Our first night in Jaipur was the end of a very long day that began in Agra with a 4:45 AM wake up call to make a 5:30 AM tour of the Taj Mahal (seeing the sunrise was worth it!) followed by a visit to a nearby marble carving workshop.

After a delicious breakfast at the Trident Hotel we headed outside of Agra city in a generally southern direction and a visit to Jodhabai Palace one of Akbar’s forts and home to his favorite wife (and mother of his heir) located in Fatehpur Sikri. It is a beautiful complex complete with a central water garden fitting his devotion to his wife and is a favorite destination for well dressed families from all over the region.

After a tour of Jodhabai Palace we said farewell to Mr. Gupta and rode with Chandi for several house to the west before making a lunch stop at Laxmi Vilas Palace, a heritage estate near the small town of Bharatpura.

From our lunch stop we had a 3½ hour drive to Jaipur viewing roadside vendors and mountains being removed piece by piece to satisfy the demand for marble.

The last half hour covered about 5 km in the busy inner city streets. On the highway and in the city there is a constant beep-beep-beep of horns: Car horns, Tuk-tuk horns, Scooter horns, Truck horns. But the best were the Bus horns that sounded like the brass section of a band running the scales warming up for a performance. The message every horn is calling out: “Make way! I’m here!”

We were happy with our choice of hotel when we were greeted by several members of the Shahpura House staff including a very large and friendly Punjabi Doorman in his regal turban and harem pants and decided to stay close to home and dine that evening at one of the hotel restaurants.

The next morning Driver Chandi and our Jaipur Guide Sunil met us in the lobby of the Shahpura House and we set out in the early morning traffic for the Amber Fort.

We arrived in Jaipur on November 18, 2018; the first day of the annual wedding season. Even though it was early when we began our drive to the Amber Fort the next morning and continuing for the entire time of our visit there we saw lines of ladies dressed in brightly colored and sparkling saris walking down busy streets on their way to wedding venues.

We saw white (some painted) horses; some being decorated in flowers and fancy saddles and others galloping down the street. There were silver colored carriages being decorated and others being moved into position during the day and lots of fireworks at night.

Most weddings are planned for auspicious dates based on the wedding couple’s horoscope but the horoscope for some people does not suggest any auspicious dates during the season.

But the first few days of wedding season is considered auspicious for all people so that’s the day when people with less desirable horoscopes choose and as a result, there are more weddings that day (evening and continuing for 3-days or more) than on any other days and those were the days we were in Jaipur.

While still in the city on the way to the fort we stopped for a look at Hawa Mahal (Palace of the Winds). We risked our lives crossing the street in rush hour traffic to get a better view of this five-storied pink and red sandstone palace designed to represent Krishna’s crown as Sarai Pratap Singh, the Royal builder was devoted to the Hindu god.

After a drive of about 10 miles we approached the Amber Fort.  Our visit to the fort was one of the highlights of our visit to Jaipur.  You can read more about the Amber Fort by  following this link.

On the way back to the central city after our visit to the Amber Fort, we stopped for a view of the Jal Mahal, one of the most beautiful palaces in all of India.  It sits in the middle of the Man Sagar Lake, with reflections off the smooth surface and panoramic hills in the background enhancing the beauty of the scene. The palace was originally built by Sawai Pratap Singh in 1799 with the most recent renovations began in 2004 and lasting for nearly a decade.

As anyone who has read much on this website should know, we have a special interest in textiles. In fact, our next destination from Jaipur was Chennai (formerly known as Madras) the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu to begin a week-long Textile Tour.

But Jaipur also has a strong tradition in textiles including carpet weaving and several block printing techniques in nearby villages like the “Dabu” mud resist process in Bagru and the “Sanganeri” hand-block printing technique in Sanganer.

We had plans to visit Sanganer the following afternoon but we asked Guide Sunil to take us to a good carpet company and we wound up at Channi Carpets & Textiles. We first saw a demonstration of block printing techniques and then went from station to station following the hand made carpet process like the hand tying of fringe shown in the photo to the left and the removal of stray threads by torch below before being delivered to a carpet showroom.

Before the trip we had considered buying a carpet but it wasn’t on our MUST DO list but we were so impressed with both the traditional and more modern carpets there that we did take the plunge and purchased a 6’ x 9’ natural dye camel hair carpet.

Shipping was included in the quoted price and Channi took care of every aspect including timing the shipment so the carpet would be delivered to our home within a week after our return. They even had us sign the back of the carpet to ease our concerns and guarantee we would be getting the exact carpet we had picked out. We felt like we got a pretty good deal on the price at the time and are now thrilled with the carpet in our home.

We weren’t so impressed with the fabrics and ready to wear products that we found in the Channi garment showroom. As you might expect, it featured mostly block print fabrics but nothing there really knocked our socks off. However, Sunil next took us to one of the locations of the clothing store Anoki, a modern chain with retail locations across the country of India. While I sat comfortably sipping ginger tea in the attached café, my wife found many of the styles and fabrics that she had hoped to see and did her part in supporting the local textile industry.

After a very nice lunch at The Grand Peacock Restaurant, we returned to Shahpura House for a nap and a few laps in the hotel pool.

Our 2nd full day in Jaipur began with a visit to the City Palace. Guide Sunil told us that a building in the complex had been the scene of a large wedding party on the night before and the rental price was approximately $20,000 USD for the one night.

The many buildings, gardens, courtyards, decorative art and carved stone doorways (like the one shown here) presented an overwhelming display. We especially enjoyed a very fine textile collection as well as an amazing collection of ancient swords, guns and other weapons.

Our next stop was Jantar Mantar an outdoor observatory built in 1726 by Raja Jai Singh and some describe it as the largest sun dial in the world. In fact it includes a series of calendar devices for telling time and dates as well as makes accurate astrological predictions. It is one of five such astronomical wonders built by Sawai Jai Singh across India with including the first one in Delhi.

Our original plan was to spend the afternoon in the village of Sanganer, famous for textile block printing, handmade paper and Jain temples but we had bought some examples of the block printing the day before and at that point had been traveling for a full month and decided to have lunch and then return to the hotel for an afternoon of relaxation.

We had enjoyed our dinner so much the night before that we decided to return to the Golden Peacock Restaurant for dinner again.