The Sun Never Sets on the British Empire

Part 14 – February 18, 2015.   Two days in Jaipur are like ten days in a Mixmaster.

Elephants, monkeys, camels, cows, goats, dogs, cars, busses, trucks, motor rickshaws (three-wheeled tuk-tuks), bicycle rickshaws, bicycles, motorcycles, pedestrians, hand pulled carts, vendor carts, vendor stands, and Sandy and I all share the same roads at the same time with no apparent control or order.  It seems that the din of horns may be the only thing between everything and certain death.  And the volume of the horn is not proportional to the size of its vehicle.  In fact, in many cases the smallest motor rickshaws have the loudest horns and they seem to use them the most.  By the way, Jaipur is nicknamed ”The Pink City.”

Each morning after a great Indian breakfast we walk down our residential side street just a bit to where it intersects with Queens Road to flag down a motor rickshaw. Queens Road is a divided thoroughfare with two lanes in each direction.  That means there are at least four vehicles abreast in each direction at all times.  I negotiate a bit with the rickshaw driver over the rate for where we want to go.  He invariably starts at 200 or 250 rupees to get to the center of the walled city and I invariably start at 100.  We always settle on 150 and everybody is happy.  Our trip today to the Amber Fort which is an hour away by tuk-tuk, well beyond the north wall of the city, started with him and me at 500 and 200 rupees, respectively.  We both knew we were not going to get what we asked.  As you might guess, we settled on 350 rupees with smiles.

The Amber (or Amer) Fort sits on top of a hill just north of the city of Jaipur.  Other forts sit atop other hills in the area.  It is astounding!  We expected Sir Lancelot and Lawrence of Arabia to come charging out on horseback at any time but they are both dead and this is the wrong country for them.  This fort ranks up there with the Taj Mahal and the Baby Taj in the “must see” list of the sights we have so far beheld.  Its history is varied and storied, but let it suffice for me to say that it was built as a palace with a fort surrounding it and it’s old and you can ride to it on an elephant if you wish.

Yesterday we saw the Hawa Mahal in the middle of the walled city of Jaipur.  Dwight and Maureen, have you ever seen so many windows in your whole life?

Hawa Mahal means Palace of the Winds.  It was built as a residence for the wives and courtesans of the Maharajahs and their ladies in waiting.  The ladies were not allowed out on the streets of the city but could sit and look through the many tiny windows.  They stayed cool behind the ornate lattice work which let in the breeze but kept out the blistering sunlight.

We also visited the City Palace.  It was big and grand but not too interesting.

And finally today, we went to a rug, textile, and fabric factory where Sandy added her touch to a rug that will probably be purchased someday by some poor unsuspecting tourist. We also sat for the sales pitch for handmade rugs but resisted buying any, although the quality seemed fine and the prices seemed fair.      

Terry and Sandy