Sunday, April 1, 2007: Chittorgarh

I'm not toally done with this post....but here's what I have so far...

After visiting Ranthambhore in the morning, we visited Chittorgarh Fort in the afternoon. Yes.....another fort. The historic, battle scarred fort epitomizes the valor, romance, chivalry, and strict death-before-dishonor code glorified in Rajput myths. The fort sprawls across nearly 700 acres on top of a steep rocky hill. Chittorgarh was one of Rajasthan's mightiest fort, and because of this was the target of successive invaders.

This is the Kumbha Shyam Temple which dates to the 15th century.
Looking straight up at Vijay Stambh (Victory Tower.) I don't totally get all the references to the Victory Tower, seeing as how eventually the Rajputs lost the fort to the Mogol invaders. But I guess "Loser's Tower" just doesn't have such a great ring to it...
Here's one of the intact elephants. When the various invaders would take over they tended to destroy the art & architecture. Most of the elephants are missing their tusks and trunks.

When we went to leave, our bus got stuck in the gateway of the fort. It was pretty funny.

Here's one of the scenes from the outside of the temple. There are all sorts of things depicted, from demons to battle to scenes from the Karma Sutra. (We looked and couldn't find any that were obviously from that)

Upclose of the carvings.

This location was where the women of the fort set themselves on fire after their men were defated in battle.

Looking at the outer walls of the fort.

Here we are standing on one of the ramparts looking out towards town.

I thought this was a neat tree. And the grouchy German guy from my group happened to get in the shot too.
Monkeys! These things are EVERYWHERE, like we have squirrels here, only they are SO aggressive it is a little scary. Think if a squirrel marched up to you and tried to take your drink...
More monkeys.

An extremely crooked picture of the Victory Tower.
Looking at the outside of the fort.





There's a great story behind this building and the next photo. I need to look it up again to make sure I get it right, but the general gist is that this guy wanted to look at the king's woman and that really ticked him off but he lost a bet so the king came up with this crazy (but ingenious) plan to pay up while saving face.


Close up...

Overlooking the middle of the fort.

Another shot of the Victory Tower.

Tuesday, April 3, 2007: Bharatpur & Agra

We woke up at an insane hour to visit Keoladeo National Park near the town of Bharatpur. Migratory birds come to this park every year, but with the weak monsoon this past year, their numbers were down considerably as compared to past years. There were still alot of birds, but apparently during the "high" season it is just unbelievable. For the most part, I have no idea what kinds of birds these are in my pictures. No one could catch the Kingfisher on camera though. it was a beautiful bird and there were a fair number flying around--but that was the problem: they were flying. We needed them to sit still! After the birds, we boarded the train and headed on to Agra to see the famed Taj Mahal.

This bird was TALL--nearly 5 ft. It could look me in the eye.

This little owl posed for the camera. He was small--about the size of a soda can.

This was how we got around the bird park. The men that give you the tours line up every morning with their buggies and it is a lottery to see who gets to work for the day inside the park.

Wildlife inside the park.

I thought this was cool--a jackal just chilling out in the grass.

This is the Agra Fort in Agra. It is on the west bank of the Yamuna River, opposite the Taj Mahal. This fort by far has the most crippled people, beggars and kids selling random junk surrounding the entrance. I assume they are taking advantage of the forts proximity to the Taj Mahal to increase their opportunities with tourists.

Inside the fort looking at the Jahangiri Mahal--the only major palace in the fort that dates back to Akbar's reign.
This is the Diwan-i-Aam, which is a hall that was used for the emperor's public addresses.

This is the Khas Mahal, a marble hall with a painted celing.

Up close inside the fort.

The Taj Mahal. What an absolutely amazing building. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife who died in 1631. it is described as a sublime garden-tomb, and it cost nearly 41 million rupees and 500 kilos (1102 lbs) of gold to build. About 20,000 workers labored for 12 years to complete it in 1643.

The view from the mosque.

Another view from the mosque.

A photo taken up on the platform, level with the main tomb.

A view of the gateway taken from the tomb.

Another picture...it may be difficult to understand, but I have over 65 photos of this building. It was just impossible to stop taking pictures, almost like the more you had would make it more believeable that you were actually standing near it.
Me at the Taj. I was standing midway between the gateway and the tomb near the charbagh that holds irrigated water from the Yamuna River.

At the main entrance are calligraphic panels. The size of the Koranic verses increase as the arch gets higher, creating a subtle optic illusion of uniformly flowing script.

A shot of some of the carved relief work that covers the lower portions of the walls. the band above and below the carving is pietra dura, a Florentine technique where minute slivers of precious and semi precious stones are arranged in complex stylized floral patterns set in a marble base. A single flower can often times have more than 35 variations of the same stone to get the color shading as realistic as possible.

