Hampi

Eindelijk weg uit Panjim.
Heel vroeg opgestaan en de taxi genomen naar het treinstation in Margao.
Met de trein gaan we van Margao naar Hospet, volgens de LP een ritje van om en bij de 8 uren, en van Hospet met de rikshaw naar Hampi.
De treinreis was een ervaring op zich en ook al hadden we sleeper couches geboekt toch was het drummen geblazen. Maar al bij al was het een comfortabele reis, Petra zat te mijmeren bij het voorbij tsjokkende landschap terwijl ik hard m'n best deed om mijn eerste boek uit te krijgen.
De aankomst in Hospet was een typische voor een toeristische plek, nog voor de trein stilstond werden we al aangeklampt door kandidaat rikshaw drivers.
Effe prijs overeen komen en dan op naar Hampi dat 14km verder ligt.
We waren beide zeer benieuwd want langs alle kanten hadden we gehoord dat Hampi een absolute aanrader is.
En inderdaad, Hampi is ronduit schitterend !!!
Niet alleen voor de vele mooie tempels en het magische landschap waarin ze liggen maar vooral ook door het gewone Indische dorpsleven dat je hier duidelijk te zien krijgt.
We logeren in een guesthouse in Hampi bazaar, de omgeving rond de main tempel.
Hampi bazaar kan ik best omschrijven als een lange laan met aan de ene kant de hoofd tempel en aan de andere kant de toegang tot een ander tempel complex.
Daartussenin vind je winkeltjes, straatventers, rikshaws, brommertjes, restaurants, drommen pelgrims en de simpele huisjes van de bewoners zelf.
Aan de linker en rechter kant is Hampi bazaar omgeven door bananenplantages en een grote rivier.
Wat verder weg begint een magisch rotslandschap dat zich tot aan de horizon uitstrekt, de views en de omgeving zijn zo mooi dat we er stil van worden.
Eigenlijk is het onmogelijk om Hampi te beschrijven, Hampi is iets wat je zelf moet ervaren en beleven.

morgen meer en misschien al een paar foto's

Panjim

Zoals reeds gezegd zijn we hier niet zonder horten of stoten toegekomen.
Eerst vanuit Agonda met de rikshaw naar de bus halte om daar de bus te nemen naar Margao.
Tot Margao alles goed maar dan begon het.
We besloten om van daaruit de taxi te nemen tot in Panjim.
Onze chauffeur was echter van een heel bijzonder kaliber : eentje die super agressief en luidop vloekend het verkeer probeerde te overwinnen en daarbij alles uit zijn armzalige taxi probeerde te persen. Alleen was zijn vitessebak rotversleten wat zijn opdracht er niet makkelijker op maakte en de agressie alleen nog maar meer opstookte (doet me aan mezelf denken als ik in een slechte bui ben).
Eerst waren we beiden met verstomming geslagen want eerlijk gezegd heb ik nog nooit een indier zijn beheersing op zo'n manier weten verliezen maar na een tijdje begon ik het echt wel grappig te vinden en besloot om hem volmondig te steunen door mee op die andere klote chauffeurs te vloeken en hem aan te moedigen. We vloekten dus in stereo.
I know I'm bad ;-)
Aangekomen in Panjim was onze eerste guesthouse reeds volzet, dus op naar de volgende, we kenden de naam, het adres en we hadden uitleg gekregen hoe we moesten stappen.
Op de plaats waar we de guesthouse verwachtten was natuurlijk niets te vinden, ok geen probleem dan vragen we het even aan die vriendelijke politieagent. Spijtig genoeg was die niet bijster snugger dus die wist het antwoord niet. Dan maar naar de toeristische dienst aan de overkant van de straat, die gaan dat beslist wel weten. Petra achter gelaten op een rustig plekje met de rugzakken en ikke de weg gaan vragen. Bij de toeristische dienst kreeg ik een stadsplan, echter zonder straatnamen op, DUH !!!!
Dan maar rechtstreeks vragen met als antwoord ; "Your hotel is the red building right across the street." Ik kijk uit het venster en inderdaad een rood gebouw aan de overkant van de straat, Hanske happy !!!
Tot ik aan de overkant van de straat stond, het gebouw was wel rood maar NIET ons hotel.
Ok, nu begon ik toch langzaam te stomen want na een tocht van ettelijke uren en rondzeulen met zware rugzakken in een broedende hitte was ik echt toe aan een lekkere frisse pint, ik wou dat hotel dus zo snel mogelijk vinden.
Dan maar in cirkels het gebied verkend op zoek naar ons hotel.
Na ongeveer 45 minuten vragen en zoeken heb ik het dan toch eindelijk gevonden, niet zo ver van de plaats waar we initieel gezocht hadden EN op het einde van de straat waar die agent zijn post had. Die sukkel kende dus de straatnaam niet van de straat waar zijn wachhuisje stond, hoe dom kan een mens zijn ?
Maar allez, we hadden ons hotel en na een verfrissende douche doken we volle moed de stad in op zoek naar een leuk terrasje waar we een frisse pint konden drinken.
Na een dik uur zoeken nog niet 1 terras gevonden, om moedeloos van te worden !!!
Kortom, Hanske stond zowat op ontploffen.
Uiteindelijk na heel lang zoeken dan toch eentje gevonden (er is er maar 1 in de ganse stad) maar daar mocht je dan weer niet roken, grmbl grmbl grmbl !!!
De eerste dag in Panjim was dus alles behalve geslaagd te noemen.
Maar nadien, eens we er onze weg zowat kenden, leuke restaurants en koffiehuizen hadden ontdekt, was Panjim best gezellig.
Uiteindelijk zijn we maar een paar dagen in Panjim gebleven waarvan we er eentje met een driver zijn rondgetrokken om watervallen te bezichtigen en Old Goa te bezoeken en eentje waar we de fleamarket in Anjuna hebben bezocht.
Zowel de Dudhsagar watervallen als Old Goa waren leuk maar absoluut niets meer, ik denk dat we meer genoten hebben van onze vlot pratende driver dan van de attracties zelf.
De fleamarket in Anjuna daarentegen was een absolute topper, een dagje om niet snel te vergeten.

