We began the last day of our adventure with a quick visit to Jaipur's more famous monument, the Hawa Mahal, or 'Palace of Winds'. The Hawa Mahal (pronounced Hah-vah Mah-hall) is not, in fact, a palace as such. But rather it is an elaborate façade that was used by the royal women. It was considered unlawful and indecent for anyone to lay eyes on the royal women except the men to whom they were married. Women of the court lead a very secluded life. They desired to see people, the market, and scenes of everyday life. The Hawa Mahal was built for this purpose. The women of the court would come and view commonplace life through the carved screens of the façade. Viewed from the side and from behind, the Hawa Mahal is like a movie prop - nothing behind but platforms, staircases and ladders. I love the deep turquoise shutter doors behind the screens.
Interesting story about the picture above... Jeffery made a little game of waving and getting attention when we were stuck in traffic. He flirted it up big time with the ladies in this rickshaw. For upwards of 15 minutes, as we crawled along in traffic, Jeffery smiled, waved, and peek-a-booed. His girlfriends were super sweet about it. We ran into these same women at our next stop and got to speak to them and introduce ourselves.
Our next stop was City Palace. By this point in our grad adventure, everyone was pretty much done. We were super impressed with how well the kids had done and couldn't blame them for their longish faces as we came to the gates of yet another historic palace/fort. This palace, in the heart of Jaipur -- right next door to the Jantar Mantar which we visited the day before -- has been repurposed into a large museum complex. Our guide gave the easiest tour of his career as we casually cruised through the exhibits. He pointed out a few things of greatest significance. We saw a vast assortment of Asian medieval weaponry. We walked through chambers upon chambers of lavish royal clothing. Anytime I took a picture of a person doing something, that person made eye contact with me and asked for money.
Above: beautiful brass doors were everywhere. Below: One of two giant solid silver tureens used to bring water from the sacred Ganges River for assorted religious ceremonies.
As part of the tour we visited the "artisan village" where artists who have been trained in classical methods and mediums give demonstrations and sell their works. We picked out a couple of pieces and the artist lent his brushes to the children for a little lesson.
The headdress pictured above is traditional to this area and is tied onto the head with each wearing. It is made from wrapping and knotting a single length of fabric that measures close to 3 yards. (The dudes totally harassed me for money after I took this photo...)
Taking a little break at the famous peacock gate.
We got to watch this guy again on our way out. Quoth his eyes, "Another tip please!"
We saw but very few camels along the way. This was wholly unacceptable to me. Based on my research of Rajasthan, I was expecting to see so many more. But we didn't really go outside the city much. They are a rural mainstay.
We had a comfortable amount of time to venture just outside the city to the Galta Ji Temple complex. Again, my research had promised something that was very different in reality. This temple is built right into a mountainside. It has a large pool that is central in some major Hindu ceremonies. In fact, it is a point of pilgrimage for many Hindus. It also has a lot of monkeys.
The weekend before our visit, there had been a huge festival celebration there. The place was trashed. We walked by small rooms and nooks that were stuffed with fire cracker wrappers, used up lanterns, and all manner of other rubbish. We saw a few people here and there working on cleaning up...
The complex is reminiscent of an old western ghost town. The architecture alludes to the grandeur that once existed. But it has become very rundown and almost eery. There is an ecclesiastical school on the grounds. It is considered a great honor to have a child selected to attend and learn the vedas. We saw a few kids around, they were unattended and playing cricket. Even so, the place was very quiet.
Outside the gate of the temple, we purchased bags of peanuts. The monkeys knew the drill.
The sacred pool, murky and spotted with floating trash.
The peanuts had been roasted in something that died our fingers orange. If we tried to keep the bags in our pockets, the monkeys would fearlessly grab them out. At one point, Thea had a monkey jump on her shoulder to grab the peanuts out of her hand with a surprise attack from the rear. Poor mom was totally grossed out. Soon enough, the peanuts were all gone and we made our way back down the hill.
This is the god that the temple complex is built for.
It was a quick flight from Jaipur back to Bangalore. These ladies took a break from checking us in to get a 'selfie' with Jeffery. Jeffers didn't put up a fight.
