Colorful sights on the way to Jaipur

 Jan 12 Friday 

Travel day again, but just 3 hours.  We headed from Ranthambore to Jaipur.   Jaipur India has a population of 5 million and is the first planned city in India. We will sightsee in Jaipur for a couple of days, then move to the wedding hotel on Monday 15th. 

This picture is taken in a rest stop - aka - tourist trap.  The couple in the picture is from London and we kept running into them everywhere - Rachael and James. They were great fun to talk to.  We saw them at our Delhi hotel, Agra hotel, Rantambore jeep ride and now at a rest stop.  It appears that many tourists take the same route! 

This above picture was just a small town on the trip that we drove through.  The women always wore very colorful clothing. Since a lot of this area was a desert climate, the beautiful colors really stand out.  Below are some pictures of towns along the way.  

Look closely at the contents of this truck!  This is a delivery truck like FedEx or UPS!   Crazy 

We passed this very large road side statue.  This is Hanuman - a diety in Hinduism.  (Aka - the monkey god) .  He is the god of wisdom, strength, courage, devotion and self-discipline.  

Here was the next one - Lord Shiva.  This is one of the 3 main gods in Hindu religion and is the god of destruction. He is also the patron of yoga, meditation and the arts master of poison and medicine.  He is considered a Supreme Being.

Many cars were overstuffed with people.  This one was in front of us on the highway.  As you can see, seatbelts were not always a thing . 

The backs of trucks were often decorated.  

We passed this temple just outside of Jaipur. 

Everywhere here, people blow horns on the road!  Christine thought this big sign on the back of the truck was funny because no one needed encouragement. 

More street sights.  

We stopped at a gem shop on the way into Jaipur.  We are being told that the majority of precious and semi precious stones are cut in this town.  The man is explaining the process to us. The semi precious stone found in this area is the garnet so Christine and I both bought something with a garnet - to remember Jaipur and because it was mom’s birthstone. 

Here we are being greeted at our hotel.  This man is at his post day and night!  Not sure when he sleeps. 

Welcome flowers. 

A pomegranate tree in the courtyard was covered with these birds. It was very cute! 

Yes, our room is this nice!  Usually we get twin beds and the hotel did mess up and give us a king size.  We liked the room so much we kept it! 

Hotel pool and spa area! Yes, we splurged and did a massage!  

The hotel we stayed in was a heritage hotel.  It is over 250 years old and use to be a mansion for a grand duke.  There is only 51 rooms, but it is a massive complex and the service is first class.  If anyone wants to look it up, it is the Samode Haveli.  

We saw floating flowers as decorations everywhere! 

In the evening from 5-7 we could go on the roof and enjoy the sunset!   We are fortunate that we are in Jaipur for their kite festival.  All the dots you see in the sky in the pictures below are kites, not birds!  We were told that in 2 days on Sunday, there will be thousands more in the sky. 

All over the city, people are on their balconies and their roofs flying kites. 

Sunset view from the roof top 

At the end of the day, we ate dinner under a lit up banyan tree, with musicians, and fires to warm us!  

Tomorrow, we are off to see some Jaipur city sights!  

~ Mary ~