Maar ondertussen zitten we reeds in Hampi en dat is een heeeeel ander verhaal ;-)

BACK TO INDIA ;-)

Ons vertrek is vlotjes verlopen, effe vliegen tot Zurich, uitstappen, koffieke drinken, uurke later terug instappen, non-stop filmkes kijken en verder vliegen tot Mumbai.
Van Mumbai niet veel gezien want na een nachtje slapen vlogen we verder naar Goa maar dat was buiten Obama gerekend. Onze beste vriend was hier namelijk ook op bezoek met eindeloze vertragingen tot gevolg.
Wegens zijn druk schema hadden we niet echt de tijd om bij te praten maar we hebben met hem en zijn Michelleke afgesproken om op het einde van onze reis samen wat te doen.
Eens aangekomen in Goa zijn we dan door gereden naar Agonda voor een paar dagen beach en relax maar daar hebben de weer goden ne ferme boomstronk tussen gestoken want ook al zou het regenseizoen hier al lang gedaan moeten zijn daarboven zijn ze daar bijlange nog niet van overtuigd met als gevolg dat we bijna uit onze beach hut gespoeld zijn. Die hutjes zijn op zo een geweld natuurlijk niet voorzien met als gevolg dat het water letterlijk van de muren liep. Na 2 dagen hebben we ons reisschema dan maar aangepast en zijn we eerder naar Panjim vertrokken.
Onze trip tot daar was evenmin zonder hotsen en botsen maar daarover meer de volgende keer ...

Agra - Delhi - The End

After our visit to the splendid Taj Mahal it was time for us to check out and leave for our final destination => Delhi.
Now the end is really near and I think we all share the same feeling, neither of us wants it to end this soon. There's so much more to see and so much more to experience in this beautiful country.
Sadly it'll have to wait for a next time.

Our guided tour in Delhi was a really short one and was actually nothing more than some sight seeing by car and a few photo stops.
Traffic is very hectic here (what do you expect with 13 million inhabitants) and Raju's driving style clearly scares our new guide (he even silently confides to Hilde that we have a crazy driver) ;-)
What does he know ? Our dear driver only wants to step in the footsteps of his idol Michael Schumacher.

He has the need for speed, he is the king of the road !!
What do I say ? He IS the road !!!
HONK HONK, make some room fuckers cause Raju is here, Michael Schumacher incarnate !!!


