Temples in Rajasthan

En route to our next stop we checked out a few temples, the Nagda temples and the Eklingji temples.

The Nagda temple was very interesting and had been abandoned for many centuries. And indeed had very few visitors.

But it is in a very beautiful lakeside setting.....

It's temples were built in the 8th, 9th and 10th century! And if the guide was to be believed then all the fantastic carvings depicted scenes from the Kama Sutra! Kama apparently means sex or sexual pleasure in Hindi!

After looking closely at the carvings we did not doubt him!

The exterior carvings had survived 1000+ years of weathering remarkably well but we found that the interiors were also covered totally with carvings

which were a little difficult to see as it was rather dark and gloomy inside the temple...

The Eklingji temple

was only a few kms away but it was definitely not abandoned.  It had a steady stream of worshippers.

 It is a complex of over 100 temples and as many monkeys!

.

Udaipur India

From Jaipur we flew to Udaipur.  We had no choice in terms of flights..... there is only one direct flight per day, and after booking the time of it was changed, to leave 3 hours later !  This meant we would be arriving there late evening and moving on the following afternoon.   As we would not be using the hotel very much we looked for an economical one, but giving us a view of the lake. We had originally booked into a suite at the Shiv Niwas Palace but only 8 of their 12 suites have a lake view and they couldn't guarantee that we would have a view.  So we booked a room instead at the Jagat Niwas Palace, 

specifying lake view.  This was an excellent choice in terms of value!
Our morning view  from the window

was superb!!

And we would be returning to Udaipur to stay in the hotel seen on the island!
It was also within a 5-10 minute stroll to the City Palace, where we intended spending the morning.

The City Palace, where the Mewar family still live, is certainly imposing!

 and takes many hours to see in detail....

For those who live in the San Francisco Bay area there is a fantastic exhibition, Maharaja, at the Asian Art Museum...... definitely worth a visit!

 The Mewar dynasty claims to be descended from the sun, so the sun seemed to be everywhere......

The exteriors were beautiful.......

As were the interior rooms.........................

And it had many interesting details.... like this ivory door...

And this beautiful one...........

And lots of interesting windows to check out the views of the city....

It had the inevitable Lord Ganesh, the elephant headed god...

And if you had come by elephant you could tether him in the courtyard....

As we walked back to the hotel we were amused to see this particular traffic jam!

The smaller Tuk-Tuk did reverse in the end...... no way were the cows going to turn around!

Jaipur India...the Pink City

Perhaps the most iconic photo of Jaipur is that of the Hawa Mahal, the Palace of Winds

It is very attractive, however none of the photos show that it is on a very busy street with the typical traffic just in front of it!

Amber Fort is fantastic!

The scale of it is unbelievable..............

 We drove to the top and watched the people ambling up on elephants.

Which looked a little like traffic on the roads!   Three abreast at times!   Jostling to get ahead!

They emerged into the large courtyard through a gate which did not look too wide but did accommodate two passing each other...surprisingly!

There are only about 500 rides possible per day. Each elephant is only allowed to do 5 trips and there are only around 100 of them.
So the owners return pretty promptly for the next set of passengers!

The Maharanas ( who knew.... .....a Maharana had 1000 villages and and a Maharaja only had a 100.....or so our guide told us!!) knew how to look after themselves.  There was a summer part of the palace....

which was used exclusively for his private entertainment. Cuncubines, I think.

And in another area he had 18 wives and secret passageways from his room to each of them so that none knew which of them he chose to visit!

The rooms being guarded perhaps as they are today?....................

No-one was allowed in his bedroom.  Which is being re-done at the moment......

by ladies!!!!!!!!

Whichever wife was the mother of the eldest son seemed to have been #1 wife.

There are lots of courtyards which were used for dancing entertainment.

From the Amber Fort we went to the Nahargahr Fort passing en route this working elephant......

This fort supposedly allowed one of the kings to entertain his concubines away from the prying eyes of the City Palace. He fathered 125 children but none at the palace....... so no heir!!

We found it quite delightful, particularly because there were very few tourists!
It had something we did not see anywhere else in India...... fireplaces!

And had fantastic views of the city from its windows..........

The road up was a little hairy at the speed they like to drive!

On the drive back in to Jaipur we passed some camels waiting for passengers......

And the Jal Mahal Palace

City Palace was a little of a let down after the Fort. It was certainly interesting but………

The raised flag meant that the Royal family was in residence..........perhaps waiting for Oprah to arrive for the Jaipur Literary festival!
Not much photography was allowed........ but these silver urns were of note..

These urns are the largest silver objects (each one 340kg /750lb) in terms of weight, in the world. They were commissioned for the then Maharaja who made a trip to England bringing with him enough water from the river Ganga so that he didn't loose his caste by drinking foreign water!  This particular Maharaja was rather short and extremely, extremely overweight judging by his clothes on display!

However the Jantar Mantar, the Royal Observatory was fascinating.  We tested all the means of telling the time and all were correct!

Driving around Jaipur was never boring…….. elephants, camels, TukTuks, large trucks, buses etc.

Passing an elephant....

And our Tuk-Tuk on one trip..... No! that was not the driver but was the son and came everywhere with us!

Nothing moved very far before grinding once again to a stop. 5 lanes of traffic in the space for 2, maybe 3 using the shoulder.

We went for lunch in Niro’s which apparently is one of the oldest and best liked restaurants in Jaipur.  We enjoyed our lunch, however I didn’t think it was exceptional.

Dinner we had in the Haveli. OK food. Nothing like what they prepared in the Palace, unfortunately!

We were there for the Kite Festival which meant lots of music, fireworks and many kites landing in the hotel grounds..... even in our little courtyard.