Shekawati - Piramal Haveli

Wonderful retored Haveli near Shekawati. You can take tours to nearby havelis, stepwells and temples, but we were so tired we just stayed here and rested. All the little boys in town fly kites from the roof tops and the boys in this picture saw me taking pictures so they asked me to take their photo.  This place - Piramal Haveli - is part of the Neemrana chain. It doesn't have heat so the rooms and dining out in the courtyard were chilly at night, but the food and service were exceptional. They brought in a local magician to sit in the courtyard and put on his show. Even though we didn't speak Hindi, we understood what he was doing and he was funny, charming and a darn good magician. It was quite an evening to sit in a courtyard with braziers at each table to keep warm, Indian snacks (roasted peanuts, bellum - chunks of molasses type candy, and hot masala chai) and our own private magic show. Guess we'll have to go back to see the other havelis and Jhunjhunu.

Abhaneri

A small village several hours from Jaipur, this place was amazing and one of our favorite places. We were the only visitors and the guide was very friendly, spoke English and was very knowledgeable. Chand Baori is a step well built over 1000 years ago. Step wells were built for gathering water and this one is 11 stories deep. There are remnants of a temple next to it and there are huge chunks of the old pillars from the original temple laying about everywhere. 

Keoladeo Bird Sanctuary

This is a bird sanctuary created in the 1700's by the Maharaja of Bharatpur by flooding the area with water from nearby rivers. He created the area so he could hunt birds - not protect or watch them. They are going through an extended drought right now, so we didn't see too many birds, but it's still worth a trip. We hired a park designated ornithologist and the 5 of us went thru the park on a tonga (horse pulling a wooden wagon). The guide was very nice, spoke excellent english and really knew his stuff. The python was 12 feet long and was sunning itself. Our guide had us remain quiet and walk softly - the vibrations of our footsteps could disturb it. They wanted to make sure the snake stayed put so other visitors could see him. I guess if it felt disturbed, it would slither away to a porcupine hole. Cool!

Taj Mahal

Pictures just don't do this place justice. It's a tomb built by Shah Jahan for his 2nd wife. It's about 20 stories high (notice how tiny the people are at the bottom of the 3rd photo), took 23 years to build by 20,000 artisans! The details are amazing with carvings, semi-precious stones and marble inlays of writing encompassing 14 chapters of the Koran. This place looks like it was built yesterday instead of 1653. Since we saw it in winter, there was heavy haze and fog most of the day, so it was white marble against white skies, but that gave the pictures a kind of old postcard  or painterly look. We saw it in the morning the first time, then went back at sunset to view it from the back side at a park across the river - no entrance fee, no crowds and almost a better view (the Taj is symmetrical, so the back is just like the front). We've heard that Shah Jahan intended to build another Taj for himself out of black marble and planned to link the 2 by a bridge over the river where their souls could meet again in the afterlife. Don't know if that's true, but it makes a great, romantic story. In case you're wondering about the last photo - we always do our "shadows" on vacation and this one is on the marble platform of the Taj with all of us doing the "Namaste" greeting.

On our way home!

It's the last day of our trip to India - what a great trip it has
been! We are visiting with Sunil, Shalini, and Tanvi today (and doing
some last minute shopping and eating). See you soon!

NICE Monkeys!

We went to Galta temple (aka Monkey temple) yesterday in Jaipur. It was like a scene out of Indiana Jones. There were monkeys everywhere (20,000 they say) and they were all friendly. You buy food for them and they walk right up to you and eat - Devi even had one eat straight from her hand. Of course, that was nothing compared to when the snake handler wrapped a live cobra around her neck! While Galta is run down, the views and the age of this place were awe inspiring. We went around one corner and I swear it had to be a movie set - nothing can look that incredible. And, oh yeah - there were orange robed priests roaming the temples and steps - incredibly picturesque.

Buying Sarees

We took cycle rickshaws into old Delhi to see the Red Fort, Jama Masjid (largest mosque and the crowded markets - Chandni Chowk). We had the drivers take us to a saree place - what a hoot! The alleys got so narrow, the drivers had to get off and walk us the rest of the way. We went thru some crooked walkways, up some stairs and into a tiny loft (the ceiling was only 5feet, 3 inches, so I couldn't even stand up) and it was filled, wall to wall, floor to cieling with the most beautiful saree material. We sat on the floor and the owner proceeded to unfurl yard after yard after yard of gorgeous material. Devi and I each picked our favorite, they took our measurements and the outfits were delivered to our hotel that night!!! Wait til you see.