The Golden Triangle

Our next stop on the Golden Triangle was 5 hours away, the city of Jaipur, also know as the "Pink City".  It is our opinion that the Pink City is actually not all that pink. We were expecting all the buildings to be pink in color because of the stone used to build them, but what we found was that only some of the buildings were actually pink and the ones that were pink had been painted! So to us it was the "Faux Pink City". Aside from looking at the "pink" buildings we visited a palace built by a royal family back in the 1700's (I think).  It was beautiful. The palace, which was also a fort, sat on top of a hill, above a man made lake.  By looking at the surrounding mountains we could see how it survived the centuries, it would have been so hard to get to.  We walked up, avoiding some hawkers and elephant dung, got to the main entrance and then decided the 200 rupee fee per person was too much.  We'd been to palaces/forts before and didn't feel like it would be worth it. Instead we just took pictures in the courtyard then walked along the walls outside.  

Man-made lake below the Amber Palace.  We came here first thing in the morning before it got too hot.  To get to this place we passed through the old city gates which are quiet high and built of pink sandstone.  There are seven such gates around the city.

Before going up the steps to the Amber Palace

You can see the palace walls at the back

A wall surrounds the palace - similar to the Great Wall of China, only shorter and narrower.

Elephant ride up to the palace.

We chose to walk rather than catch a ride on the elephant.

Hello, look what I can do.

There was this beautiful garden which required a lot of walking to get to so we admired it from a distance.

Another garden just outside the palace.

India is a very colorful country.  The women in Jaipur are especially known for wearing colorful garments. 

After the palace we visited some other historical sites and some tourist shopping places. We were taken to a gem cutting shop and talked into buying some jewelry... we didn't. A lot of mining for precious and semi-precious stones is done in Jaipur. It was very interesting to watch the technicians shape the stones, make the cuts and polish them to make the finished product. After that we were taken to a fabric shop where they sold sarees, carpets, bed sheets, pillow cases, scarves, and other clothing.  Many of the ornate items were handmade and very colorful.  They claimed to use all natural dyes and colorants made from vegetables and flowers.  At these shops you are received in a big room with comfortable sofas and made to feel at home.  They offered us sodas, cold water and even tea. They went through a dog and pony show and we decided at the end to buy two pillow cases. Jaipur is great for shopping and the prices are not bad if that's what you're looking for.  After all this, our driver said that it was too hot to keep driving around so  we bought lunch and he dropped us off at our hotel.

Jal Mahal - The Water Palace .  As you can see, it's built out in the water.

Tomb of the royal family that built the Amber Palace

Another section of the tomb.

Aside from touring the city we didn't do much because we got sick.  We went against some good advice, "Never eat fruit that you can't peel." We ordered some rice that had grapes in it, within an hour of eating it the show was over. In just a few words... it was a very bad night.

Next stop, Ranthambore.  

Ranthambore is a small town about 3 hours east of Jaipur... It took us about 5 because we had to stop to get the alternator fixed in Asad's car. We stopped in an even smaller town and received more than our share of blank stares from the locals... Mu was not amused.  Anyhow, with that ordeal over, we arrived in Ranthambore and found our hotel with a swimming pool... ahhh, refreshing.

The following morning we woke up early to go on our Tiger Safari!  We were so excited. We got onto what looked like a bus that had it's roof chopped off and was painted a military green (aka a canter).  Oh yeah, this was the real deal.  After stopping at a few other hotels to pick up more Safari goers we arrived in the Ranthambore National Park.  We saw all manner of animals on the ride.  There were monkeys jumping from tree to tree and deer grazing in the woods along with some giant antelopes.  We saw so many peacocks. We even saw two small crocodiles.  But what we were really hoping for, the single reason we came to Ranthambore, the one thing we would have loved to see in the wild, was as my Swahili speaking family would call a simba wa bara hindi.... The Tiger! We rode through the park for two hours, patiently waiting to see it. We got really excited whenever the ranger would talk on his radio and the truck would make a quick one-eighty.... "Oh boy! This is it! We're going to see it, I know it, I know it!"  Ahhh...but nothing. It was nowhere to be seen. Zero, Nada, Nothing, Zilch. The Tiger was hiding from us. We were quite disappointed but I guess you win some, you lose some.  When we returned to the hotel we sat and had lunch (still only dry toast because our bowels were still not settled) and started chatting with some of the others guests who had been on a safari.  There was a fellow next to us from Russia who said that their safari bus sat in the same spot for two hours as a Tiger just posed for their cameras!  "WHAT!  Awww man, really?" Wow, we were so jealous. We saw those guys get on their tour bus not more than 5 minutes before us. We should have followed them.  Then they went on to say that after an hour they just got really bored and started reading a book or something to pass the time.  Oh well. Bring on Agra. We know the Taj Mahal is there and not hiding.

There were many deer in the national park.

Monkey chillin' on a rock 

A male peacock(right) trying to get the females' attention (left)

Our safari transporter. It was fun riding with other tourists and sharing stories.

So our last stop on the Golden Triangle tour was the city of Agra. 

When we arrived we were honestly in shock. Looking around the city you wouldn't think something as highly esteemed as the Taj Mahal could be there. Litter was everywhere. Driving habits in Agra made Delhi orderly, calm, and quiet. Wow. We didn't dare venture more than three buildings away from our hotel.

The next morning Asad had the car ready, we loaded our bags and headed to the Taj Mahal. We met with an assigned tour guide who would be with us as we checked out the Crown Palace (Taj = Crown, Mahal = Palace).  After dodging all manner of rickshaw, car, bicycle, and camel we made it.  We went through security and entered the grounds.  It was like we stepped through a portal to another dimension.  Everything was so fresh, clean, symmetric and marble. First we entered a courtyard where our guide told us about the history of the Taj Mahal.  It took 22 years to complete it all. 17 for the Taj Mahal itself and an additional 5 years for the gardens and the surrounding buildings and gates.  The Taj Mahal was built by one of the Moghul Kings as a burial place for his third wife.  She is buried at the exact center of the building. He built it because she asked that he would promise to bury her in a nice place...  Well, from what we saw the Taj Mahal was a truly remarkable place.  So perfect in design and function.  It's amazing though to think that this massively elaborate building is the resting place of just 2 people... the king was buried right next to his wife.  This is one  place that you really have to see for yourself, we hope the pictures do it justice.

Taj Mahal and reflecting pool (fountains were off for maintenance)

It was interesting to learn that the towers around the main building were built with a two degree tilt away from the building so that should they fall, they'll fall away from the building rather than on it. Also the marble in some areas is inlaid with semi precious stones that reflect moonlight.

Looking back to the north gate from the Taj Mahal. Even the gardens around are perfectly symmetric.

View of the guesthouse from behind a lattice wall in the Taj Mahal.

To complete the triangle we returned to New Delhi (forgot to mention that New Delhi had the best food). We caught our flight to Thailand the next day with no issues.  Bangkok, here we come!