Jaipur

From June 21^st through 25^th, we visited Jaipur, the famous pink city in the western desert state of Rajasthan. We saw many of the sights (city palace, jantar mantar, gaitor, amber fort, monkey palace, etc) and even dabbled in little jewelry shopping.

My favorite place in Jaipur was gaitor, the sight of the royal cenotaphs, “empty tombs” erected in honor of the dead rules after cremation. Many of these beautiful monuments have “chhatri”, or dome-shaped pavilions, beautifully carved in honor of the Maharajahs. In contrast to the rest of Jaipur, a bustling, crowded city, gaitor was a peaceful paradise, a haven just outside the city walls set amongst a beautiful backdrop of hills.

Pictures from other sights in Jaipur:

city palace, home of the old Maharajahs of Jaipur

Alex sitting in front of the peacock gate (representing autumn) in the Pitan Niwas Chowk courtyard of city palace

The largest sun dial in the world, located in Jantar Mantar, an observatory built by Maharajah Jai Signh in 1728. The sundial is 27m high and the shadow cast by the sun moves up to an incredible 4m per hour.

more astronomy instruments at Jantar Mantar

baby monkey begging for food at Monkey Temple

Alex cautiously feeding a macaque monkey a peanut (notice the "monkey stick" in his right hand, use to swing at monkeys getting too close for comfort)

gate leading into Amber Fort, the old site of the capitol city of Rajasthan. The capitol was moved to Jaipur 1727 after the old city, crammed into the hillside, ran out of water

Alex looking at bats living in an underground tunnel beneath Amber Fort

-Christina