the Taj, part of his inner chambers.

Golden ceilings, it must have looked amazing 400 years ago.

The Taj Mahal visible in the distance down the Yamuna River.

After leaving Agra we began our journey into Rajasthan, but just before crossing the border into another state we made a stop at Fatehpur Sikri.  This palace was built upon a small ridge deep in the jungles around 1569.  It would serve as Akbar's capital seat until 1585.  Nestled in the country side it was much quieter then Agra, now, and 400 years ago.

Again, the Mughal style of architecture was everywhere.  Notice the symmetrical domes in the background and repeating arches in the foreground.  The area in the foreground that looks like stables was actually his female servant quarters.  Stone rungs were still carved into the ceiling for hanging silk curtains separating each of these apartments.

Looking out over the countryside right along the border of Uttar Pradesh and Eastern Rajasthan.

Wild monkeys everywhere, a common sight in most of India.

More bookshelves.  This office or study style room was elevated above the main courtyard allowing nice breezes to blow through during hot muggy summer days.

This building was his main reception hall.  Inside intricate stone carvings decorated everything.  The ceiling had a cathedral like feeling, with stone supports covered in repeating designs.

Finally, a watchtower overlooking the scrub land.  Despite being one of the great Mughal emperors, Akbar still had enemies.

The Taj Mahal

Agra, once the capital for all of India under the Mughal dynasty- today it is still a bustling city.  Situated at the apex of the tourist triangle, for obvious reasons it falls upon almost every foreign visitors itinerary.  No trip to India is complete without a visit to the Taj Mahal.  This sacred wonder of the world is more marvelous in person then any picture gives credit to.  We contemplated lots of different options for visiting.  Our driver talked us into an early morning visit, then a late night visit- explaining low angle light illuminates the marble in various shades and hues.  Upon arrival to Agra we hooked up with Kumar, a local guide.  Kumar is a recent college graduate that usually serves as a certified guide for Russian visitors since he speaks their language fluently.  Lucky for us it was the off season in Moscow and we got Kumar all to our self (his English was also excellent).  Excitedly we found out it was the 356th anniversary of the death of Shah Jahan.  Jahan built the Taj as a tomb to enshrine the love of his life that died in 1631.  Devastated by her death after giving birth to their 14th child, the monument was meant to be a reminder of her beauty and his love for her.  

Normally the entry into the Taj complex costs about 750 rupees, or $17.  Since it was free, thousands of domestic tourists flocked to visit and pay tribute to the Mughal kings death.  Several of the entrances had lines in the hundreds wrapped around the outer perimeter walls.  Luckily with the help of our guide and driver we skirted around multiple entrances to find a western gate with no "que".

Drizzly monsoon rains gave the tomb a somewhat lackluster feeling at first.  Quickly the vastness of its size along with an onslaught of thousands around us transformed it to the majestic appearance I expected. Everyone seemed to be moving towards this megalithic like shrine, as if we had all arrived to a party at exactly the same time.  Who knows how many visitors came that day, it had to be in the tens of thousands.  I was reminded in a country of 1.9 billion it's pretty easy to drum up 10,000+ people for almost any festival.  Unlike some places, people didn't stop to take our picture- they were to busy taking pictures of this gorgeous structure.  

We spent about an hour, just approaching the monument from several directions, taking in the magnificent enormity of the structure.  It had very much the same palatial feeling a lot of marble complexes in India had, but this was just a little different.  Situated above the banks of the Yamuna River with gorgeous gardens on all three sides.  As we walked closer and closer the Taj revealed her real artistry.  Etched in stone everywhere were intricate designs.  Set into the etchings were stones of various color from around Asia.  Against the marble it was spectacular.

The quintessential tourist picture.

Our guide Kumar.

After moving from the red stone patio up onto the same level as the marble photographs were no longer allowed.  You can see the line wrapped around the edge of the upper marble patio.  Here we waited in line only about 30 minutes.  Due to the importance of this holiday extra security was brought in.  Indian Army armed guards moved throughout the crowd carrying machine guns.  Kumar, wanting to provide the best experience possible for his guests continuously tempted fate asking guards permission to cut in line.  Being patient Alaskans we just went with the flow, periodically Kumar would come back, grab us, and push into a better position in line.  I felt a little awkward, but didn't speak the language. So we just sort of played the stupid tourist routine, smiling at all the people we were cutting in front of as Kumar translated some novel story in Hindi.

Waiting in line provided a much better opportunity to gaze upon the amazing marble work.  The Taj Mahal took 20,000 workers 21 years to complete.  Shortly after completion Shah Jahan found his reign overthrown as his son seized control, partially in protest of the debt caused from construction of such a monument.  Along with loosing power was the hopes of building an identical Taj for himself.  Jahan wanted to begin construction of another Taj Mahal directly across the river, but in all black stone.  A black Taj, can you imagine that?

As we got closer and closer to the entrance you could feel the energy building in the crowd.  Quickly we removed our shoes at the entrance as dozens in front of and behind us flowed into the small opening.  It felt like being shot through a narrow slot in a wave of motion.  Kumar grabbed us from the current of hot sweaty people, pulling us off the side.  I got my first chance to look around.  Light was entering the first room through the marble lattice work above the small doorway we entered from.  Most people were pushing down a set of stairs, going to the crypt below.  Our guide explained that area is rarely open, saying "just bodies, lets go look at the center room instead".  In the core of the Taj Mahal light entered on all sides from two levels of marble carved lattice work.  Two coffin shaped slabs of marble lay in the middle of the room,  directly above the lower tombs of this mahal's permanent residents.  Using a flashlight Kumar showed us the impressive intricacies and translucent nature of the stones used in the etchings.  Deep blues and purples laid along side bright fire reds, and gorgeous greens.  After about 10 minutes roaming this chamber we exited out a side door.  

A breath of fresh air and one more chance to gaze at the enormous monument.  This is India.

The Taj Mahal, as seen North-West from the Agra Fort.  This photo was taken from the prison suite where Jahan spent the last years of his life.