[ultimatechamp]

I never write travelogues .

Firstly, I am too lazy and secondly, I don't get much time to collate pictures, resize and post them, then write an interesting bit, then make it available for others! Oh my God, that's too much work for me, at least till today.

Inspired by others here on Team-BHP, I finally thought that why not give it a try.

Anyway, I won't be writing much but let the pictures that I took,do the talking. Firstly, this wasn't a road trip at all. I had an Arthroscopy conference at Jaipur Marriott hotel in the second week of October, 2017. Initially I was traveling on my own. Just a month to go, my family wanted to accompany me and hence, I had to book another room at Marriott, make reservations for return flight for all six of us, book Jetfleet for all days at Jaipur, etc,

Jaipur, at this time of the year much to our surprise, wasn't too hot and very dry. Nights were extremely comfortable, whereas day times were bright and sunny but mostly tolerable. We enjoyed every bit of Rajasthani hospitality and our short trip to Jaipur was outstanding, to say the least.

As this is my first travelogue on Team-BHP, or for that matter, anywhere on the internet I'll try to post a teaser picture, as I have seen others do.

The famous Jal Mahal at dusk


An earnest request to the moderators/seniors to please excuse me, as although I have been a member of Team-BHP since 2008, I am a complete newbie to travelogue-posting.

[ultimatechamp]

Padharo Mhare Desh seems to be the song usually sung to welcome tourist to Rajasthan and we were fortunate enough to listen to it at a restaurant in Jaipur where we had lunch. I am honestly in love with Rajasthan, as I had been there before to shoot pictures at the famous Pushkar Fair and then went all the way to Khuri, in Western Rajasthan for a night stay. Arguably, it is the most colorful state of India and to see it properly, one would need almost a month or even more.
Enough of pointless chatter. Let the pictures do the talking.

A security guard at City Palace.


City palace is a complex structure in the heart of the city built by Sawai Jai Singh II around 1730, which currently houses different museums, as well as the Royal residence.There are museum of textiles (Mubarak Mahal), museum of arms and armaments and Diwan-i-Aam and Diwan-i-Khas among other things. Detailed information about various tourist spots in Jaipur are widely available in both print and electronic media hence, I am not going into those.

The famous Albert Museum. The architecture intrigues me but artifacts inside are mostly an eclectic mixture. Hence, we gave it a miss.


A fine piece of Cannon at City Palace. This was located just before one enters the Sabha Niwas, aka the Diwan-i-Khas.


Abode of the King, Chandra Mahal.


Getting into City Palace after procuring tickets at the counter, we got hold of a guide. Audio guides were available but we thought of taking the help of a local guide who was both pleasant and knowledgeable. He charged us Rs. 400 only. He took us for a tour of the Arms gallery situated on the first floor. Photography is strictly prohibited inside those galleries and there are security personnel sitting inside at nearly all corners, keeping a watch on tourists. Thereafter, we were taken to the textile gallery which also famously houses a robe worn by Raja Madho Singh II who was 7 ft tall and weighed 250 odd kg!!

Just outside Arms Gallery, City Palace.


In all its Royal splendor.


Huge silver urn,which accompanied the Maharaja to England carrying Ganges water for drinking purpose, way back in 1901.


'Eh, I wish my moustache was bigger!' He seems to say.


Guards at the City Palace were nicely attired with the typical Rajasthani turban and the works. Check out the authentic silver sceptre-like things in their hands.

Animated discussion.


The magnificent Ganesh Pol, Amber Fort.


Amber Fort is a must visit place when you are in Jaipur. It is situated around 11 km from the city center. Be wary of the immense popularity of the place and hence endless queues to get in, even at 8 in the morning .So be there early to avoid getting stuck, much before the entrance.
There are two ways by which you can go in - Ride an elephant and lumber your way up for the cost of Rs. 900 odd plus tips! Or else go in your car.
We, thankfully did the latter. Roads are serpentine and narrow and cobbled but all cars and two wheeler goes up happily. We went up in the comfort of an AC Innova as our driver was an extremely knowledgeable local who arranged another guide for us here. Guide charged us Rs 300 only. Parking space is a premium here though, as there are so many tourist vehicles.
From the car park, the climb up was steep and quite disconcerting for my mom but thankfully she managed. Sheesh Mahal, Shila Devi temple, Mughal gardens, etc. are some of the things to see inside Amber Fort. Washroom facilities inside are excellent. Also there is a Cafe Coffee Day situated inside the complex where we refreshed ourselves after our tour of Amber Fort.

[ultimatechamp]

Although initially planned that we will go to Pushkar and Ajmer, I didn't get the chance to go out of Jaipur eventually as I had to present a paper at the second day of the Orthopaedic conference. The pictures were taken by me when I went on a city and adjoining area tour with my family. Many thanks to my family for the patience they had shown while I was shooting the pictures. I had shown immense patience too, while they were busy shopping at every opportunity they got .

Panna Meena ki Kund, the step well near Amber Fort.


You will be surprised at the sheer number of foreign tourists coming here for photo opportunities at this step-well. Saw a Japanese couple being shot at this locale by a professional looking team of photographers. It was difficult for me to shoot this, as this place was teeming with people of that photography team.
There is another Baori step-well at Abhaneri, as told by our driver. But due to paucity of time we didn't go there.

Royal guard at City Palace, Jaipur.


Jal Mahal during late afternoon. This much photographed structure, spectacularly changed it's beauty at different times of the day,as will be evident from my following pictures.


