March 4, 2016

March 4, 2016

Today we journeyed west into the state of Rajasthan. Watching the scenery from the bus continues to be our major entertainment. We are heading to the drier desert part of India. Desert must mean camel as we now see them replacing horses as the major beast of burden. Rajasthan also must be the brick capital of India. We pass several huge operations with very tall chimneys belching black smoke. Like everything in India the bricks are made by hand. The clay is hand-shaped, stacked to dry and then put in large kilns for baking. All the transport is done by camel cart. Stonework seems to be another local industry. We see slabs of granite and marble for sale, along with decorative carvings of sandstone. Large fields of grain and oilseed are ready for harvest and being reaped by hand scythe. Herders are also in abundance with big flocks of sheep, goats and donkeys crossing the road. And of course, cow patties. They are stacked everywhere, including the center of large cities.

After some ninety minutes we arrive in the town of Fatehpur Sikri. This World Heritage Site is a Mughal Ghost Town. Akbar the Great moved his capital here from Agra. After spending 14 years building his palaces and center of government, he realized there wasn’t enough water to sustain it, so it was abandoned.
  

We transfer to a tour bus that takes us up a small rise to the fort complex. After a brief history we walk around this shell of a city. Even though it is deserted we can sense it must have been magnificent. The interior palace contains dozens of buildings and courtyards entirely built out of red sandstone carved with intricate decorations. There is a giant Parcheesi board in the center of one courtyard. I really like the ornamental pond with a dance platform in the middle. Around its periphery, each of the emperor’s wives had a separate home.

After a stop for lunch and another couple hours driving, we pass through a mountain tunnel and end in the city of Jaipur. Our hotel is on the northeast edge facing a small lake with a view of an island palace, called Jal Mahal.(Water Palace). The hotel is completely tiled with a stunning green marble flooring, that extends even inside our room. I guess that is more proof that stone quarrying is a major Rajasthan industry.

We have a couple hours before dinner so we take a stroll into town.  We have to walk single-file dodging cars, motorcycles, and cow droppings so we only go a dozen blocks.  After spotting the remains of Nahargarh Fort (Tiger Fort) on the hill above the city we turn around.   On the way back we visit a fabric store where Aimee can amuse herself.  She is not happy with the quality of the fabric and the high “foreigner” price so we pass on buying anything.

 

In the evening our tour guide takes us to a restaurant on the other side of Jaipur for dinner.  While feasting we are serenaded by two Indian dancing girls, who insist on trying to teach me how to do the Indian Jig.