At around 17hr we are dropped at the Crowne Plaza hotel where we have a day room to our disposal until 22hr and where lightning strikes me.
The hostess of this fine hotel is the most exquisite creature I've seen in a very very long time.
Imagine a tall slender figure, light brown skin, big brown eyes, long shiny black hair and a face so cute that it makes your heart melt like chocolate on a hot stove. On top of that she's wearing a very beautiful sari which completes the picture.
Now this is the kind of woman that makes my heart go wild and if this was Belgium then I wouldn't stop until I could call her mine.
If I come back to Delhi then this is definitely the hotel where I'm going to stay ;-)

We spend our last hours freshing up, walking around the neighbourhood, rearranging our luggage, watching a documentary on our huge flatscreen tv-set and having one of the nicest buffets for diner.
Time flies and before we know it it's time to check out and to head for the airport.
Bye bye India, bye bye beautiful hostess ...

At the airport it's time to say goodbye to our dear driver Raju, a moment which makes me sad because I don't want to say goodbye yet.
We hug, we share some tears and I make the promise to visit him when I come back to India, a promise I tend to keep if he still remembers me by then.
But then again, who can forget a unique specimen like me ?
After all I'm the most handsome guy of Antwerp and the whole area around (atleast for some) ;-)

We wait / sleep in the lounge until it's time to board our plane where I sleep again until a couple of hours before we land.
Just enough time to watch a movie.
The pilot makes a successful landing and we're in Belgium again, our trip is now officially over :-(
But on the positive side, I can't wait to go and pick up my little furry friend Biebel, I'm pretty sure he can get me over my sadness these first couple of days.

Well I guess it's really over now.

@Hilde : thanks for giving me the opportunity to join you on this wonderful trip. You turned out to be the best traveling partner I ever had and if you should be in need of some company on one of your future travels then don't hesitate to give me a call.
Big hugs for you missy, I really enjoyed your company ;-)

@Raju : It wouldn't have been the same without you my friend. Thanks for all your hugs, your good care of us, the times you made me laugh and most of all thanks a lot for your friendship.
I miss you big time and I promise that we will meet again !

@Petra : thanks for taking such good care of my little Biebel, you're the best !!!


And now ... It's time to start planning my next trip ;-)

Taj Mahal

FINALLY !!!!!
Since I was a little boy and first saw a picture of this magnificent monument I fell in love with it and made myself the promise to see it in real one day.
After so many years that day has arrived ;-)

At 05hr30 in the morning our guide picked us up and we drove to the starting point from where we could start our visit.
In the past pollution has been turning the Taj Mahal yellow. To help control the pollution, the Indian government has set up a 10,400 square kilometer (4,015 square mile) area around the monument where strict emissions standards are in place, only bikes and electric cars are allowed to drive in that area.
Sadly Kokechi wasn't allowed inside for security reasons (no sharp objects, pens or objects that could contain explosives are allowed inside) so I couldn't take a picture of my sisters' lucky doll together with the Taj Mahal.

But before I show the pictures it's time for some history first :
In 1607 CE (1025 AH), at the age of fifteen, Shah Jahan was to marry Arjumand Banu Begum, the grand daughter of a Persian noble, who was 14 years old at the time. She would become the unquestioned love of his life. They would, however, have to wait five years before they were married in 1612 CE (1021 AH). After their wedding celebrations, Shah Jahan "finding her in appearance and character elect among all the women of the time," gave her the title Mumtaz Mahal (Jewel of the Palace).
Mumtaz Mahal had 14 children. Despite her frequent pregnancies, she travelled with Shah Jahan's entourage throughout his earlier military campaigns and the subsequent rebellion against his father. Mumtaz Mahal was utterly devoted — she was his constant companion and trusted confidante and their relationship was intense. She is portrayed by Shah Jahan's chroniclers as the perfect wife with no aspirations to political power.
The intervening years had seen Shah Jahan take two other wives known as Akbarabadi Mahal (d.1677 CE, 1088 AH), and Kandahari Mahal (b. c1594 CE, c1002 AH), (m.1609 CE, 1018 AH).
According to the official court chronicler Qazwini, the relationship with his other wives "had nothing more than the status of marriage. The intimacy, deep affection, attention and favor which His Majesty had for the Cradle of Excellence [Mumtaz] exceeded by a thousand times what he felt for any other."

