Jaipur - the Pink City

JUNE 28, 2017 

Our rate of touristing has slowed, but even then we are filling our days. We started with a visit to the Amber Fort, which looks like it’s made of the same red sandstone as the Red Fort in Agra is...I guess they really like assigning (inaccurate) colors to architecture. Jaipur, for example, is the Pink City, even though the color of most of the older buildings are a light terracotta, rather than a true pink.

Regardless, after the Agra Fort, it is difficult for any fort to measure up. The Amber Fort wins on walls, though. The outer wall is 12 meters high, 1.5 meters across, and 14 kilometers around. From the fort, you can see the wall snake over the surrounding hillsides; it’s like a mini Great Wall. In the early mornings, you can ride elephants up to the palace area, which, if you ignore the cruelty aspect, seems like a pretty grand way to show up to a palace. If elephants weren’t a grand enough entry, in a vestibule overlooking the entry courtyard, a band with drums and brass instruments play to give you a royal welcome.

Like all palaces, the entryway for this palace is pretty darn spectacular.

We got to see the old hammam and steam room. In the room next door a hot fire would boil water, which would be poured into channels in the floor for the steam room, or would run underneath the floor into the bath one room over. There was also ye ol' loo. The fort/palace also sported an area of rooms built for the king’s 12 wives, with the identical sets of rooms surrounded a central courtyard.

Further up the mountain is a fort where the world’s largest cannon is housed. It fires a 110 pound cannon ball, requires 220 pounds of gunpowder to fire, and will send a cannon ball almost 2 miles. It has been fired only once. The sound of the explosion killed the guy who lit the fuse.

After the fort, it was onto some shopping, because that’s clearly an imperative for female tourists. We were first taken to a jewelry shop, where we got to watch people carving precious stones by hand. The owner walked us through the process and passed around samples of each type of stone, including bowls filled with uncut rubies, emeralds, and sapphires (I call it an exercise in trust). It’s also amazing what a good buff will do to a stone; it turns it from a dusty, colored rock to a recognizable gem. If I wandered through the mountains where the mines are, I doubt if I would recognize what’s a precious stone and what’s a regular rock.

We visited a textile shop, as well, where we got to see a demonstration in block printing (where the fabric is stained using wooden or metal stamps). Each color is done with a different block that each has its own pattern. As you can imagine, the process of aligning the stamps to make a single image is meticulous work. Inside, we were served chai (obviously) as they brought out sample after sample of their wares. Each one they would unfold with a flourish, almost throwing the fabric in your face to add to that extra flair. I was sitting in the front row. By the time they finished showcasing what they had to sell, I was cozily wrapped under 20 blankets, tablecloths, and tapestries.

Our shopping complete, a few of us went to walk around the bazaar, i.e. where the locals go shopping. The bazaar is quite large; blocks and blocks and blocks are dedicated to little shop after little stop. Each street selling its own type of wares: clothing, kitchen goods, books. As you might expect, everything was much, much cheaper than the places we’d been taken.

The day ended with a celebratory dinner. I am parting ways with the group -- they are returning east to Delhi for the last day of the trip, and I am heading west, further into Rajasthan to begin adventures on my own...