Henny wanted to know the whole time in Jaipur, how can people who built these impressive forts and who were so smart still be taken over in battle? I don’t think I was paying enough attention to the guides or reading enough of the stuff at the sites we visited to find out, but they did really build some pretty impressive forts.
View from Nahargarh Fort overlooking smoggy Jaipur….
The first place we went today was all the way up a meandering road up into the mountains. From there, we could get some beautiful views of the city—that is if the city weren’t obscured by the pollution below. Raj tried to point out where our hotel was—and I nodded confirmation though I couldn’t really tell buildings apart too much when covered in the haze of grey.
Monkeys posing at the fort…. Raj went and got them some potato chips and they seemed very excited by that….
Following that, we got to go and see the largest wheeled cannon. Apparently, it was fired only once. The fuse needed to be long enough to give people nearby enough time to submerge their heads in a trough of water to protect their ears from the sound of the explosion, and the force of the explosion created cracks in some of the houses at the foot of the hill upon which this fort was located. Were it to be used, it would require four elephants just to change the direction….
“Well why did they build it if they weren’t going to use it?”
Hmmmm….
Following our fort experience, we headed back into the city to visit the City Palace (which I honestly don’t know why we didn’t visit yesterday—it’s right next to the observatory!). After paying some pretty ridiculous foreigners entrance fees, we went in and got to see some exhibits of some pretty great textiles and weapons, as well as a pretty cool exhibit of period art.
We then walked by the Hawa Mahal, and deciding that we were cultured out, so we picked up Axle and went shopping. We spent a lot of time at a shoe store, getting some of those funny Rajasthani shoes where the tip curls up and where you can get them covered in glitter and jewels. I bought a pair, but they hurt my feet like crazy. The salesman swore that they would stretch, but I think that my feet are far too big for them to stretch that much….
We also went back to the big store we went to yesterday so that Axle could see what it was all about. She was unsuccessful finding anything to spend her money on there, but we went next door and she found two cool statues to lug around: one of Hanuman, and one of Vishnu’s incarnation as a boar….
When we were done shopping, we decided to go feed ourselves some more, and stomachs full and bodies tired, we went back home to rest before our last long drive to Delhi.
For your viewing pleasure, there is an overview album of photos in Jaipur (with lots of sub-albums…).
Related posts (possibly):
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Thurs. Jan 25 – Jaipur forts and shopping
Henny wanted to know the whole time in Jaipur, how can people who built these impressive forts and who were so smart still be taken over in battle? I don’t think I was paying enough attention to the guides or reading enough of the stuff at the sites we visited to find out, but they did really build some pretty impressive forts.
View from Nahargarh Fort overlooking smoggy Jaipur….
The first place we went today was all the way up a meandering road up into the mountains. From there, we could get some beautiful views of the city—that is if the city weren’t obscured by the pollution below. Raj tried to point out where our hotel was—and I nodded confirmation though I couldn’t really tell buildings apart too much when covered in the haze of grey.
Monkeys posing at the fort…. Raj went and got them some potato chips and they seemed very excited by that….
Following that, we got to go and see the largest wheeled cannon. Apparently, it was fired only once. The fuse needed to be long enough to give people nearby enough time to submerge their heads in a trough of water to protect their ears from the sound of the explosion, and the force of the explosion created cracks in some of the houses at the foot of the hill upon which this fort was located. Were it to be used, it would require four elephants just to change the direction….
“Well why did they build it if they weren’t going to use it?”
Hmmmm….
Following our fort experience, we headed back into the city to visit the City Palace (which I honestly don’t know why we didn’t visit yesterday—it’s right next to the observatory!). After paying some pretty ridiculous foreigners entrance fees, we went in and got to see some exhibits of some pretty great textiles and weapons, as well as a pretty cool exhibit of period art.
We then walked by the Hawa Mahal, and deciding that we were cultured out, so we picked up Axle and went shopping. We spent a lot of time at a shoe store, getting some of those funny Rajasthani shoes where the tip curls up and where you can get them covered in glitter and jewels. I bought a pair, but they hurt my feet like crazy. The salesman swore that they would stretch, but I think that my feet are far too big for them to stretch that much….
We also went back to the big store we went to yesterday so that Axle could see what it was all about. She was unsuccessful finding anything to spend her money on there, but we went next door and she found two cool statues to lug around: one of Hanuman, and one of Vishnu’s incarnation as a boar….
When we were done shopping, we decided to go feed ourselves some more, and stomachs full and bodies tired, we went back home to rest before our last long drive to Delhi.
For your viewing pleasure, there is an overview album of photos in Jaipur (with lots of sub-albums…).
Related posts (possibly):