Having arrived in the middle of the night (once again) we recovered in the morning. By late morning we were starving so headed out to grab some food, after which we went exploring in the old town – the Pink City. We soon found out why it was called that:
 |
| One of the main streets in Jaipur Old Town |
Guided by the guide book, we followed a walking tour of Jairpur old town that included a walk through the motorbike repair district, the marble carving district and the tailoring district (where I had a shirt made). A vibrant little city, with shops that were literally crammed to bursting with spices, saris, oil and even this shop selling chains:
 |
| The shop that specialised in chains! |
We then came across the observatory, not far from the royal palace. The observatory at first glance looks a like an art installation you might find at the Tate Modern; lots of individual sculptures that have a certain elegance and grace. Closer inspection reveals the graduated faces and intentional shadows that are cast across them all. The biggest of them all is a sun dial that is accurate to 2 seconds – quite an achievement
 |
| The biggest sundial know to man? |
 |
| The Hawa Mahal - the ultimate people watching spot |
On the face of the Hawa Hahal you will notice a significant amount of lattice work. This building was built so that the women of the palace could watch the goings on of the ordinary people on the street below but not be seen themselves.
By this time it was getting late and the sun had set, so we started wandering back towards the hotel, stupidly deciding to go by a different route to the way we came. By 8 o’clock we accepted defeat, knowing that we were close we caught a rickshaw. We were literally 10 mins walk away! Knackered we fell asleep and didn’t wake up ‘til 10pm. No real chance of getting food by now so skipped dinner and started to dream of breakfast instead!
No comments:
Post a Comment