I picked up a book at the local bookstore titled “Jaipur, 10
Easy Walks”, thinking the walks could be a fun way to get to know various parts
of the city other than the tourist traveled ones. On Saturday we did Walk #8: Tripola Gate to Albert
Hall Museum. Below are some of the
pics of that walk, and one of the peacock that was waiting outside our door
when we got home.
A little background.
Sawai Jai Singh II visualized his planned city (The Pink City) and built
it in 1727. This is a walled city of
forts, palaces, and gardens, with 7 main gates through which you gain access to
the Pink City. In addition, there is the
“new” gate, which you will see in the pics of today’s walk. I guess 7 wasn’t enough?
On our walk we saw some traditional streets that you could
hear before you could see, because of all the hammering on silver and copper, a
side alley devoted to all manner of snacks, school children who always shouted “Hello”
at us, and ended our walk at the Albert Hall Museum, which was originally
constructed to house Price Albert during a visit to Jaipur, but now contains
fine art objects from all over Asia and some further afield.
Getting the ticket to Albert Hall necessitated participating
in a scrum-like mass of people, and attempting to get your hand through the
hole to give to the woman on the other side of the glass, who sometimes forgot
what she was doing and would chat with her neighbors inside the booth until
someone shouted to her to take their money.
It was a little intimidating and very hot work. I had Steve guard my
back while I mushed forward with the scrum, and finally we obtained two
foreigner tickets. As we walked toward
the entrance a very large phalanx of elementary aged school children charged us
to say “Hello” then proceeded to mob us like we were rock stars, without the
bodyguards, unfortunately. I’ve been
around my share of kids so I promised to take their picture if they all backed
away from us. It worked and we were able
to escape them. Kids are just about the
same everywhere.
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| Tripola Gate, the beginning of our walk |
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| The New Gate, which takes us outside the Pink City |
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| A Mob Scene |
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| Architectural Detail inside Albert Hall |
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| Called Tiger Knives....Scary looking. |
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| Old Thing, interesting |
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| Some new yoga moves! |
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| Our feathered friend waiting for us |
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| Flower vendor outside temple |
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| No idea... Any guesses? |
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| Funnel Cakes, Indian Style |
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| Snacks in the alley way |
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| Cow enjoying the snack in the alleyway |
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| Boiling Milk...Not sure what for |
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| Interesting Veggie, Maybe? Looks like a geometric Brussel Sprout. |
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| Winner of Largest Hammer Award |
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| School bus taking home some kids |
