Checking in from Jaipur

Greetings from the Rajastani capital , the Pink City of Jaipur. Today we went to see the Amber Fort/Palace, which is one of the local palaces (there are many) and where the military was garrisoned. It was never conquered due to its location on a desert mountaintop. The palace and fort complex is huge, comprising of thousands of rooms (including 1000 for the ladies of the seraglio and their maids) and is quite a fantasia of places to explore and romantic views of the mountaintops. You and I would have loved getting lost in the labyrinth of rooms as children. Yesterday we saw the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort, which was occupied by Shah Jahan (a muslim leader) and his court. The Taj Mahal was impressive and huge, and most impressive of all the sites due to its good condition. The Agra fort also has thousands of rooms and was formerly covered in gold and silver and gems. Both palace/forts are now highly deteriorated due to weather, neglect, and looting, but India is engaged in restoration efforts in both places. We saw construction crews working to do delicate inlay work, plastering, mortaring, and fine painting work at both sites.

Rajastan is known for its colorful city and local dress, and also for its crowdedness and pollution, all of which are true. Mom is getting acclimatized to India and its poverty, driving conditions (indesribable, although I had tried), and energy sapping heat and humidity. We are also getting over our jet lag, which will help.

Tomorrow we will go see the city palace and the pink palace, which has 900 windows on the front facade. You can really tell that all the great wealth of the former trading states of India contributed to the many fabulous royal cities and settlements in old India. That all vanished with the occupation by Great Britian but many traces remain.


Bye for now. We'll try to communicate from Delhi tomorrow night, but we only know of one internet cafe and I'm not sure we can get there. Fortunately, Jaipur is full of them.

Love,
Linda and Mom