Week 11 Summary: Rajasthan Part 2
Mon 1st Oct – I dream of Udaipur
Since we managed to cover Jodhpur's major sights within a day, we decided to pull one day ahead of plan and leave for Udaipur. On hindsight, it was a silly idea, because the day journey by bus took quite a while. Instead of travelling by night, we wasted a day travelling, in a very uncomfortable bus.
Tue 2nd Oct – Udaipur
Udaipur is a nice compact town, easily navigable. The main sight in town is Udaipur Palace. I went around the palace, took the audio tour, and did a loop around town. Udaipur is the city of lakes, beautiful and scenic, with water palaces located in the middle of lakes. I spent just a day there though, we move on to Jaipur on the night train.
Udaipur palace. Another grand Rajput home.
Worshipers inside the Jagdish Temple, a temple dedicated to a form of Vishnu, here in Udaipur city.
In the evening though, we watched a Rajasthan puppet show, and saw traditional folk dancing. I bought a miniature painting as a souvenir, as Udaipur is well-known for its miniatures.
A traditional folk dance.
Wed 3rd Oct ! – Jaipur
Jaipur has many sights. The tourist department here is clever and has lumped together entrance fees to the sights under a single combined ticket. You can buy individual tickets to each sight, but getting the combined tickets will be cheaper. It also has the side-effect of diverting tourists to the lesser known sights which otherwise would have not been visited.
The curiously shaped giant astronomical structures of Jantar Mantar.
First up is Jantar Mantar, a collection of giant sundials and other astronomical structures set up by Jai Singh, who was a keen astronomer. The complex seemed like one big huge playground. Next was the City Palace, yet another impressive addition to Rajasthan's collection of forts and palaces. We next popped into Hawa Mahal, which is a home, with fine jail screens, those windows carved in geometrical shapes that allow you to look out but not allow others to look in.
The diwan-i-am in Jaipur City Palace.
Inhabitants of the palace.
The impressive jali screens of the Hawa Mahal, viewed from exterior.
The old city of Jaipur is the Pink City, where the buildings, at least those facing the streets, are painted in a pink façade. The bazaars here, however, are the highlight. The bazaar area covers criss-crossing roads, and each section of the bazaar has a concentration of similar goods for sale. This are would have fine shawls, that area would have electronics, another would have shoes. Anything you could, or would want to buy here in Rajasthan, could be found in Jaipur's markets.
Thu 4th Oct – Amber Fort in Jaipur
11km out of Jaipur is Amber Fort, my destination on this day. It is easily the most impressive of the forts so far, as it was located high up in the hills, surrounded by fortified walls which were visible all along the hills surrounding the fort.
The arches and walls of the amber fort are decorated with frescoes and pietra dura work.
Higher up Amber Fort, which is actually more a palace than a fort, is a smaller actual fort. This one, called Jaigath Fort, has fewer tourists, and the entrance fee is waived for holders of the City Palace ticket (which I visited the day before). The fort though, overlooks the valley below, and afforded some spectacular views.
View of Amber and its surrounds, including the walls of the c! ity.!
Fri 5th Oct – Delhi: Humayun's Tomb
Today we decided to take it slow. We reached Delhi, took a while to unpack, and made our way to Humayun's Tomb. The 2nd Mughal emperor's tomb is the most easily accessible one. The most famous one is obviously the Taj Mahal, where Shah Jahan's wife lies. That will be for tomorrow.
Humayun's tomb entrance.
Of the Mughal emperors who reigned during the height of the Mughal dynasty, Humayun had perhaps the least to boast about. Babur founded the Mughal empire, Akbar got the title "Akbar the Great" for his conquests, Jahangir was a patron of the arts, Shah Jahan constructed the Taj Mahal and Aurangzeb was the staunch (over)champion of Islam. Humayun's claim to fame was getting kicked out of his capital and having made to live for 10 years in the neighbouring court of the Persian king Shah Tamasp. He eventually regained his throne and brought back the Safavid Persian artists with him, which was the catalyst for Mughal art development over the next few centuries.
Sat 6th Oct – Agra In A Day
A day trip to Agra means getting up early to make the train leaving from Delhi's Hazrat Nizamuddin station to Agra Cantonment station. The return train leaves in the evening in the other direction.
Since we only had one day in Agra, it makes sense to go along with the Uttar Pradesh state tour corporations 1 day tour, which includes whistle-stop visits to Fatehpur Sikri, Agra Fort and Taj Mahal. All three deserve more time, so if you do have time, spread the visits to over at least two days. The 1 day tour however, means we have transport from Fatehpur Sikri, which is outside of the cit! y, to the! other two sites. The drawback (at least for us) of taking the tour, is that the rest of the 14 or so tourists were all Indians, so the tour guide would talk about the sights in Hindi, and as an afterthought, mention 1 or 2 sentences in English to us. So, it makes sense to ask if there are other foreigners in the group, because even though our guide started out the tour in English, he finished it in Hindi. The foreigner price for the tour is 1700 Rp.
The advantage of joining a tour is that you get to trail after the guide, and the hordes of touts, "official" guides, trinket sellers and shoe-wallahs will leave you alone. Each time someone tries to approach us for a guide, or shoe-minding fees, or some imaginary additional fee, I would just point out to our guide ahead and insist I need to catch up to him. They leave us alone. Works everytime.
Fatehpur Sikri is again, another Mughal masterpiece of red sandstone buildings. It deserves more than the one and a half hours the tour allowed us. The compounds where the Mughal emperor Akbar's three wives, a Hindu, Muslim and Christian, were interesting, as was the Hindu and Persian and (dubiously mentioned by our guide who pointed at some random cross shaped design citing) Christian influenced architecture. The Dargah mosque was another spectacular mosque perhaps equaling the Jama Masjid we saw a week earlier in Delhi.
The abandoned city of Fatehpur Sikri. It seems many of these Mughal cities had to be abandoned due to water shortage.
Agra Fort was a brief stop, since we stayed too long at Fatehpur Sikri and we needed time for the grand finale the Taj Mahal. So other than more excellent Mughal forts, there was not much to share.
At the entrance gate to Agra Fort.
More pietra dura. This area was where Aurangzeb imprisoned his father Jahangir, and his prison
Taj Mahal on the other hand, was all it was said to be. Grand, overwhelming and a Mughal masterpiece. Think of the red sandstone structures, replace it with white marble and then add a little pomp, what you get is the Taj Mahal. The finials and dome gleaned in the evening sun, making the majestic building stand out even more. The only problem was that we had to share this splendor with a few thousand others. The Taj Mahal was swarming with people. The 750 Rp foreigner entrance fee however, had the advantage of allowing you to bypass the local queue and get to the interior as soon as you reach the mausoleum.
The Taj Mahal.
A silhouetted view of one of the minarets of the Taj Mahal in the evening sun.
Sun 7th Oct – Delhi downtime
A rest day in Delhi for me, after ! a whirlwi! nd tour of Rajasthan and the Golden Triangle. I got a room, slept through the afternoon, and made my way on the evening sleeper train to Amritsar. From Amritsar, I'll head into Pakistan. Now that would be fun.
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