Construction of the Taj Mahal began in 1632, one year after her death.
A labour force of twenty thousand workers was recruited across northern India.
The principal mausoleum was completed in 1648 and the surrounding buildings and garden were finished five years later.

Emperor Shah Jahan himself described the Taj in these words:

Should guilty seek asylum here,
Like one pardoned, he becomes free from sin.
Should a sinner make his way to this mansion,
All his past sins are to be washed away.
The sight of this mansion creates sorrowing sighs;
And the sun and the moon shed tears from their eyes.
In this world this edifice has been made;
To display thereby the creator's glory.

Upon Shah Jahan's death, Aurangzeb buried him in the mausoluem next to his beloved wife.

So NO, it's not a temple to burn some candles nor should it be damaged for the sake of having a souvenir.
Instead it's a mausoleum, a tomb for a loved one but most of all it's built to show the world how much he loved his wife and how dearly he missed her ( an ultimate sign of love and grief ).
In my humble opinion the most romantic and most beautiful building in the world.
If I should ever decide to ask for a woman's hand in marriage then it'll be here and nowhere else.

The Great gate (Darwaza-i rauza), gateway to the Taj Mahal
I'm getting really excited now

FINALLY !!! (having goosebumps)

just can't get enough of it ;-)

What a beauty !!!

Tombs of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal

rightfully one of the 7 wonders of the world

Bye bye beautiful Taj Mahal, for now at least, I'm sure we will meet again pretty soon.

Fatehpur Sikri - Agra

Today is a sad day, we start to realise that our trip is almost at an end, tomorrow night we fly back to Belgium.
There's also some good news though, the pills we got yesterday seem to work and now we can joyfully fart again without fear to soil our pants ;-)
Another good thing is that we're finally going to see Taj Mahal, woohoo !!

But first we're going to visit Fatehpur Sikri.
The roads are good and Raju makes very good speed again so I think we're going to arrive early.
After a couple of hours and multiple almost-collisions (we left quite some amount of rubber sticking on the road) we arrive at Fatehpur Sikri.

The historical city was constructed by Mughal emperor Akbar in 1570 and served as the empire's capital from 1571 until 1585.
Akbar was a follower of Salim Chisthi a holy man who lived in the region of Sikri near Agra, who later blessed him with three sons. Believing the neighbourhood to be a lucky one for himself, he had a mosque constructed there for the use of the saint. Subsequently, he celebrated the victories over Chittor and Ranthambore by laying the foundation of a new walled capital, 23 miles (37 km) west of Agra in 1569, which was named Fatehpur ("town of victory") after the conquest of Gujarat in 1573 and subsequently came to be known as Fatehpur Sikri in order to distinguish it from other similarly named towns. Palaces for each of Akbar's senior queens, a huge artificial lake, and sumptuous water-filled courtyards were built there. However, the city was soon completely abandoned and the capital was moved to Lahore in 1585. The reason may have been that the water supply in Fatehpur Sikri was insufficient or of poor quality. Or, as some historians believe, Akbar had to attend to the northwest areas of his empire and therefore moved his capital northwest. Other sources indicate Akbar simply lost interest in the city or realized it was not militarily defensible. In 1599, Akbar shifted his capital back to Agra from where he reigned until his death.
The surviving palace and mosque are a tourist attraction and a UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE monument. The site itself is a ghost town and only 5% of the original city remains.

The buildings of Fatehpur Sikri show a synthesis of various regional schools of architectural craftsmanship such as Gujarat and Bengal. This was because indigenous craftsmen from various regions were used for the construction of the buildings . Influences from Hindu and Jain architecture are seen hand in hand with Islamic elements. The building material predominantly used is red sandstone.

Kokechi in Fatehpur Sikri

inner entrance gate to Jama Masjid (mosque) and the courtyard

Before we go through this gate we need to take of our shoes because we're entering "muslim territory".
Today is a very hot day, well over 40°C in the shade, and the stones of the courtyard are so hot that they burn our feet. Luckily they had some narrow mats crossing the courtyard to walk upon but with all those people there was often no room on them which forced us to walk on the hot stones anyway. A bad day for our poor feet.

