12 June 2011
Jaipur, India
we had a packed day planned on Sunday.... even though there was no respite from the weather expected, we still wanted to make the best use of the day.... we had already missed the best of Hawa Mahal as we had skipped the morning visit there.... actually we had a great chance of going there early in the morning, but some weird circumstances prevented that as well.... so, we rather planned for The City Palace to come in first....
Hawa Mahal and the snake-charmer.....
Hawa Mahal is one the way to The City Palace.... so, we simply had to take a pause on the road; everyone does.... even though we missed a great opportunity to shoot this magnificent building in the early morning light, something made this stop worthwhile.... a snake-charmer was a surpise find there, and had to shoot him.... well, not for free though... but that filled up some of the gaps created by missing that early morning visit... anyway, The City Palace was to take the major time there... Hawa Mahal is kept as a secondary as far as time spent is concerned....
The City Palace is another example of luxury enjoyed by the bygone era royal families... the architecture and designs are really admirable... and no surprise to see quite a few tourists, even in such extreme heat.... it was all about shooting architecture at the Palace, as the whole tour has been so far... there were some characters there that I would've liked to shoot... but didn't really go too far with it... my experience with a guide at Amber Fort didn't encourage me to try it again.... but the Palace guides wear great clothes, making them stand out among the intricate design details of the buildings.... they are themselves something to see...
we rushed to hotel, checked out and paid a nice short visit to Hawa Mahal.... it was right under mid-day heat.... although we didn't really plan for an extended stay there, we couldn't help taking some pictures there.... while inside, we were able to see what we missed in the morning hours.... its a nice building, although its inside isn't as attractive as its outside.... but the back side of the building does contain facades similar to the one in front... its more like a trade-mark facade....
our main plan was to visit Nahargarh Fort.... we simply didn't want to miss the view from up there.... we don't know how it would look.... it may even suck totally.... but as its totally unknown to us, its better not to miss it..... we don't want someone to come in and tell us that we missed the greatest view on earth!!.... so, after lunch and another shopping trip to RTDC, we were off to Nahargarh.....
it took us some time to reach Nahargarh..... on the map, it showed that it was 6km from Jaipur, whereas Amber was 15km from the City.... I thought the two would be on two different routes... and there was the Jaigarh Fort, which resides 400ft above Amber... but as it turned out, they're all basically in the same place.... Jaigarh Fort and Nahargarh Fort are on the same hilly road.... a fork divides the road into two and thats where we left Jaigarh and went to Nahargarh..... as we climbed, the view became more and more majestic.... as people from flat lands, we were awe-struck!... the roads are pretty pleasant, even though they're made across such harsh terrain.... the roads are easily accessible to small cars.... you don't require a 4WD car to reach the top....
the captivating view of Nahargarh instantly reminded us that it would've been a real miss if we opted not to visit the place.... its not the fort itself; its the view that attracts.... the fort lives on top of the city and the whole of the city can be seen from there.... the view of Jal Mahal from the top is simply awesome.... while at the City, I was constantly looking for an angle that would be a bit different from usual.... but I couldn't.... now I got this one.... I don't know how this would look in the fading evening light.... the walls of Jaigarh Fort seen from Nahargarh reminded us of the Great Wall of China....
we spent some time inside the fort, which isn't that small actually, even though its basically a supporting fort for Amber.... monkeys are the only current residents there.... their presence in this ancient settings puts some life in history.... its strategic location overlooking the city makes someone realise how it would've looked during its days of glory.... we thought it would take a whole day to explore all the unique angles of this fort.... and this fort surely has all those unique views.... just a few of them impressed us enough to justify this visit....
by around 4:30PM, we were off to Delhi.... it was supposed to take a bit longer as most people usually travel outside Delhi during the weekend and come back on Sunday night..... and it was a long journey.... quite tiresome.... we didn't reach Delhi before 10:40PM....
Jaipur was a tough tour considering the weather.... but got our money's worth.... its a unique place and its worth visiting anytime.... perhaps we missed out some of the more important cultural traits of Jaipur that makes it unique.... you have to come during the season to make the best out of a tour.... this is a place for National Geographic photographers....
more from Delhi to come....
