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Jaipur – 3rd October 2009, My 4th Wedding Anniversary

This is a recollection of  the trip to celebrate my 4th Wedding anniversary, and this year we decided not to go to the hill areas, which is what we normally do. So we planned a visit to Jaipur, the Pink City with great happiness and excitement! Both of us, my hubby and I, packed our bags on the night of the 2nd October and left our house bright and early in the morning of the 3rd at 5 am.

We don’t really know how we passed our journey because we were busy chatting and singing the whole way. We were reminiscing about the past 4 years together which had been filled with our bonded love.  The next thing I looked and we had already reached Amer/Amber Fort at 9:00 am, after a four hour journey that seemed to take no time at all.

Two or three guides were running around us, and we had to hire one of them. At that time I was thinking I would like to ride upon an Elephant but that was expensive as well time consuming so we decided to go to Jaipur via our sexy car.

Amer/Amber Palace: The guide told us that this palace was buit in the 16th century. The Palace is very beautiful and now also a heritage site , situated on the Delhi-Jaipur road, 11 km before Jaipur. There is a large open area which is called Diwan-e-am, and this is where elephant now move here and there with tourists.

If you have seen the movie “Jodha Akbar”, a song called “Azeemo Shan Shehansha” was filmed here in these grounds.  The temple of Kali Mata is also here and it is a very beautiful temple, it is also called Shila Mata Temple by the local people. The Emperor Maharaja Man Singh was a great devotee of Kali Maa.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_Fort

After viewing this site the guide took us a temple close to Amer Fort:  The Jagat Shiromani Temple! The Priest of this temple told us that this 600 year old temple is the only temple in the world which has a Krishna-Meera Idol. They also told us that this Krishna Idol is the same idol which was worshipped by the saint-poetess Meera. There was also a Palki and the Priest told us that this is Meera’s Palki. This is the same place where a scene was filmed for the movie “Bhool Bhulaiya” in which Akshay Kumar and Vidhya Balan were having a discussion about Ghunghroo (metallic bells).

After out visits to these very beautiful and historically interesting sites, the search was on for us to find a good hotel. We tried the Hotel Paradise, Arya Niwas, Umaid Bhawan, but due to it being a busy weekend, all the rooms were booked already. After hunting for about an hour we found a hotel with the help of a friendly guy. The Hotel Glitz!

The hotel was good and the rooms had all the amenities you would need for a comfortable stay. This included a coffee maker, fridge, beer, cold drinks and yes a bathtub in the bathroom. There was a good massage parlour of Kerala in the hotel too, but unfortunately we were unable to enjoy a nice relaxing massage because the time we had available was inconsistent with this.

See Hotel images here…

We only stayed at the hotel for about 15 minutes  to freshen up and then moved on to find something to eat. We were hungry as we had not made time to eat yet, and it had already been a very long morning. We found out very soon that Jaipur is an expensive city; this is as a result of all the tourist activity.. There were lots of crowds and it was a problem to move our car around, so we sensibly decided to park our car in the Raj Mandir Parking and moved around the city by rickshaw. First we took enjoyed our brunch at the Natraj Restaurant at MI Road. Food and the services in this restaurant were both good, or you could probably say that we hardly noticed anything but our hungry stomachs as it was already 2 pm!

We then spent a little time looking over “Jal Mahal” and “Hawa mahal”. I had already being there in my childhood and had some good memories.  One of these memories was of shopping so I decided to purchase a gift as a memento for my family. We hired a rickshaw to take us to the market and he took us to “City Palace” and “Jantar-Mantar”.

Nearby we found the Gayatri Bhawan or Maharani Market and went to sample the shopping. Everyone was praising this market, but we found everything to be costly so we returned without buying anything.

We moved on to the Johri Market the home of a famous shop “LMB – Lakshmi Misthan Bhandar”.  After a lot of bargaining (this is a must) I purchased two suit pieces, one sari, one blanket, a bedcover and bed sheets.

By this time we were both exhausted but decided to visit the “Birla Planetarium” nevertheless. Here they showed us an Audio-Video presentation of our stars, sun, and moon. This was the most overwhelming, astronomical experience!
After a 40 minute show we went to the Choki Dhani Village. This is a cultural experience, and the village reflects the ways the of old and traditional Rajasthan. People say that it started in 1969 as a restaurant only and now it has become one of the most entertaining parts of Rajasthan. They charge 350/- each and  provide lots of entertainment; things like puppet shows, magic shows, talent shows, different kind of Rajasthani dance, acrobatics on a bamboo, the astrologer, Bhool-bhulaiya, scary sounds and a jungle safari. The folk dancers amazed us when they plucked needles from their eyes!!  We danced with some dancers too and this was a truly awesome experience.