Tomb of Salim Chisthi

inside the tomb, look at all the marble carved panels

a carved marble panel inside the tomb

the mosque

a row of chhatri

one of the remaining entrance gates to the city

Again we were in awe for the rich and delicate decorations of another historical site, these people never stop to amaze us and we wish we could see it like it really was in those days.

On our way back to the car we need to pass the usual gift shops and for once these have pretty things. The prices they ask are well over the top and the bartering begins. I pretend to have almost no money left and show him my empty pockets leaving him no choice to accept the price I'm offering if he wants to sell anything. Not happy with the amount he looks at my sunglasses and says he thinks they're pretty and that if I give them up I can have the items for the price I'm offering. I guess I have not much need for them anymore anyway so I agree and call myself the proud owner of some nice souvenirs.

a funny little guy doing his very best to release me from some of my "monetary" burden, he made me laugh (a rare sight)

After a hot and busy day we finally arrived in Agra in the late afternoon and while we visit Agra Fort we got our first glimpses of the Taj Mahal, one of the most beautiful buildings in the world !!

Tomorrow we will see it in all it's splendor, I can't wait ;D

Agra Fort was commissioned by the great Mughal Emperor Akbar in 1565, and is another of Agra's World Heritage Sites, A stone tablet at the gate of the Fort states that it had been built before 1000 but was later renovated by Akbar. The red sandstone fort was converted into a palace during Shah Jahan's time (Remember the guy who was in exile in Udaipur ?), and reworked extensively with marble and pietra dura inlay. Notable buildings in the fort include the Pearl Mosque, the Dīwān-e-'Ām and Dīwān-e-Khās (halls of public and private audience), Jahangir's Palace, Khās Mahal, Shīsh Mahal (mirrored palace) and the Musamman Burj.
Here in this fort Shah Jahan was put under house arrest when his son Aurangzeb revolted and seized power. Shah Jahan died here 8 years later.

entrance to the Fort

the audition hall

a look inside

Shah Jahan's quarters

view on the Taj Mahal from the Shah's quarters

Taj Mahal on the river bank

After our visit to the Fort and the first glimpses of Taj Mahal it's time to go to our hotel, freshen up a bit and to hit the town.
There's a coffee shop nearby, we already saw a couple of internet café's and we still need some souvenirs to take home so we have a lot to do before tomorrow ;-)

On a side note : before I came to India people warned me of it's smell, they said that India smells like shit (literally). Well I never noticed that during our trip ... until here in Agra, it really stinks here but after 30 minutes or so you're used to it.

Jaipur

DAY ONE

Today we're off to Jaipur where we're going to stay for 2 days.
Both Hilde and me are having serious tourista problems which doesn't make long drives like today very easy, I even hardly slept last night, spent more time on the toilet than sleeping in my bed. But I stay optimistic, it's all part of the adventure called travelling ;-)

The roads are good and Raju maintains a high speed so I guess we're going to make a good time.
Traffic in India is rather chaotic and you can expect practically every possible situation, we see herders with their flock of goats crossing the highway, cows running where they want and some of them even take a rest in the middle of the road, there are no dedicated lanes for slower and faster traffic so everybody drives where he wants, we even encounter several drivers driving in the wrong direction (spookrijders).
Two times today we nearly had an accident, the first time we barely missed a cow and the second time Raju had to go full on the breaks for a motorcycle driver who crossed the street without paying attention.
Both times our hearts almost stopped but after about 5 hours driving we reach Jaipur in one piece.
Since we have nothing special planned for today we ask Raju to take us to the city centre after we fresh up and take a toilet break in our hotel first.

Raju taking a nap in the car

Ok, freshing up and toilet break are over, we're ready to hit the town for some sightseeing and shopping ofc.
Finally we reached Jaipur, according to Raju THE place to be for shoppers.
Seems that there's a hospital right in front of our hotel and we decide to stop there first for some medication that hopefully works because we're fed up with having to run to the toilet all the time.

