13th February: Evening in Jaipur

We arrived at our hotel in Jaipur at around 2pm, after a bumpy but enjoyable ride from Ranthambore. The Umaid Bhavan is a beautiful old haveli (a type of Indian mansion), colourfully painted and finely decorated.  We just about had time to check in to our room and drop off our bags (getting slightly lost on the way back through the maze-like corridors) before our Jaipur-based guide arrived and we set off to explore the Pink City (so-called because the houses in the old city were all painted pink).  The mid-afternoon traffic was heavy, but after passing through the brightly painted old gates of the city we arrived at our first stop, the Jantar Mantar  (which means "Instrument with Formula").

Passing by colourful roadside scenes on the way from Ranthambore to Jaipur

At times the road gave way to a sandy track

Playing cards by the side of the road

The massive gates to the city

This is why Jaipur is called the Pink City

The entrance to Umaid Bhavan

We were dropped off outside a walled complex, inside of which was a remarkable collection of strangely-shaped constructions.  This observatory was begun in 1728 by Maharajah Jai Singh, an enthusiastic amateur astronomer.  The first instrument we saw was a huge inverted arch, with a tall stone stairway rising up to the sun through the centre of the arch.  Our guide showed us how the staircase cast its shadow on the inverted arch, which indicated the time of day.  On one side of the arch the morning hours were marked out, on the other side the afternoon hours.  The sun dial apparently had a margin of error of only 20 seconds.  This degree of accuracy did not satisfy the Maharajah, so he ordered the construction of another version, even more immense, which we could see towering over the rest of the complex.  We were shown around several other instruments, but the brief explanations of their workings left their mysteries mostly intact.

The smaller sun dial

What's the time, Mr. Wolf?

A particularly incomprehensible instrument

There was one of these contraptions for each sign of the zodiac

The world's largest sun dial

Sadly our guide was not quite as cool as this guy

After an hour or so inside the Jantar Mantar, it was time to head to the City Palace.  Part of the palace is still inhabited by the Maharaja of Jaipur, but the majority has been turned into a splendid museum.  We left my parents with the guide and set off to explore by ourselves, wandering at leisure from courtyard to courtyard, room to room.  The magnificent palace was suffused with princely wealth, as these photos show.  Unfortunately no photos were allowed in the most exquisite area of all, the throne room.

Inside the first courtyard

Clem posing with the guards at the entrance to the main square

One marble elephant and a daringly colour-coordinated couple

Inside the palace's main square

The residence of the Maharaja towered over the rest of the palace

One of the courtyards featured four beautifully decorated gateways

The only way to travel

Hall of Audience in the main square; pink, of course

Only a second after I took this picture one of the snakes tried to wriggle away

By the time we had finished in the palace it was around 5.30pm, and we were picked up from outside the gate by car.  We drove through the city for around ten minutes to the edge of a lake, at the centre of which was the beautiful Jai Mahal (Water Palace).  We stopped off to enjoy the reflection of the setting sun on the water and the golden walls of the palace.

Jai Mahal

Posing by the lake shore

Back at the hotel it was time for dinner at their rooftop restaurant.  This had a beautiful setting, but the prospect of a quiet and relaxing dinner was quickly banished by the appearance of several musicians and a female dancer.  I was initially skeptical, but the music was fun and the dancing impressive (especially when the dancer started piling multi-tiered pots on top of her head).  A tasty dinner was accompanied by a very drinkable Indian cabernet sauvignon, helping us to sleep well.

Dinner time entertainment

Steady