Jaipur

Today we had a very full day touring the city of Jaipur.  We began our day at 8:30 a.m. with a trip to a Hindu temple.  Our guide, Praveen, paid his respects and we toured the temple with him.  You can't wear shoes in a temple and the marble was very cold!!  Praveen said that Hindus believe the cold makes them live longer, to which I replied "then we in Canada will live forever!"

We then went to the Amber Fort, which was built in 1699 by a king of the time, who eventually moved his palace to Jaipur.  Our first order of business was to take an elephant ride up to the fort.  150 elephants make 5 trips each shuttling tourists up the hill.  The views were amazing.  On the mountain tops surrounding the fort was a wall and lookout posts that look like the great wall of China -only this one is just 17kms long.

Inside the fort there were many incredible things to see.  As we passed through each gate we were continually amazed at what we were seeing.  Much of the fort has been restored or returned to its original splendor.  There are 300 year old frescos that still look vibrant, marble work of incredible detail and one ceiling that defies words.  It was a combination of marble carving and mirrors.  The marble seemed to float in the air!

We then proceeded to the observatory which was built in the early 1700s.  The entire grounds were devoted to sundials and various other time pieces that told time to the second and could show the earth's position in the solar system at any given time.  One of the world's largest sun dials is here.

After a great lunch we then took a walk through old Jaipur.  MJ  and the boys had their initiation in crossing the street in the roundabout below!

After a somewhat terrifying jaunt across the street we stopped at a set of merchants whose business is to purchase old saris and then burn the fabric to extract the gold and silver in the ornamental threads and borders.  Our guide showed us the method they use for determining if the fabric contains any precious metals.

From there we wandered the spice market, ate some raw sugar and had a great laugh when Fraser tried to buy some dress shoes from one of the small shops. The merchants pulled every shoe out they could find that they though might be big enough for Fraser's size 12 feet.  Fraser squeezed his foot into each one and then the merchants claimed victory while Fraser let them know the shoe was waaaaay to small. Needless to say, Fraser's feet won the battle and we'll most likely be shoe shopping in Canada!

We then went to do some serious scarf shopping!  The shop we went to would make any hoarder proud.  They had mountains of everything you could imagine.  Apparently the shop owner had designs for me as well  - this will be the last time you see the pink scarf!!

After a very long day we returned to the hotel to once again relax.  Here are a couple more photos of the place.

Tomorrow, we're off to Agra to see the Taj Mahal!

Oh, it was about 27 degrees today - just thought you'd like to know!