Royal Albert Hall (picture taken from wikipedia)

Jaipur, also known as the Pink City (In 1876, all the houses in Jaipur were painted pink to welcome Prince Albert and Queen Elizabeth II), is the capital of Rajasthan and was founded in 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II. The city has a population of more than 6 million.
When we first drive through the Jaipur city centre I don't like it for one bit, it's hot, crowded, chaotic and that pink color everywhere makes it look dirty and shabby.
Raju finally takes us to some nice shops but they turn out to be major rip-offs, for example they charge me 27 euro's for a pair of pants I payed only 3 euro's a couple of days ago. So we end up buying nothing much to the shopkeepers distress.
Then we go buy "sloefkes", Hilde is wild about them and definately wants to take some pairs home (women and shoes huh).
Again Raju takes us to one of his recommended shops where Hilde suffers one of her worst shopping experiences ever in India ;-)
The sellers really don't want to let her go without a bag of shoes and soon the whole floor is littered with shoes she had to try on, the only problem is that they're all too small or not to her liking. You don't like this colour miss ? No problem and there they take a pot of paint and start painting the shoes in a different colour. Still Hilde doesn't like them and I see the sellers really getting stressed out and they start pushing her more until Hilde almost reaches a point of anger where she wants to beat some heads together. At that moment a bus full of tourists stops right in front of the shop and immediately their attention shifts to the new targets.
We take this opportunity to make a quick escape ;-)
Never again are we taking Raju's advice about shops, they all sucked monkeyballz.
So we stroll around town some more and what do we see ? YES, an internet café, finally !!!
The next hour or so we try to work on our blogs, typing stories and uploading pictures at the rate of 1 picture in 10 minutes, VERY frustrating !!!

Btw, did I already tell about my dear kittycat Biebel ? I had to leave him in a cat hotel when I left for this trip and now a good friend of mine goes to check up on my cat almost on a daily basis.
Now my friend made a blog especially about my cat and how my baby is doing in his hotel, what a wonderful initiative !!!
My cat is probably one of the very few cats in the world with it's own blog.
While I'm uploading the pictures I can read up on Biebel's adventures and I must say that it always brings a very big smile on my face, it's nice to know that my baby is taken good care off :-)

Anyway, after updating our blogs we decide to go for some food, when we entered the city we saw a Mc Donalds and the idea of eating a Big Mac makes our stomachs growl.
Also all the food in Mc Do is fried which means no bugs to make our medical situation worse.
We're fed up with the fact that we always need to be very careful of what we eat, it'll be a nice change to all the toasts and yoghurt we're eating the last couple of days.
DOH, no cow meat in India so no Big Mac :-(
Well, fish and chicken will have to do then.
For Raju it's his very first Mc Donalds experience and I think he likes it.
While we're eating some street children keep knocking on the windows where we sit to draw our attention, we try to ignore them but it breaks our heart.
When we leave one of the street children is very persistent, not even Raju succeeds in scaring her away, against his advice I give her some money and she rewards me with the biggest of smiles and a thumbs up.
My heart really breaks now and I'd love nothing more than to take her home, give her a good scrubbing, dress her in nice clothes and to send her to school like a normal kid.
Maybe one day I can come back permanently and give some of these kids a chance for a normal life, I'd really like that.

my street kid

We end the evening in Reds, a hip bar with a nice view on the town. Raju clearly enjoys his royal treatment and I enjoy a nice cup of coffee ;-)
Good coffee is really a treat here, you find it everywhere or atleast something that looks like it until you drink it, coffee in India tastes like horse piss !!!
For a coffee addict like me that's really bad so whenever I get the chance to drink a good cup I won't let that chance go by.

DAY TWO

First task of the day is a new visit to the hospital, to our disappointment the pills we got yesterday didn't help one bit.
Today they give us the really "heavy stuff", lets hope these work.
We start our guided tour of the city and we begin with Hawa Mahal, also known as the Palace of the Winds.
Actually it's nothing more than a facade specially created for the palace women so they can watch daily life unobserved.

Hawa Mahal / Palace of the Winds

We continue with the Amber Fort.
The structure which is known today as "Amber Fort" was initially a palace complex within the original fort of Amber that is today known as Jaigarh Fort. Connected to Amber via fortified passages, Jaigarh Fort is located on a hill above the Amber complex, and is constructed of red sandstone and white marble. It overlooks Maotha Lake, and was reputed to be the treasure vault of the Kacchwaha rulers.
Again we are overwhelmed by the rich decorations and the beauty of this place.

