5 February 2015 - Museum of Indology and other eye openers!

We leave Jaipur tomorrow and feel that we just didn't have enough time here.  It has been wonderful.  On our list of "Must Do's" was the Museum of Indology which we have walked past many times and sounded intriguing.

Suryaa Villa's gallery of Maharajas

The staff made a real fuss over Luke - Luke and Ranjeet

The kids' room - Luke showing healthy versus sometimes food

Museum of Indology - no photos permitted inside

As Annika appears to have the Jaipur Jollies (maybe due to all the shelled peas she ate yesterday and their questionably clean pods - who knows?) and she really needed to rest close to a toilet today and also that Tim is not at all interested in going to the museum, we could leave the big kids in their room and head around the corner to the Museum of Indology. It was fantastic!  The guides were extremely knowledgeable and knew their subjects well.  The museum had ancient manuscripts on ivory, silver and parchment and even on a single human hair and a grain of rice visible through a magnifying glass.  Luke was totally engaged and so were Karl and I.  There were ancient coins and even old notes such as a one billion Deutsch Mark note as well as a musical stamp from Bhutan (which played the national anthem!) and other fascinating stamps.  Indian folk art and beautiful water colours dotted the grubby walls.  It was all so dusty and I would have loved to dust the shelves and polish the silver and bronze vessels and tidy up their displays but it all added to the intrigue and quaintness of this private collection.

We were interested to see the weapons and particularly the shields. The shields were made from all sorts of hides: hippo, crocodile and water buffalo as well as from bronze.  The craftsmanship was detailed and intricate - all for a shield which is going to be stabbed or jabbed.  Protection is the main purpose of a shield, but nothing is left unadorned in India!  A shining and intricate sabre would be covered in blood and grime in no time!

I asked our guide how many letters the Hindi alphabet had and she added them up using three joints from each finger, like a three times table!  It was quick and efficient and NEW to us, but old art to the Indians!!  We have started showing Luke this technique to help with his maths!  You learn something every day.  (We also learned that burning cow pats is not just for heat but more as an offering.)

It was a total feast of Indian history in three crowded rooms and a mezzanine and highly recommended.  Very few people seem to go there but a few Indian Prime Ministers such as Indira Gandhi have visited this very humble place.  Luke loved the shells and rocks and carvings.  There was a piece of flexible stone and a meteorite as well as a floating stone and other curios.

Cow in back street rubbish

Mansion close by, rubbish dump on street less than 10 metres away

 We went back to the hotel to check on the kids and Annika was still unwell.  Tim needed a walk so I took him through the streets Karl and I discovered yesterday to buy fruit and cheap biscuits.  We shared a delicious lassi served in a terracotta pot for 25 Rupee complete with a dollop of fresh curd cream on top - another taste sensation.

Lassi in a terracotta cup - the taste can only be imagined!

I'll remember the taste and yearn for it...SO SO scrumptious

Rich and poor side by side, public squallor meets ornate.

Street scene on our walk

 Tim and Annika were keen to stay "home" while Luke and Karl and I went exploring.  We walked the the Grand Palace and saw the displays there.  By far the most fascinating was the set up for the wedding of some of Jaipur's wealthy families which had spared no expense - fresh flowers, huge catering set up, couches being covered and hammered together and some enormous chandeliers in which pigeons had already found their  nest!!  A bird's eye view of the wedding!

At the Grand Palace

Karl offered me some lovely roses...but they were for another bride!

Grandeur, nothing less.

Elaborate arches of fresh flowers for a society wedding

Pigeons were quick to establish a nest at the top of the chandelier!

No expense spared: bespoke couches for wedding guests!

The catering and staff would rival a royal wedding, quite unbelievable.

A snake charmer was sitting outside the palace and Luke decided that he was brave enough this time to touch the cobra and sat down next to the musician and played one of his instruments much to the delight of the gathering crowd.  I touched the fanned neck of the cobra as well!

Regretted not touching the cobra the other day...and here was my chance!

Brave and a little silly!

Brave Luke, building up his courage!

Luke charms the audience and the snake

Luke was hungry and asking for food.  We bought some roti and chhole for him but it just wasn't the kulche (naan bread) he wanted so I had to eat it.  We found some naan for him and also a huge papadam and that gave him the energy to walk back. He's a good walker and kept up with us despite the 8-10 kms we did today.

Roti and chhole

We detoured through the side streets, past jewellers and tailors and spice shops and came across a community of cheeky monkeys.  We think possums are a pest at home but monkeys are a menace here and dash over the tangle of wires between buildings and leap daringly to the ground.  The monkeys, the mopeds, the people and the litter keep everyone on high alert just walking down the streets...and the occasional cow of course!  Such is India.

