The other J city.......Jaipur

Saturday 29th September: Royal Heritage Haveli Hotel, Jaipur

We had a quiet start to the day: some 7 minute massages as a `taster' for the massages available, a dip in the very lovely cool pool and a leisurely breakfast for all.  Everyone thought their rooms were delightful and each room had a different feature colour. The hotel is a 350 year old royal hunting lodge and most of the buildings are original (although the pool was probably a later addition!).

We headed through the old city admiring the bus driver's skill in avoiding the noisy traffic. Lots of painting and tidying was happening in preparation for a major festival. A couple of camels were spotted, one of which was attached to a cart laden with building rubble: a sad sight.

We also passed the Palace of the Winds which is not actually a palace but a facade of many hidden windows. It allowed the women of the Palace to come and watch parades without being seen. It is on an 85% angle and the windows are latticed so the observers can't be seen by the masses. 

Clutching our credit cards, we arrived at Handcrafts Haveli and emerged a few hours later with them burning hot. Resolutions to resist temptation soon disappeared!

The first section was the carpet weaving: wool, silk, yak wool, camel wool and kashmir (cashmere) were used. The detailed  patterns and the multi-staged process, including hand-knotting, meant they were truly high quality works of art. We then experienced the usual `hard-sell`but it was a chance to feast our eyes on beautiful traditional and modern designs in a huge range of colours and  combinations. There was even a demonstration on how we could fold the carpet to fit in our suitcases!

Silk requires 850 knots to the square
inch so it takes several years to hand knot a rug

An 8' by 10' silk rug takes two people a year to make, and costs about $3000AUD.
 Seems very cheap for the amount of labour.

Next stop was the first floor and textiles. Everything was on offer from clothes to be tailored,  pristine white tablecloths, soft Kashmir shawls and throws, multi coloured cushion covers and doonas, patterned fabrics.....and so much more. With the promise from their tailors that we would be able to receive any new clothes by tomorrow night, we went wild! There was much discussion about styles and colours, dresses or jackets, formal or  informal etc etc. One thing about shopping with other women of a certain age means that strong opinions are expressed about whether your choices are right for you!!

If I'd won Tattslotto I would have taken
 this unique wooden girl home!

Somewhat exhausted from all of the decision making we had some samosas and fresh fruit for lunch before launching into the last part of the store, the antiques and statues department. A million elephants of all shapes and sizes, lots of Rajasthan figures, marble inlaid tables and many ganeshs were on offer and some of us were tempted.

Then it was time to resort to some history and inspect the beauty of the Amber Fort. Again it was perched across the top of a mountain so we were very relieved to see that we could reach the top in jeeps (phew!).

Jessica, our very well-informed guide, showed us the joys of the King's palace and the women's palace. The winter palace and the summer palace known as the Palace of Mirrors for obvious reasons were very ornate, built in local yellow sandstone with some pink and green trims. 

Enjoy those smiles: this photo cost Chris money!!

Man Singh One who founded the palace in the late 1500s was a smart man. He had 12 wives and built them 12 identical apartments around a central courtyard. Each apartment had a secret passage to his bedroom so that when the wife was called the others didn't know.

Looking towards the fortress wall and another fort to defend
 this fort and to provide an escape for the King through
 a secret passage

That dot in the middle of the mirror is me taking this photo!

The winter palace otherwise known as
the Palace of Mirrors

The 16th Century women's quarters decorated with
trees and flowers

There were lots of visitors and hawkers selling their wares so after we wandered around we were happy to get back into the jeeps, and the bus to go somewhere quieter.

This man was selling brightly coloured nuts and grains and then mixed them by hand with fresh salsa made of tomatoes and onions before handing them over in a paper cone. Looked and smelt delicious but we didn't try it.

Me and my new best friend!

The elephant and camel refuge we visited was a lovely surprise. The mission of Dera Amer is to rescue Camels used for cartage from work in the bus city, and to liberate elephants imported from south India for tourists entertainment. We had a great time feeding and watering two of the elephants Lakshmi and Sonya.

Chris getting to know Lakshmi

And a few had a ride on one of the elephants on a mattress on top (approved by the local version of the RSPCA). It helped provide some daily exercise for the elephant. Some others

had a camel cart ride.. and I'm sure the load was far less than the loads they are forced to carry when working in the city.

Then it was time for a G&T on the terrace accompanied by delicious pieces of chicken cooked in their tandoor oven and some potato croquettes...although the big winner was cubes of deep fried cheese toast! (Weight watchers here we come!)
But wait... there's more! Dinner was a fabulous selection of curries, dahl and naan baked in the very hot tandoori oven. It glowed a fearsome orange and the heat it emitted meant we all stood some way back.

Another dazzling array of curries!

 Back on the bus we had to cross town to our hotel amidst the Saturday night crowd. Entertaining and noisy, with everyone using their horns constantly. We were glad to get home in one piece! Your replete correspondent, Dianne

The Jaipur chaos