Jaigarh and Amber Forts on the hill top

The old defensive walls, they are over 10 km's long

remnants of the old village next to the forts

a beautiful ruin

mother washing child

Langur monkeys

fort entrance

mmm, looks like an elephant to me, what do you make of this ?

one of the inner courtyards

details details details (and lots of tourists)

Jantar Mantar is next, it is a collection of architectural astronomical instruments, built by Maharaja (Ruler) Jai Singh II at his then new capital between 1727 and 1734.
The observatory consists of fourteen major geometric devices for measuring time, predicting eclipses, tracking stars' location as the earth orbits around the sun, ascertaining the declinations of planets, and determining the celestial altitudes and related ephemerides. Each is a fixed and 'focused' tool. The Samrat Yantra, the largest instrument, is 90 feet (27 m) high, its shadow carefully plotted to tell the time of day. Its face is angled at 27 degrees, the latitude of Jaipur. The Hindu chhatri (small cupola) on top is used as a platform for announcing eclipses and the arrival of monsoons.
Built from local stone and marble, each instrument carries an astronomical scale, generally marked on the marble inner lining. Bronze tablets, all extraordinarily accurate, were also employed. Thoroughly restored in 1901, the Jantar Mantar was declared a national monument in 1948.



We end our guided tour with the City Palace.
The Chandra Mahal palace now houses a museum but the greatest part of it is still a royal residence. The palace complex, which is located northeast of the centre of the grid patterned Jaipur city, incorporates an impressive and vast array of courtyards, gardens and buildings. The palace was built between 1729 and 1732, initially by Sawai Jai Singh II, later additions were made by successive rulers right up to the 20th century.

Palace guards

On our way back to the hotel we also get a good look at Jal Mahal, the Water Palace located in the middle of the Man Sagar Lake.

Jal Mahal (picture taken from wikipedia)

Buffaloes on the shore of the lake

Our tour ended in the late afternoon and we sent Raju to his hotel room to get a good sleep because he's also sick, showing the same symptoms like we have.
Poor guy, it''ll do him good to have an afternoon off to recover a bit.
Meanwhile our "heavy stuff" seems to have a positive effect, woohoo free at last !!!
We ask in the hotel what it'd cost for a taxi to the city centre and to our astonishment it's very expensive, 900 rupies single way. Mmmmm that's a lot of money for a 10 minute taxi drive.
The doorman gives us the advice to walk to the street and take a cab there, they should be less expensive.
We take his advice and soon we made a good arrangement with a tuktuk driver to drive us around town the rest of the day and bring us back to our hotel for only 600 rupies, that's still expensive for India but in euro's it's only a little bit more than 10 euro's so we agree.
This is the first time we get the chance to "escape" without a guide or Raju around which gives us a feeling of freedom and we tend to enjoy our freedom to the fullest.
First stop is one of the busy but less touristic main streets where Hilde hopes to find some "sloefkes" for a reasonable price. It doesn't take long to find what she's looking for and because tourists hardly ever come in this area to shop, prices are very reasonable for once.

Sloefkes ;-)

A little further we meet an Indian guy who is full of joy when he hears we're from Belgium.
A couple of days ago he got a nice Belgian present => a little statue of Manneke Pis ;-)
Almost an hour later we notice that we're still talking and having fun with this guy and his brother, our driver is waiting so we say our goodbye's and we're off again.
Next stop is another busy shopping street where we hope to find some spices to take home.
We find much more than we hoped to find and soon we're both carrying a couple of bags with nice souvenirs.
Shopping makes hungry and it doesn't take long before we're at Mc Do's again for some nice fishburgers. I'm on the lookout for my street kid from yesterday but without any luck, it'd have been nice to spoil her with some hamburgers (I know it's crappy food but I guess they never get the chance to eat something "exotic" like a stupid hamburger).
After Mc Do's we decide to have another drink in Reds across the street and to have some of their nice deserts => sizzling brownie, a large brownie heated on a steel plate and then drenched in hot chocolate sauce. When the sauce hits the steel plate it starts to sizzle, hence the name ;-)
It's pretty late when we get back to our hotel but this was definitely our most fun evening since we arrived in India.

PS: THE PILLS WORK ;-)