November 17, 2009
I spent a week in Jaipur. The first few days were recovery and some orientation. I found a city a bit cleaner and more modern than Agra and Delhi but just as chaotic. I walked from hotel to the old (Pink) city several times but I don't recommend it. It takes too long (about and hour each way) and most of that is consumed with maneuvering through wheeled and pedestrian traffic. I would take a rickshaw except that I have found dealing with taxi drivers to be a consistently irritating experience everywhere in the world.
The City Palace has some interesting sites. The Palace of the Winds is an architectural feast, although clearly the builders did not place much importance on symmetry (quite unlike the Taj Mahal). The observatory at Jantar Mantar offers up a fascinating array of shapes on a vast scale. Unfortunately, the function of most these instruments is beyond my understanding, at least without extensive diagrams and vast swaths of time.
But the real gem is the abandoned city of Amber and the even older fortress of Jaigarh. Lavishly decorated inside and perched on an impossible ridge line, these are fantasy castles. I keep reading about Mughal influence and Mughal artisans but no purely Mughal creation seems to compare. Blame the British? But even the perfection of the Taj Mahal seems boring when compared with the defiant towers of Jaigarh. Maybe perfection is the problem. Perfect symmetry requires perfectly flat ground and that makes it look too easy.
On the day after Amber, the temperatures dropped and the rain came. Continuous drizzle fell throughout the day. I had already decided to skip Kalibangan. I had seen no progress on the logistical hurdles and I learned that the site had been neglected and eroded almost beyond recognition. I considered Jaisalmer but it is a long way out there and a long way back and the attractions just don't seem to justify the diversion. I wandered though the rain, running errands and getting train tickets to my first real wildlife park: the tiger preserve of Ranthambore.
I would have written something earlier but one errand, “hit the ATM”, took a lot more time than expected. First there was the 10,000 Rupiah withdrawal limit that I tried to avoid but ultimately had to give in to. Then there were the ATM's just didn't work properly. One even temporarily removed >$200 from my account without dispensing any cash. That issue was eventually resolved but it meant I had to wait until the morning hours before my train in order to get enough cash to pay my hotel bill.
I managed and, despite confusion about cars and seat assignments (I am now pretty sure that “WL/4” means “wait list”.) I caught my tiger train.