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REVIEW OF THINGS TO DO
from the blog entry Sparkling stones, Ancient Forts and Magnificent Palaces by Sanz Travels
Review of Guided Tour of the sights of Jaipur,
a thing to do in
Jaipur, India
Date of experience: Sep 10 '06 Author: Sanz Travels |
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“Fascinating City” |
Our guide collected us at 8.30..we weren't ready. But we got on the way soon after. I could see he was a patient chap and as they day wore on he needed to be. It was not one of our most together days, although the sights we saw rivalled anything we had seen already.
First stop was the Palace of the Winds - a take your life into your own hands dash across the road to take a picture of the stunning fascade and a dash back - actually you just walk out and everyone goes around you - Marie was having none of this and stayed in the car while I assumed the role of oficial photographer.
Then onto the Amber Fort a short drive out of Jaipur City. Thought "oh well here we go another fort!" However this one was the most amazing so far. The way into the fort was by elephant - Marie opted out and they drove her up the rickety back road - I reckon I got the good deal here. This Elephant ride was a walk in the park compared to the previous one in Udapuir.
the Amber fort was in some parts over 800 years old but the grandeur and magnificence was beyond anything I have ever seen. It was huge and the mirrored mosaics were simply beautiful. Our guide here was the best of the lot. He challenged our imagination and painted a truly wonderful picture of life as is was in the time the fort was in use.
On arriving at the fort the video camera wend flat so that was the end of that. we took plenty of photo's though.
Next stop was back to our hotel to collect the video cable ( I told you this was not our most together day) and then onto the jewellery factory where we spent some time while the video charged up - quite a long stay actually and I obligingly bought what I had come to Jaipur to buy.. An emerald. Saw the gems being cut faceted and polished by hand!!!
By this time Marie was over the tourist thing and we convinced her to come to the City Palace which was incredible - massive solid silver urns for the Maharaja to take his own water on a voyage to England - magnificent tapestries and on the whole another stunning sight to see.
Couldn't persuade Marie to stick it out any more - she had enough of the heat and was not good in crowds, so our ever patient guide took me to the block printing and carpet making factory and while we were there the driver took Marie back to our hotel and then came back for us. I had a go at making my own block print elephant. I knotted a couple of knots on a single knot rug...badly and I'm sure they whipped those out! However this was the most fascinating and hands on factory of the whole trip. A factory here is heaps of people working outside and under shelters. The rug makers can take their work home and bring the completed product back. They singe the backs of the rugs to take the fine fibres off with a blow torch which also is a quality control check - if the workers have used any cheap synthetic yarns the rug will go up in flames!!
After this - seeing as I was on my own and had carte blance to do a little market shopping the guide took me to some market areas and I had a good time - just love haggling. Back to the hotel and room service for dinner as we tried valliantly to pack our luggage into some reasonable state to get it all on the train the next morning. Had a sleepless night worrying about how on earth we would cope at the station but is was not all that bad.
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