A close up of the pietra dura

Monday, April 2, 2007: Udaipur

Monday was spent touring Udaipur, the city of lakes, which was founded in 1559 by Maharana Udai Singh. The landscape was something out of a fairy tale--there were multiple lakes which were dotted with islands, and lining the shores of Lake Pichola are picturesque marble palaces and temples, all surrounded by a ring of hills.

This is a picture of Jag Niwas, or lake palace, that appears to float on the surface of Lake Pichola. It was built between 1734 and 1751 and was the summer retreat for the royal family. it is now one of the world's most exclusive hotels, and is a favorite spot for film shoots including James Bond's Octopussy.

I snapped this photo on the boat tour around the lake. People from the city come here to do their laundry. Even the upper classes do not have washing machines and dryers as we know them. They hire someone to come into their home and wash all their clothing by hand, and then line dry it. While I was at Sharad's I had a few things laundered. this lady was able to wash inside the house, as there was no huge lake nearby. She had a huge tub where she soaped up the clothes, and then proceeded to beat each article of clothing with a long, flat stick. Then she rinsed the clothes in another bucket of water and hung everything up to dry in the upstairs corridor of the house. I am pretty sure she thought I was totally weird the way I watched what she was doing, but I don't hand wash anything--not even when the tag inside says to. That takes way too much effort... I also have no idea what type of soap was used, although it was a powder of some sort. I can tell you they have no idea about fabric softener. The pair of jeans I had washed could nearly stand up on their own afterwards. On top of that, the whole concept of "April freshness" is lost too. Prior to this trip I would never have thought twice about this, but if you think about it, our idea of what makes clothes clean has a lot to do with how they smell and how they feel. Stiff as a board and carrying the odor of non-filtered desert water just doesn't do the trick...

We had tea at Jag Mandir, which is a lush garden built on an island in Lake Pichola in the 1620s. The island palace was used as a refuge for the prince when he rebelled against his father. Eight stone elephants stand guard at the entrance. YOu can see the lake palace in the background.

Here are 4 of the eight elephants.

This is a photo of the City Palace from a boat tour we took around Lake Pichola. It streches along the eastern shore of Lake Pichola. It is actually the largest palace in Rajasthan, covering more than 5 acres. Much of it is now a museum, and parts are also a luxury hotel. We ate lunch in a portion of the palace called Fateh Prakash, which is now part of the hotel. I am including a few more pictures from the City Palace a little farther down.

This is a photo of a 5 star hotel along the lake. I can't recall its name at the moment. I'll post back if I can come up with it.

This is looking out over the city of Udaipur, with the hills in the background. I liked how lush and green this city was in comparison to so many of the rest.

The outside of the palace is very fortress-like, while the inside is decorated with Mughal techniques. There are all sorts of balconies, cuploas and turrets through out the complex.

A close up of the mosaics.

This is Kanch Bari (means Glass Turret) which is inlaid with red and silver glass. It is a chamber within a part of the palace called Bari mahal which was built in 1699.

Here's a picture of the gardens within Bari Mahal. It is built on a terraced hillside that is completely enclosed within the palace walls, so this is on the 5th or 6th floor of the palace. I thought it was pretty cool--notice the full grown Neem trees lining the marble pool. It's impressive to have fully grown trees thriving inside a palace...on the 5th floor.

This lady stopped to pose for a picture while we visited Saheliyon ki Bari, which means Garden of the Maids of Honor. Basically the women of the house were bored, so the Maharana built them a garden on the edge of town and took them out there each day to tend to it. Today you can visit it, although none of the "Maids" work there anymore.

Did you know you can tell how old a palm tree is by counting the rings in its bark? I had no idea.

A picture of one of the ornamental fountains

A random picture--this is a Golden Rain Tree. My mother tried desperately to grow one of these where I grew up in southern PA. Needless to say, the summers just weren't long enough or warm enough. I never would have know this lush tree to be the same thing as the spindle-ly stick that used to be at the corner of the back garden at my parents house.

Here's another plant that never grew right in southern PA...a Bougainvillea.

This is a photo of the monsoon palace (upper left on top of the mountain) that overlooks Fateh Sagar Lake in Udaipur. The royal family had a house for every season--they stayed here during the monsoon, at the lake palace during the summer and at the city palace the rest of the year.

Another photo of Fateh Sagar Lake...

Me & my fellow Pennsylvanians, Ron & Diane.

Welcome back to reality! I snapped these next few shots as we traveled through Udaipur back to our train. These people are not the lowest class--they actually have a roof over their heads at nighttime. Also keep in mind I didn't take these in a bad part of town, nor is this similar to Tent City at Pratt & President in downtown Baltimore where the homeless are known to congregate. These people most likely have jobs and everything.
Another pic... Notice the well to the right of the green door, near the woman and the child in blue pants. People fill jugs with clean water daily to take back to their homes for cooking, etc.