Day 25, October 26th : Jaipur, "The Pink City" of Rajasthan
The Journey goes on through the Golden Triangle.
26.10.2010
40 °C
The journey goes on after the marvellous experience of the Taj Mahal yesterday in Agra. Words and photo's are not enough, you have to be there for sunset by the River Yamuna. You must go there and see it !
After breakfast it was back on the road with my excellent driver, Sunjay. We drove out of Agra at 8am, and were soon out in the rural countryside on NH11 to Jaipur. The area looked rich in agriculture, small tidy field systems,very green, with people, mainly women, hard at work harvesting. There were many gangs of men waiting for their day's work, school children and student's off to school and college, and again more evidence of very poor people, especially the children, that makes me think how lucky I am.
The NH 11 then just gets better, "tarmac", and all the way to Jaipur, the "Pink City" in the desert area of Rajasthan, 260km away on the second side of the Golden Trianagle.
On route the first stop of the day is at Fatehpursikri, and the palace of the Mungal Emperor, Akbar. This was built in 1569, and is absolutely stunnning. It is full of all sorts of designs and influences including Persian and Turkish. It is one of the finest examples of Mughal architechure in the world, a combination of Hindu and Muslim design, plus many other symbols from Asia and the Silk Road. Constructed in the red sandstone of the area.
My second stop was unexpected, it was at the Keoladeo National Park and Bird Sanctuary at Bharatpur. What a fantastic 'birding' session with my great park ranger and guide Ishwarsing, a Sikh. He was very knowledgable as he took me around the national park, spotting many new birds of India that I had not seen. I was also able to take many photos of birds with my zoom lens on, the battery is still going after 3 weeks ?
I had a fantastic few hours at Keoladeo National Park, you must go there !
Then on to Jaipur, the flat lands suddenly gave rise to a series of red sandstone ridges that the road cut through, until we finally arrived at Jaipur, which was quite different to anywhere else I've seen in India. On the edge of the Rajasthan desert. I had other matters to deal with in Jaipur, God Bless Jane and Tom, my grateful thanks ! Finally arriving at the Hotel Sajjan Niwas, a very old and traditionally styled hotel, my base for the night.
I will add more information and photo's later. I'm still catching up with emails, phone and my travel blog.
Posted by Mike Casey 06:22 Archived in India Tagged landscapes people birds jaipur Comments (0)
