Last week during one of our discussion segments in the women’s empowerment class, we ventured onto the topic of how they take care of themselves. We all know that women are the ones running the household and responsible for a lot in this culture, so we asked them how they take care of themselves. Many really didn’t understand the question… and us giving examples of “going to the spa” or “reading books” was kind of foreign to them. On a follow up question along the lines of what do you like to do when you don’t have to take care of children or the house, some women said sleep and learn more English. Another said “gossip.” A follow up question was if they travelled, where would they like to go? Many of them said holy places in the south of India and surprisingly, a few said the Amber Fort, right here in Jaipur.

It was built in 1592 by Maharaja Man Singh, the military commander, as a military stronghold in the middle of the mountain, which includes a palace.

My roommate Stanny and I actually had gone already on the first weekend we were here. I instantly fell in love with the views and the grounds, and I didn’t even complain about walking up all those stairs. We could’ve ridden an elephant up, or taken a jeep up, but we were troopers and walked the 200 or so steps up. Unfortunately, I had brought my zoom lens with me thinking I would try it out, but it completely failed me! I tested it the night before, and it was working well. When we got to the fort, however, it refused to work! So, I was taking photos from my phone, and they did not capture the beauty at all. I think I like it more than the Taj Mahal, only because of the landscape views, and there was more to see than just literally the mausoleum. I told Stanny I would come back just to take photos. Luckily for me, I had a good reason to!

Heather and Stanny thought it would be a great idea to take the women on a field trip to the Amber Fort. Julia from the daycare came as well, and a new volunteer, Carlo, went with us. All together, there were about 12 of us, including some of the women’s children. We treated the women to the trip, which we split five ways. (Did I mention that there are foreign prices and local prices for entrance fees? It cost 1,000 rupees for us five volunteers to get in and 150 rupees for the seven other locals.) The women were super excited to be there, and I think enjoyed their time.

Here are some photos!

We were waiting for another tuk tuk to come so I got in and asked for a picture.

One of the women student’s (Manju’s) son.

The Amber Fort. View from the street.

Amber Fort, view from the street.

All the birds…. ahhh! People were feeding the fish under this bridge.

Heading into the fort.

On the way up to the fort, there is a garden area.

Old elephant stables

Gorgeous view.

And the trek begins. I estimated about 200 steps up!

Random ….

Half way up!

You can take an elephant up, but that’s for wusses.

Heather and Archana pose in front of the elephants.

Old ruins

Vimla! She was super excited to come to the fort.

Love this view.

The fort!

Random men on the balcony.

The main gate to get into the courtyard.

Inside the fort

View at the top of the fort.

The Royal Palace entrance

Elephant details

View of the courtyard

Love this view

One of the students, Neela.

Group shot!

Love the architecture back in the day

Manju and her son

Love this architecture

The garden in the middle of the river!

Cute window

Archana’s son sitting in the Turkish bath

Cute window

Love this shot

Hall of mirrors (not as nice as Versailles, but still very cool!)

Group shot in the hall of mirrors!

In laid stone

Love the oldness

The pink rooms for the king’s harem… yup…

Neela peeking out through the balcony

Vimla and Neela’s daughter.

What’s so funny?

Love the oldness

Hi

Hey

Hello there!

More oldness

People thought I was weird for choosing this backdrop to take a picture. I just love massive old walls.

Details of the pink rooms

Vimla and Gora

Another courtyard for the Queen and her servants

Julia taking a break

Garden in the Queen’s and servants’ quarters

Cute archway

Beautiful detail

Group shot in front of the palace

On the way out

Taking a break

Entrance to the super fancy restaurant at the top of the fort

Inside the fort restaurant

Inside the fort restaurant. Vimla was so excited to see it she called me over to take a look. I missed this the first time!

City view from the back of the fort

City view from the back of the fort

Me, overlooking the view

Heather

On the way out

Old entry way for horses?

City view. Apparently this area of town is very nice. It costs 300,000 rupees for a three bedroom house.

View on the way down

View on the way down

Across the street from the fort.

Garden at the bottom of the forth

Closer up

We took a break under a tree in the garden

Archana chasing her son

The jeeps all lined up to take the wusses up to the fort!

Archana and her son

City view

Yup, that’s a camel!

The women stopped for some treats on our way back.

Jaipur sewer system where people also throw their trash…

Old building

I saw this and took a picture because there are tiny windows with shutters. It’s a temple of some sort.

City view… I have no idea where those steps lead to.

City view

Carlo and Manju’s son

Archana in the tuk tuk

View of the Water Palace from the tuk tuk on our way home from the fort. It looks like’s it’s floating in the middle of the river.

Drive by Water Palace shot

Me at the entrance to the royal palace. This is from Stanny’s camera, the first time we went.

–Bea