Festival of light

Jaipur is known as the pink city from the colour of the stone and painted decor used on the ramparts of the city walls and its key sights; The Amber Fort and the City Palace. But we were there for the great festival of Diwali (the festival of light) so not only was the city its usual pink hue, but the streets were covered with ceilings of multi-coloured lights and the skies filled with busting fireworks.

We arrived from Udaipur on the train (7hrs) and after a little confusion over where we were meeting our driver and who he was supposed to be collecting (Mr David Shoulder was on his sign) he eventually found us at the station masters office trying to call the hotel, this time with our names on his placard so an hour later we were finally on our way.

After a good nights rest and a breakfast of chocolate banana pancakes at Hotel Kaylan, we awoke to our next city for exploration.

Jaipur is the capital and largest city of Rajasthan. Founded by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh ll who ruled the town of Amber where the magnificent fort is located just 10km outside of the city.

The Amber Fort of Jaipur

As the tenth most populous city in India it certainly felt like we had returned to some of the craziness of Delhi. We had planned to walk into the old walled city but soon realised the small streets of Udaipur were far behind us and our haggling hats were back on as we picked up an auto rickshaw into the city.

Sari shops in the old city

Having been dropped at Ajmer Gate we walked the bazaars of the old city all ready dressed in lights ready for Diwali that night. It continued to fascinate us how each street was dedicated to a different type of shop: 

Johari Bazaar - the jewellery market
Maniharon ka Rasta - famous for bangles
Indra Bazaar - motorcycle repairs
Khajane Walon ka Rasta - marble and stone carving
Bapu Bazaar - saris and fabrics
Tripolia Bazaar (north side) cooking pots and equipment

The average Indian must spend hours of their time shopping for what they need walking from street to street! Especially for Diwali where the women purchase new saris and the men queue up to buy tall stalks of sugar cane and cardboard boxes full of fireworks for the evening festivities.

A sugar cane stall for Diwali

We spent the afternoon exploring the city palace; a complex of courtyards with exhibits of textiles, art and armoury, before stopping for a late lunch ahead of all the restaurants shutting early for Diwali. With little choice in the old city we headed to LMB Hotel Restaurant - good curry and AC to cool off.

As the sunlight began to disappear the amazing displays of street lights were switched on and the women in their beautiful new saris began to appear on the streets carrying trays of little clay pots with candle wicks lit and put at the temples and outside their family shops.

Candles on the streets of Jaipur

We enjoyed wandering the streets of the old city watching the locals gathering with their families at their shops/stalls to give their offerings and prayers to Lakshmi (Goddess of wealth) and Ganesh (God of good fortune and prosperity) and were able to join a kind family who owned a book shop and invited us to take part. We were offered almonds and a sweet snack made of cashew nuts.

Our bookshop family who invited us in 

After a quick photo with our friendly Indian family and lots of "Happy Diwali"s we headed back to our hotel rooftop before the teenagers of Jaipur took over the streets with fire crackers and instead sat back to experience all of the fireworks that had been bought up, now being set off from the streets, yards and rooftops of what could only have been every Indian family in Jaipur. The equivalent of 'Guy Fawkes night' was taking place in every nook of Jaipur and the 360° view from our rooftop gave us the best seat in the house!

We sat for over two hours taking in this incredible sight alongside our new friend THE Mr David Shoulder (who never found his rickshaw thanks to us!) and when we finally called it a night, the sky by this time was so hazy from the explosions, we could hear it still continuing across the city from our bed.

Fireworks across the city 

Diwali continued the day after as a day for siblings, as we found out from our lovely (and very camp...he loved Shakira!) auto rickshaw driver Vishu who had received gifts of chocolates and sweets from his sisters that morning.

Vishu and his "Ferrari"

After agreeing to meet Vishu the next day to explore outside Jaipur we spent the day visiting the other old city sights of the Jantar Mantar; an observatory created by Jai Singh who liked astronomy more than war or town planning, which resulted in an array of sculptures that were actually astrological instruments.

A gigantic sundial

Followed by the Hawa Mahal, known as the palace of the winds; a honeycomb sandstone facade (only one room deep) that enabled ladies of the royal household to pry on life outside the city through its small shutters.

Looking down on the streets below from the Palace of the Winds

We then met Vishu the next day in what he liked to call his "Ferrari" for a day exploring the outer areas of Jaipur. Heading first to see the beautiful setting of the Jal Mahal Water Palace, built as a summer resort for the royal family in 1799 before making the (slow) climb up to the Amber Fort.

The Water Palace

The Amber Fort was magnificent and you could imagine in its heyday it was quite the capital for the Jaipur state. We walked up to the fort gates but many took an elephant ride which would have been the way that visitors to the fort would have originally arrived.

Elephant rides up to the Amber Fort

The fort itself is a cavern of corridors off four courtyards, great to explore and "get lost" in the maze of rooms and wooden doors leading to new areas, with particular corridors built so that the Maharaja could visit his wives' and mistresses without each others knowing.

The Amber Fort complex

There are also some spectacular gates (Ganesh Pol) and intricately decorated outdoor halls, one of which was lined with convex mirrors.

We then headed to Jaigarh Fort which just wasn't in the same league as the Amber Fort apart from its "worlds largest cannon". It was free to enter as we'd been to the City Palace but I'm not sure it was worth the extra distance nor the strain on Vishu's "Ferrari" which we had been having to jump start since we left Amber.

We decided not to go on to the third fort on this road (Nahargagh) which was a further 5km on from Jaigarh Fort and probably best given the state of our ride, but instead we visited Galta the Monkey Temple, which houses a number of sacred pools to bathe in and as you'd expect from the name lots of monkeys.

Monkeys at the Monkey Temple

Bathers at the holy pools of the Monkey Temple

After a day of jump starts we arrived back safely to our hotel thanks to Vishu's positive attitude; "anything is possible in India" he kept saying and we paid up urging him to take his Ferrari to get it fixed rather than relying on this mantra!

We enjoyed a final meal at the Lonely Planets top pick Hotel Pearl Palace at its rooftop Peacock Restaurant over the road from our hotel (great food!) and headed off the next day to Pushkar in search of camels...lots and lots of camels!