I woke up about 7.00 am. There was no electricity following the storm so I washed and dressed and went for a walk around the Fort. Breakfast was served on the tower terrace. I sat and watched the village start the day below me. Tractors off to the fields playing loud music from their on board music systems. Kids on roofs tops flying kites (this was a regular sight where ever we went). Women sweeping out their houses and yards.
There was a poorer shack on the edge of the village and the people there could be seen coming out to go to the toilet in the bushes at the back of their dwellings.
On the right is a picture of a
traditional village home.The richer families had larger newer houses with terraces with concrete, fretwork fences on them. Some were painted in bright colours but the paintwork of many houses had clearly suffered from the weather. Many walls looked black. Heavy monsoon rain and winter cold, followed by the intense heat and drought of summer must soon destroy the masonry paint.
We set out on our tour of the village. By now I had teamed up with the two English girls in the group and, Jo and Sarah from Manchester we strolled along looking at the houses and the day to day activities of the villagers. We took photos and this soon led to quite a crowd of children following us.
They wanted their photo taken and we were told by Yaddu to send them to Intrepid who would forward them the the villagers, many of whom did not have photos of themselves. I felt a bit uncomfortable at the voyeurism on my part but at the same time was fascinated by the sights. I came to realise that the villagers were as curious about us as we were about them.We visited craft shops in particular bangle sellers. The bangles are made from a local wood which is heated over a small charcoal stove and then covered with colourful wrapping and decorated with shiny beads. We all bought some and the one bangle was made bigger for me by heating it again over the charcoal and then forcing it down over a piece of round wood which got wider towards the bottom. Perfect!
I had taken pens and pencils to give out to the children but soon realised that this would not be possible without being mobbed, so I agreed to give them to Yaddu who would bring them back to the school, where they could be passed out in a more orderly fashion.
We ended up at the chai stall. This is where people, mostly men sit for a cup of the sweet, milky cardamom flavoured tea which so popular all over India.
I tried some and although I don't normally drink tea with milk and sugar I found it was quite nice.After that we were back on the bus to make our way to Jaipur. There were no more road blocks and we soon reached Jaipur and headed for the Amber Fort. This is most impressive and like the other Mughal Forts is set on a hill top but it is surrounded by a huge curtain wall which looks a bit like the Great Wall of China as it snakes across the surrounding hills.
Once inside it had many features similar to the other forts except for looking amber coloured instead of red but the feature which will always stay in my mind is the Mirrored Hall. These have either been looted or are closed for restoration in the other forts. The walls, floor to ceiling are embedded with small pieces of mirror which when lamps were lit would have reflected light in a magical way. (My camera battery went flat hence the link for photos.) Our stroll around this palace in the bright sunlight was a real pleasure. Each of the the Mughal Palaces is a little oasis of calm from the bustling street outside. We spent a lot of time trying to imagine the splendours of the Mughal court and Yaddu has recommended a film which recreates this well, called Jodhaa Akhbar.After a couple of hours there we set off up the hill in our bus to go to a restaurant for lunch. We then had a slight crisis with our trusty bus conked out partway up the hill. There was aloud bang and the smell of burning rubber. This caused a tailback of traffic leaving the fort and there was a lot of horn tooting. Our driver hopped out and tinkered with the engine for a few minutes and then got it started. Apparently it was the fan belt playing up. We then went to a restaurant in Jaipur called Durgha where we had another delicious meal. I had another chicken dish but the hit of the meal was the chicken cooked in a spinach marinade which Grit, a fellow tourer from Germany, had. She gave us a taste and it was fab.
We then checked into our hotel, another heritage stay called the Bissau Palace.
I was really magnificent and I had a great room which turned out to be very quiet. The walls of this hotel and the at the hotel in the village were hand painted. Really stunning. There were lovely gardens at the front and again it was very calm after the noisy street outside.We then went for our first auto-rickshaw ride to the centre of town for an orientation walk with Yaddu. He showed us the Central Palace area and then took us to the Palace of the Winds which looked lovely as night had fallen and it was flood lit. Then Yaddu accompanied some of us to the MacDonalds on M I Road which is the main shopping area in Jaipur. We got more cash, visited MacDonalds for refreshments and then went shopping in Mall 21. This was easy for Jo, Sarah and me as it was fixed price and no pressure. We could try new tops on and then we got auto-rickshaw back the Hotel. Jo was feeling a bit tired and unwell and went for an early night so Sarah and I passed a pleasant evening drinking Kingfisher and eating chips which turned out not to be good - rather soggy. However after the large, rich late lunch they did the deed and filled my stomach before bed.
