The rest of the volunteers in the house went away for the weekend, so it was just Stanny and I. We ventured into the Pink City (Old Jaipur), to see Jantar Mantar (the observatory, built in 1728) and the City Palace. Both were very beautiful! Tomorrow I think we’re going to Amber Fort and some more shopping in the bazaars and markets.
Here’s a video inside the City Palace of puppet masters:
Here are some photos:
The entrance to Jantar Mantar, the observatory where they could tell time and locate constellations and planets!
Jantar Mantar
Jantar Mantar
Jantar Mantar
Jantar Mantar
Jantar Mantar
View of instruments that could find planets
Jantar Mantar
Jantar Mantar
Jantar Mantar
Jantar Mantar
Jantar Mantar
This was a cool hemispheric instrument which could find where the stars are
Restored and tested in 1901
Jantar Mantar
Jantar Mantar
Hemispherical instrument that could find planets. There were two of them, side by side
The planets!
Me at Libra
Go Libra Go!
Jantar Mantar
I think the sign said this was built 90 metres high in order to see some of the constellations.
Jantar Mantar
Jantar Mantar
Carving
Jantar Mantar
The view
I really liked this tree
Nice view of Amber Fort in the background
Instruments to find planets
I started walking up these stairs and the security guard blew his whistle from very far away, waving his hand for me to get down.
This is on the inside of the instrument I tried to climb.
I thought it was funny that they sold Maggi Noodles at the cafe. 😛
Entrance to the City Palace
Outside the City Palace
Good ol’ traffic… two cars trying to pass each other in the very narrow gate.
Tuk Tuk row
Inside City Palace
City Palace gate
Puppet makers/masters
City palace courtyard
This is the largest silver object in the world, according the Guinness Book of World Records. It was made from silver coins! There are two of them.
Traditional Rajasthanni man (he works at the City Palace)
Me in the courtyard. Everything is pink!!
Door knocker
Strangely, a Buddhist carving inside the City Palace
Going into the welcome palace, where the royal family would greet people or have parties. We couldn’t take pictures inside. It was beautiful though!
Heading into the Pitam Niwas Chowk, an inner courtyard with four doors that represent the seasons. This is the Peacock Gate, representing autumn.
This is the green gate representing spring.
Me at the lotus gate, representing summer.
Carving on the lotus gate.
Lotus gate
City palace
Inner courtyard
Rose gate, representing Winter.
Carving at the lotus gate.
Paintings on the side of the Green Gate
Cute tiny window in the courtyard
At the peacock gate
Tower
Entrance of Rajendra Pol, another outdoor square in the palace
Me in front of the textile museum, showing different traditional garments throughout history
Stanny and I joked that this is the “Bea” bench, because there was a “Diana” bench at the Taj Mahal where Princess Diana took a photo which tourists try to reenact. I didn’t get to sit in it because there were too many people. So this is the “Bea” bench. 🙂
Pretty tree with flowers near the Bea bench
Outside the textile museum
Outside the textile musem
Marble carving
Pink outside wall
In the main courtyard
The carriage museum! We saw a variety of royal carriages throughout history.
Some of the royal carriages
We had lunch at the City Palace Cafe… very pretty and yummy!
My lunch! A cold coffee (made with ice cream), a sweet corn based soup and a lamb curry!
Monkeys joining us for lunch in the cafe.
The Pink City’s markets
The Pink City’s markets
The Pink City’s markets
I saw a car coming up to this place that had “Press” written on it. I think this is the city hall.
Stanny in a pashmina shop! She bought an Indian outfit for her grandson.
The Hawa Mahal — gigantic five story building that is one room deep, built in 1799 “to enable ladies of the royal household to watch the life and processions of the city” unseen.
Trying to get across the street from Hawa Mahal.
View of Hawa Mahal from across the street
–Bea
Bea Vongdouangchanh 