At the Choki Dhani Village there are also many rides like – Elephant, Camel, Bullock Cart and the Tonga Ride. You can also enjoy boating.

At one place an old lady was preparing a dish called “Baati” with Garlic Chutney. My hubby was very concerned about her because she was in a closed area, and she been there for 4-5 hours working in the smoke from the fire.

My husband indulged in a Champi (a head massage) too.

There were also dining arrangements with chairs, but I was expecting something like I had in “Swad Ri Dhani” Ajmer.  Speaking from my heart, the food was not so good, maybe a Chaupad arrangement would be fine. But those Rajasthani waiters were not very attentive so I only took a little bit of food there.

After spending 350 Rs. Per head, you can spend minimum 200 bucks and even more per head in other fun activities. But here we are talking about having fun and it was after all our anniversary – a celebration, so money was not a big concern.

This is how we spent the day enjoying our anniversary – lots of activity and very entertaining, as well as quite expensive. We have one more day in Jaipur but for now it is time to sleep.

The next day on the 4th of October, we awaked and were stunned with the change in weather. It seemed as though it must have been raining the whole night, with this chilly winds were blowing. We had breakfast in the Glitz Hotel and it was cold (the breakfast) because we were late down to the meal. But we can tell about the menu – Bread toast with butter and jam or whatever you like, baked beans in tomato sauce, omelet, boiled egg, omelet role, stuffed paratha with curd and spice pickles and of course coffee, tea and juices.

From the hotel we decided to visit “Nahargarh” and “Jaigarh fort“. This was on the way to Amer (Amber Fort). We reached Nahargarh, and took Chana Jor Garam, that was so delicious.  Drizzling rain was making for good exploring weather; and we hunted here and there, from top to bottom, Bawari and to the cafeteria. We found a palace, The Madhavendra Bhawan which is divided into 9 sections, the architecture and beautiful art on the walls was exquisite and I really enjoyed this. I was amazed at how fast the colors were, so shiny and smooth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nahargarh_Fort

I was also very upset after seeing how people can even think about destroying our national heritage. Obtuse lovers had written their names over the beautiful walls everywhere, people like this should be taken to task by the law.  It is awful that a few bad guys can damage our reputation and pride. I hate to know what foreign visitors who come here to see our beautiful heritage and culture think of these bad guys.

Nahargarh is a fort where Aamir Khan shot the film for “Rang De Basanti” and  the song “Apni to Pathshala”…

Jaigarh Fort: I found it so real and it was the most beautiful fort I have ever seen… one of the first things I started to think about was linking up with the lives of the King and Queen. I would like very much to know about their lives and times.  There were Diwan-e-khas and Diwan-e-am, dining halls which were separate for men, women and servants.

If you remember the movie “Jodha-Akbar” this was depicted here.

The fort contains an armory and a museum of words; you will find all kinds of interesting artifacts in the armory, guns, shields and muskets. This is also where you will find the world’s largest cannon, and it still looks fresh and new, “The Jaivana”. Indian armaments manufacturers were world famous for the quality of their cannon making hundreds of years ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaigarh_Fort

We also had a quick look at “Kanak Ghati”. And then we headed for Pizza Hut where we stuffed our stomachs full of pizza. Very yummy, pizza is my favorite food!!

We had a last fleeting look at the Lakshmi Narayan Temple “Birla Temple” on our way back to Delhi. I wanted to see “MotiDoongri Mahal of Gayatri devi“, but entry is prohibited.

We Left to return to Delhi at 5 pm, and we missed seeing Galta Ji… after visiting both these very large forts we were tired and eager to return home. We reached our home in Delhi at 9:45 pm after having to negotiate a large traffic jam, this is nothing unusual for Delhi traffic.

That was about it for our exploration of the Pink City of Jaipur, hope you enjoyed sharing the trip and the celebration of our 4th Wedding Anniversary. If you did, I am keen for you to share your views with me.

Keep in touch, I’ll be back with new city soon, till then Enjoy! 

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