MONKEYS

January 15, 2010
The (Reddish) Pink City

Now we are in Jaipur! Just for a day though. And Jaipur is called the pink city because the old buildings in the town are light red—apparently the color of hospitality.
Before getting there we had to wake up early in Agra and get on that damned bumpy bus with that horn-happy (but not “horny”) driver.

After an hour we stopped at Fatepur Sikrh. This was at one point the capital of the Mughal empire. Why, you ask? See, the third Mughal emperor, Akbar, desperately wanted a child and couldn’t have one no matter how hard he tried. Even though he was Muslim, he went to a Sufi (super liberal Muslim-Hindu combo religion… if explained in 6 words, look it up for a better answer) prophet who told him he would have a son. Sure enough, he did have a son and was so excited that he decided to build a new capital city where he met that saint. It is large and in charge, made of red sandstone. Except, the city was abandoned after only 15 years because they ran out of water! Whoops.
Needless to say, we looked around.

[not yet there, merely approaching.]

[outskirts of Fatepur Sikrh]

[aww! Harley, Shannon, Janice, Morgan, Rachel, Laura, Bryan, Kristen, Megan, Sarah, Kayla, Andrew, Aly, myself]

[the pillar really wanted in on this pic]

[life-sized Parcheesi board. the king (Akbar) would play against his wife with the concubines as pieces. this game pic is for you, mom.]

[Akbar's bed. truly king-sized.]

[sleeping on the bed of the third Moghul emperor]

[and JUMPING on the bed!]

[cool stairs. what more can I say?]

Then it was back to the bus for four (4) dreadful hours. We did see animals out the window (monkeys, horses, camels, goats, sheep, dogs/puppies) and the Indian countryside (many many poor farmers, over 60% of the population farms).
We got to the hotel I’m in tonight and after lunch the band set off!
For where? The pink part of the “The Pink City” and the Palace Museum!
See the pinkiness? Oh, and the Palace Museum was a bunch of stuff used by the royal family of Jaipur before 1947 (India’s independence, when it became a democracy). There were old paintings (different style from European ones during the same time), uniforms, and furnishings.

[pinkish]

[think pink]

[tickle me pink]

[old, royal kites! for Brian. they fly kites all over during the harvest festival! plus a bunch of people on the trip read Kite Runner. kites rule!]

[Laura and Rachel discover the peacock door at the Palace Museum]

We were also bombarded by salespeople outside of the two sites. No big deal though, I suppose.
AND we saw monkeys!!!!! Monkeys are to Jaipur and the surrounding area what a boom in the squirrel population would be to MN! So exciting to see them in all of the trees and on top of the buildings!

[YAY]

[so I got a little over-excited and took blurry monkey pictures. sue me.]

Went back to the hotel, dinner, unpacking, free cake from Harley, shower and bed. Hooray! Hip, Hip!
Gooooodnight :)