An impromptu post about my trip to Rajasthan!
Rajasthan was on my bucket list for over a year for all the colourful vibes and history the state has to offer.
I had a week long vacation when I was transitioning from one team to another at work. I wanted to make the most of this time where I had no responsibilities of old team and no work from the new team.
I wanted to go to Rajasthan in 2017 and it did not happen with extensive planning; planning paralysis! End of 2018, without giving much of a thought, I decided to go on a vacation.
My friends who visited recently helped me come up with a decent itinerary.
Excited as ever, I was more than happy to be taking my parents on their first flight. The impending innocence and joy on their face to see the flight take off is something that I will cherish for a lifetime.
The first city we landed on was Jaipur!
Jaipur Tales
Jotting down few memories of Jaipur which caught my attention vividly.
The city of Jaipur welcomed us with a bright pink smile on its face. The sunlight was high but the winds were chilling. Those were the coldest days of December!
The city is known for wide roads built by Raja Man Singh centuries ago spoke volumes on the planning and thinking. As we drove through, we were greeted with tall clean pink buildings on either sides of the road.
I still feel so intoxicated by the piping hot chais of Jaipur, early morning smell of fried kachori and samosa, carts of kadai poha in front of Hawa Mahal, array of flower sellers sitting outside the temples. The city has its own palette of food with smell of fresh parathas with butter filling the air and hung thick curd, series of gewars and phenis, piping hot jalebis and churning milk in the biggest containers, people flocking in at well known restaurant LMB to try the authentic Rajasthani thali, dal baati choorna!
The best part is the availability of tongas throughout Jaipur which you can bargain for a cheap ride. It’s also a wonderful way to experience a place slowly and closely.
Some of the noteworthy memories of the local markets are of the flying pigeons all over the place and tons of shops selling pigeon food, guides wrestling to get their first share of customers, shopkeepers doing the job of photographer outside hawa mahal to get customers, never ending bargains, never ending shops of colourful bandhinis, jutis, leather bags, tourists decking up the city with essence of languages from all over the world.
Every road welcomes you with an intricately designed arch taking you back to the time of kings and queens.
Puppet shows in the mahal and various parts of Jaipur is definitely a thing to look out for in Rajasthan. There will be two people performing this art. A singer and a puppeteer who controls the puppets with the strings from behind the curtains. Puppets were controlled to dance to the songs of Amitabh, Madhuri and many other super stars.
Night vibes is something to watch out for in Jaipur. I felt the pink city had transformed into an orange city with lights decking up all the buildings. It’s also a peaceful time to finish your shopping and get some pictures clicked in front of radiating and peaceful Hawa Mahal. The nights of December gets extremely cold and the shops selling colourful sweaters, caps of wool, jackets decks the roads.
Adding one or two lines about the touristy places I visited:
Hawa Mahal– prime attraction of Jaipur, is situated at the heart of old Jaipur. It’s a 5 storeyed honeycomb shaped building which was used by queens and royal ladies of the City Palace to view the festivities and the world outside. One can spot the celebration of the amalgamation of Rajput and Islamic architecture.
Amer Fort is one of the neatly maintained fort of Jaipur. There was an option to ride over elephants or to walk. I chose to walk as I wanted to savour every bit of the journey. Amer fort has intricate paintings on its wall made with vegetable colours like mustard leaves for green. Amer Fort also has a beautiful Sheesh Mahal, literally translates to a palace of mirrors, mirrors of all shapes and dimensions adorning the walls, ceiling and the door. I was fascinated by the water storage underground tanks built centuries ago to conserve rain water.
Mughal garden at the entrance of the fort is a picture worth looking at.
We also visited a nearby stepwell, Panna Meena Kund around 4 kms from the Amer Fort is definitely an architectural marvel. This step well was an invention of the 8th century, to store rain water.
Walking further ahead exploring the place, we came across this beautiful temple with open circular ceiling. We sat and relaxed there for a while.
Nahagarh Fort.
Nahagarh Fort is situated at a higher altitude and has a view of the entire city of Jaipur. Generally, any forts were a place where soldiers resided watching for enemies and protecting the people of the place. Nahagarh Fort is now converted to a museum. There are also identical houses which was constructed for 8 chief soldiers and a step well nearby.
Albert Hall Museum is also a place to watch for getting a sight of culture of Rajasthan and rest of the world. The museum houses mummies of Egypt, porcelain vases from Persia, colourful paintings of Krishna, warrior weapons and costumes, wooden work of the old times, musical instruments and many more. The museum is fully lit at night and the light colour changes from pink to red to green to blue!
Jantar Mantar is a geometrical and astronomical marvel built by Maharaja Jai Singh II. There are huge time machines which are still in use to determine time, day, month and year.
Jal Mahal is an amazing place to visit post sunset. It’s a palace built in the middle of a lake and the lighting makes it a perfect place to sit and chit chat over variety of snacks. There is also a market selling different artifacts of Rajasthan. We also came across some great locals to crack a great conversations!
Places Visited:
Hawa Mahal
City Palace
Jantar Mantar
Albert Hall Museum
Amer Fort
Nahagarh Fort
Must Visit Food Places:
LMB- Laxmi Mishtan Bhojanalay
Chaat Places outside Amer Fort
Local Chai Shops
Days Spent:
2 days
Watch out upcoming posts for stories about rest of the places in Rajasthan!
Happy Exploring!