The Pink City

Hi,

Today was quite a busy day. I woke up early this morning to do a yoga class at the spa on the pool deck. It was great as the class was only 5 people. Most of the poses and meditations I was not familiar with. After doing 12 sun salutes (each 2 minutes) and a lot of chanting in Hindi, we made some very simple poses and meditated for 25 minutes focusing on proper breathing.

After a very delicious and lavish breakfast, we went out to the grand rotunda to meet our driver and our tour guide for the day. Our tour guide first took us to the central museum. The museum was beautiful as it was a converted palace. (It seems that everything in Jaipur is a converted palace.) It contained many interesting artifacts such as 50 statues in yoga poses, an egyptian mummy (Gifted to the royal family of Jaipur by the Prince of Wales), and the maharaja's collection of hookahs.

After that we went to the city palace. This was inside the old walls of Jaipur, which is the part of the city that is truly the pink city. Everything inside the city walls is painted in a dull pink, except for the buildings and entrances for the royal family. The City Palace is very large and we were able to learn the history of the royal family and see all of their artifacts, including the pajamas for one of the kings who weighted 500lbs. (I think they could fit on my car.) We were only able to see the outside gardens of the palace and some of the inside as much of it is still in use.

After this we went to see two cremation sites for the royal family. These were cool as they were off the beaten track and no one really visited these. The guide was surprised that my friend knew about them. We saw where the members of the royal family was cremated (as per Hindu tradition). The places where their ashes were buried were surprisingly modest, yet very pretty.

Then, we went for a restaurant that serves traditional Indian meals, but instead I got chow mein and a diet coke. (Not very adventurous, but I have had more naan and paneer than I can count!)

After this we went to Nahrgarh, which is a fort in the mountains of Rajasthan. It started as the Maharaja's hunting lodge, and was later expanded in to a palace, fort and complex with an amphitheater. The views of Jaipur (a large city of 3.5 mil) were incredible! The palace was not upkept like a museum and anyone could walk in. It was abandoned in the last 100 years so there are still intact doors, bookshelves, etc. If someone gave it a new paint job, it would easily be restored to its former glory.

On the way down, we pulled over to get a perfect view of the Palace in the water. This was another hunting lodge built two hundred years ago. They would shoot birds from the palace on the water. It is incredible to see this Mughal architecture coming up from the middle of the water.

Our last stop on the way to the hotel was the Birla Temple. This is a beautiful marble temple erected to honor on Lord Vishnu.

After returning to the hotel we said goodbye to our driver and tour guide and I went for a swim in the pool. The pool here is indoors and very similar to the one at Hearst Castle. After I was able to use the facilities at the spa, so I took a steam and a sauna before heading back and preparing for dinner. Our dinner was comped, so we enjoyed a free three course dinner with a bottle of wine. Afterwards, we went to the polo club to see the historical decor of the bar.

We are going to bed early tonight as we are being woken up at 5am for a 7:30am flight back to Bombay. I absolutely loved Jaipur, but of course, the highlight was the hotel. Only a few more days in India before heading back to the US :(