Luckily I had given my phone number for updates as a received almost a dozen sms messages with changing times of the flight including one splitting it in two with a stop of 4 hours in Mumbai.
But with the right patience and a foot massage at the airport I managed to reach Jaipur and was even the first to arrive.
Total group for the trip was 6:
- 1 driver
- 1 tourguide / teacher / photography specialist
- 4 participants, including a colleague from Philips
Traveling in the standard Innova.
Breakfast was fried idly pieces never had before but very tasteful.
First goal was the Hawal Mahal. Which is most know through it's front side view which shows all the windows. They look nice and large at the outside but when you come in you will see that most of it is fake and the real window or only a small part of what you expect. I was more looking at the inside and was looking for a different view. Which I found in a shot from the side. It shows the ornaments and also someway the size as the corridor in which I was standing also belongs to the palace. |
On our walk to the Palace we came across a photographer with a camera made in 1860 who took pictures on the street. An interesting piece of equipment with an original Carl Zeiss lens.
Taking a picture directly on paper resulted in a negative, which was developed in the camera straight away. To get the final picture he would take a picture of the negative which then resulted in the final positive photo. The left photo shows the piece of equipment used for this. A simple piece of wood would be used to put the negative in front of the lens.
We posed and a picture of the five of us was taken, as developing and "printing" the final pictures took quite some time we agreed to pick them up on our way out.
First lunch was at the City Palace and here I learned a safe combination of dishes. One Dal gravy, an Aloo dish and Roti is according Sheena a good standard lunch which was extended with soup for me.
The City Palace is much more a collection of individual buildings.
That day they were preparing for a wedding which most likely would take place late afternoon or evening. I won't make a guess for he number of guests but it would be huge looking at the buffet they were preparing and the number of chairs set-up.
A beautiful part of the Palace are the paintings/sculptures above the doors. Here the peacock was one of the important items.
After this we went back to get our pictures and find the next photo target Amer fort.
I get the feeling the forts are quite large in India if I would compare to the Netherlands. Most likely to do with the area they have to cover and the wealth of the original owners.
We also needed to get out early as the fort was getting a VIP as visitor. So lot of police, closed road and set of cars racing by. To be on the safe side next to police you will have the ambulance and a truck from the fire brigade.
But they left in time for our moments of the fort in lights.
Back to the hotel and had dinner.