Somehow, lot of people confuse this with Lake Palace, Udaipur. This is Jal Mahal, an off-limits, majestic structure located opposite the Trident hotel, on the way towards Amber Fort.

Jal Mahal at dusk when the spot lights came up.


Took me quite some time for the right ambient light condition for this and the following picture to finally materialize. But patience paid off, I guess, well...

There is a nice stretch on the bank of this lake, on which locals unwind in the evening.

Jal Mahal late in the night. Truly looks like the proverbial Aladdin's castle!


Sunset from top of Nahargarh Fort. It is magnificent!


Nahargarh and Jaigarh are two Forts located on top of Aravalli Hills. Jaigarh houses the famous mammoth cannon called Jaivan, which is a must see place. Also, it gives you a spectacular view of the wide valley below and the Amber Fort at a distance.

The route to the castles were winding up through thick foliage and we saw loads of peacocks en route to the top. There are entry fees for each Fort and peculiarly at Nahargarh Fort, they charge for your beverage which you would never have. It is a scam of sorts. They apparently do not charge an entry fee but depending upon the number of persons in your car, minus the driver, took Rs. 100 each as beverage charge, right at the entrance. We couldn't have any as they serve machine made tea and coffee only at the cafeteria situated at the top of Nahargarh.
My whole idea to go to the very top of Nahargarh Fort was to shoot the awe-inspiring Sunset over Jaipur city.

Jaipur City lit up at dusk. Taken while returning from Nahargarh Fort.


Among other things, we visited Hawa Mahal, Govind Ji temple and also endless shops for Blue pottery, jewellery, jutis, dress, turbans, coffee table items and what not! Thankfully, I wasn't overcharged at the airport while returning.
We were there in Jaipur for 2 days only and hence this won't be an extensive photoblog like most others. But I promise to be more active in posting more travelogues in the future.

Many thanks for your patience everybody.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Travelogues Section. Thanks for sharing!

[Samba]

Stunning pics! Specially the night pic of Jal Mahal with the blue sky in the back drop is my personal favorite. From the silk smooth water i presume you carried a tripod with you. The night shot of the Jaipur city is fantastic too. I was too lazy to take out my tripod during my Rajasthan trip, though i carried it with me.

Sharing few pics from my Jaipur trip-

[TorqueyTechie]

Originally Posted by Samba

Attachment 1692866

Are those shops and ATM attached to the hawa mahal? How is it even allowed?

[ultimatechamp]

Originally Posted by Samba

Stunning pics! Specially the night pic of Jal Mahal with the blue sky in the back drop is my personal favorite. From the silk smooth water i presume you carried a tripod with you. The night shot of the Jaipur city is fantastic too. I was too lazy to take out my tripod during my Rajasthan trip, though i carried it with me.

Many thanks Samba for the kind words. I do use tripod for night shots and always carried my heavy duty Manfrotto tripod throughout my Jaipur trip.Both the after-dark pictures of Jal Mahal and the Sun set from Nahargarh were taken with the help of a tripod.
This is for others who are caring tripod to Nahargarh Fort in the future. Just keep an eye on the sentries there. Using a tripod is strictly banned,God Knows why . I wasn't caught luckily,but saw a foreigner getting into a quarrel by using one there.

[ultimatechamp]

Am both surprised as well as disappointed that there weren't anymore replies from anybody else.
Next time I post a travelogue, I'll make sure there are few Mahindra Thar's and Endeavour's pictures thrown in, or maybe some off-roading pictures .

[sudev]

No need for doing that. Make it more interesting by giving some special nuggets. Almost all out of Delhi would have travelled to Jaipur and seen most of the places in pictures.

You could talk about early morning tea at Gopal and his bun maska Kachori.....

Such gems make it interesting story.

That said pictures were beautiful.

[ultimatechamp]

Originally Posted by sudev

No need for doing that. Make it more interesting by giving some special nuggets. Almost all out of Delhi would have travelled to Jaipur and seen most of the places in pictures.

You could talk about early morning tea at Gopal and his bun maska Kachori.....

Such gems make it interesting story.

That said pictures were beautiful.

Point taken Sudev.
Many thanks for the wonderful word of appreciation

[sudev]

So Jaipur had this small hole in the wall tea shop tucked just off MI Road. Gulab Tea Stall starts service at 4AM and serves tea with bun muska or bun muska with Kachori.

Owner Gulab ji, around 80, is ever present and he gives free tea and bun muska to between two to three hundred street people every day.

He also serves 125 street people free lunch based on first cum first served parchi system. Hat's off to him.

Next at Jaipur time drop in early morning to enjoy crunchy Kachori bun muska.

[yesyeswe]

I am from jaipur and i liked reading about my city from an outsiders point of view, next time do go to chokhi dhani, you'll like it there, they have this village theme with rajasthani food and camel/bullock cart ride, traditional dancers and what not etc you'll get the full Rajasthan feel there.
Visit nargadh in the morning to avoid the evening crowd, the sunrise over jalmahal is very beautiful over there.

Originally Posted by TorqueyTechie

Are those shops and ATM attached to the hawa mahal? How is it even allowed?

Well these shops are as old as Hawa mahal itself, so they are gonna stay, but yeah a cleaner front would have looked better.

Originally Posted by sudev

So Jaipur had this small hole in the wall tea shop tucked just off MI Road. Gulab Tea Stall starts service at 4AM and serves tea with bun muska or bun muska with Kachori

I have been to gulab ji tea stall many times and although they feed poor people but they overcharge everyone else, and moreover the taste of the tea is nothing to write about. It has become a tourist spot now and they are taking advantage of it.