Gorgeous mosaic work - a sign a yesteryear when things were grand.

Cheeky monkey

We think they are cute but the locals must hate them!

4 February 2015 - On top of the world looking down on creation....

Breakfast at Suryaa Villa was wonderful again and the lovely waiters, Padam and Ranjeet, serve us so graciously and go the extra mile to accommodate the fussy requests of the kids.  Really it is wonderful here.  We wrote a great review for them on Trip Advisor.

And then a good Skype call to Tim's teacher at DECV inspired him to keep going.  Both big kids are having slight to major melt downs because of the learning requirements, but what's new?!  It happens every year when they start a new level but this is a bit more challenging.  As I said to them, it will prepare them for university and life when self motivation and discovery are necessary.

Little dairy.

Cow pats drying in the sun...nb hand prints...

Karl and I went for a walk locally to find an ATM but the one we found wouldn't spit out the money so we were concerned for a while that our card had been blocked...but never fear, we went to our familiar ATM and all was well.  The back streets were again a feast for the senses: little dairies and cows, rubbish heaps and shacks cobbled together with any material available alongside posh houses that would not look out of place in Toorak  (a classy Melbourne suburb).

School work aside, we had promised Tim that we would go back to Amber and climb the walls surrounding the town which looked so enticing and we were up for the challenge. We nearly caused a traffic jam as we negotiated a black (slightly larger) tuk tuk for the day for 600 Rupee. In a flash there were nine or ten tuk tuk drivers ready to squeeze us in.

We hopped out opposite the Amber Fort and started the ascent up the ramparts.  The steps were huge and irregular and would not pass Australian safety standards.  It was amazing as we climbed higher and higher with a wall one side and no barrier on the other side of our path which was at times no wider than a metre (if that)!  Not for those wary of heights!  

The challenge ahead.

When you are not too keen on heights...

Window to the world...Amber Fort looks small from here!

Big steps for little legs

Note no railing on one side

Amazing view which was good for defending the city.

Tim and a local young man reach the heights!

Great spot for a traditional hand stand!

What a feeling!  What a jump!

Tim's turn to jump!

Tim in Far Far Away Land.

Under another archway!

Annika braves the heights, too!

As steep as it was going up, the descent was probably more of a challenge because we  had to look where we were going!  Finally, with shaky knees, we made it to the base in the middle of the village at a building site where the women were carrying building materials on their heads.  One asked to be photographed and was delighted to see the digital image of herself on my camera!

Knees beginning to shake!

You can make it, Karl!

Getting rather narrow here...

Can't complain about the view.

This beautiful lady asked for a photograph!

Tim was keen to climb some more and we allowed him to go off exploring with a commitment to our rendezvous at 4PM.  In the end he couldn't find the next part of the wall so set himself the challenge to walk up to the Jaigarh Fort again.

We never tire of elephants on the streets!

Love this!

Shiv temple en route to Amber  Fort.

They couldn't be happier.

Meanwhile, the rest of us wandered through a market place and bought some more peas in pods.  Luke is finally eating some veggies in the form of delicious pink carrots and shelled raw peas and loving the crunch again.  He loves naan bread and papadams and bananas, too, so we are happy he is eating more variety.  There were several friendly goats chomping on the empty pods, the sight of which seems so common place now!

So enjoy the cobbled streets and archways.

We followed the cobbled streets toward the Amber Fort, passing Shiv temples and cottage industries and of course cows and pigs and goats!  Again, there are surprisingly few tourists so we attract a lot of attention.  We tried to circumvent the Amber Fort and get to the front entrance and I have a feeling we may have trespassed as a kindly security guard ushered us to the front through a rope....eeek!

Annika chose the back seat!

Tim made it on time back to the pre-arranged spot and we tuk tuked near to our accommodation.  A brief hitch happened when we got out of the tuk tuk and the driver wanted an extra 50 Rupee for "parking" (Karl had seen him give 10 Rupee to the parking attendant), but Karl insisted on the negotiated price and that was that. Fresh orange juice from our trusty orange juicer and some peanut brittle from a spice vendor and we were on our way home.

Fresh orange juice for 20 Rupee...can't get better than that!

Tim was particularly eager to let off the fireworks Karl let him buy the other day.  They are illegal in Australia for the general public to use so this was his chance.  With the help of a curious young man watching us, the "Gems" lit up and sparkled brightly and delighted us all!

Fancy fireworks as they say!