Jaipur

Continuing the tour of Rajasthan, the next stop is Jaipur aka the City of Victory or Pink City (so called as in 1876 the Maharaja had the entire old city painted pink, a colour associated with hospitality to welcome the then Prince of Wales).

You've got your hill top forts, your royal palaces and even a Temple of the Sun God known locally as 'Monkey Temple' - you'll know why when you see the pictures! You've also got your 40 degrees plus temperatures so if you see any pictures of English people wilting you'll know why!




We've ordered one of these for home! Imagine the paella you could have. This is a cooking vessel, used for deep frying for the masses in the grounds of the Amber Fort.


Let me tell you, this is about as close to a camels mouth you can get without suffering serious breath poisoning! I took this picture thinking it may be the only chance of seeing a camel that close - little did we know in a matter of a few days we'd be sitting on a camels back - but bide your time that's another story!



This is the impressive gates leading up to Akbar's Mausoleum (Akbar was the greatest Mughal emperor).

This is the temple of the sun god, but the locals call it 'monkey temple' - and here's a couple of the little furry chaps hanging out.



What views eh. Not that we were thinking that as we were trudging up in the excessive heat. Around 5ish a car drives right up to the top of the hill and back down again with bananas being thrown out of the window. The monkeys must know food is on its way as a couple of minutes earlier they started to run up the hillside, grabbing at the bananas and ripping of the skins.

This is Jaipur's most distinctive landmark - although when Elvis saw it she said - 'It looks like a birthday cake'. That girl and her cake! This area of Jaipur is known as the Pink Palace (not a bar from the Police Academy) named because of the sandstone and this is Hawa Mahal, Palace of the Winds. It was built with lots of tiny windows to allow ladies of the royal household to watch life and processions of the city whilst being secluded themselves.


Another scene from the hill top at the monkey temple.







This is a typical vehicle you see everyday on the road - crammed full of people! There's about 16 people in this small van.





Mmmmmm Mangos for sale - they have loads here and very cheap!

Next stop Pushkar. By the way, we are moving around India in style this time. It's really quite cheap to have your own driver and car and the sites are quite spread out - so it makes sense to have you own transport. Driving your own vehicle in India is totally out of the question! Every road is crammed and the roads move in exactly the same way as pedestrians move in a crowded pavement - any space is fair game! It's not unusual to be driving down the road and suddenly be confronted by a line of traffic coming towards you on your side of the road - hair raising stuff!! So, a dream come true - we have a chauffeur - he's not called James mind you, his name is Subhash (pictures later)

Ok, cups of tea to hand out - or not as the case may be. Halong Bay is petitioning to become one of the Natural Wonders of the World - no correct answers there, am I making them too difficult for you all? Halong is a piece of string from Un Big One was good answer - but not right and the outsource of Sissy J was off the mark too (unusual!) Ha Long literally translates as 'Descending Dragon' - maybe a bit too much info from the outsourcer again, although you did mention dragon.

As for the last question, nee right answers again. What happened to Emperor Shah Jahan when he completed building the Taj Mahal - his sly son over threw him and had him imprisoned for the rest of his life. It puts me in mind of Black Adder!! (and No Un Big One - he wasn't flogged - for any price!)

This blog's free cup of tea question is a nice easy one - here in India a dose of the Ertha's has a certain euphemism that rhymes with the capital city - what is it and which one of us has had them?