Jumpin' Jaipur

The PR color coding of Rajasthan cities continues... I am now in the Pink City of Jaipur. The old section of town is indeed made of pink sandstone. And, like the other cities in Rajasthan, there is a great palace complex and a fabulous fort to see here. The Pink City Palace complex is well preserved and the royal family still lives there. In addition to the great royal clothing and textiles museum, my favorite part was the Hall of Private Audience, which is a very public pavilion full of columns in the center of the complex. On display were two massive silver jars, the largest in the world according to Guinness BR, which a Maharaja used to take Ganges River water with him to England. He didn't trust the English water. How ironic!

The most beautiful fort/palace is just north of Jaipur in Amber. The Amber Fort, constructed in the late 1500's, sits on a lake and has a picturesque view of the old wall protecting the Maharaja's palace. I even watched the elephants taking a bath in the lake! The palace is amazing with 12 apartments for the queens (they weren't allowed to enter each others apt) and a secret passage to each from the Maharaja's chambers.

The historical sites are wonderful in Jaipur, but travelers come here to shop. This city is one huge bazaar. I did a little shopping for my parents, but I quickly lost the will to fight the madness. If possible, Jaipur is even more chaotic than Delhi. It's hard to describe the scene, but I'll try. Take Manhattan traffic when the President is in town, add large trees and makeshift temples randomly to the lanes, replace every fourth car with a cow, mix in camels pulling bulging carts and elephants piled high with goods, turn taxi's into bike and auto-rickshaws, give every pedestrian a motorbike, take away all traffic signals, pavement, and policemen, and add the phrase "horn please" to every bumper.

I was thrilled to board my first train in India bound for Agra. I had a plush sleeping compartment with a/c and nice people. I was much more comfortable on the 6 hour journey than the hundreds of people piled on the roof of the train! The rules are very, very different in India.