Jaipur!

After failed attempts at leaving Delhi, Drew and I headed down to Jaipur to take a look.

The road out of Delhi sucked until we got past Gorgaon then it turned into at least four lane road for most of the way. Along the way there was a lot of roadworks however, something we've come to expect everywhere in India.

Caution, there's some regret for the inconvenience. 

Roadworks diversion. With bike. And dirt. (Not pictured: constant horn noise)

Not much of interest along the way. Just road, more road, more horns, trucks, the occasional cow. Then we made it to Amber fort, just north of Jaipur!

Parked on the fort. And trapped.

The view from the fort to another hilltop.

The wall extending up the other hill too. It was a big wall.

Virtual fisheye! Inside a bit of the fort.

There's meant to be an entry ticket to the fort but it was just 10Rs to park. We didn't go in though, just had a quick look around the parking area. Waiting here were a lot of drivers or tour guides so we gathered a crowd again. I just wanted to check where to stay with the help of agoda, trip advisor and the lonely planet. Also wafting past was the strong stench of urine, it turns out they use a bit of wall close by as a toilet. You see this a lot in India, bits of wall/ground/whatever all used as urinals. The smell is rather lovely when warmed by the hot summer sun and it will become one of those lasting memories of India. Thinking back to all the public urination I've witnessed there was someone in the street of Jaipur who wasn't aware of the two shakes rule or he really REALLY liked the look of the garbage piles in an alley.

Anyway... Back to Amber Fort...

Part of the front of the fort.

Big old wooden door.

Panorama from the bottom.

The "my bike has been to Amber fort" shot.

Then just down the road, the "my bike has been to Raj Palace" shot.

Once in Jaipur we were trying to navigate to a hotel we'd seen on Agoda for a decent price. But with road works and one way roads it was quite confusing to get to and find. The rooms turned out to be quite decent and they gave us the discounted price without any hassle. They were also quite helpful with bags and directions and maps and restaurants and ATMs.

Typical side street.

HEHEHE. Lots of fireworks shops in this street, should have brought some.

The next day it was off to look at the sites in the city of Jaipur. First one was Jantar Mantar which is a solar/astronomy observatory park.

This one was to measure the azimuth and angle of the sun, this side was just for summer.

From the edge, showing the summer and winter sides. They are aligned with the equator so the winter side was in shadow that day.

A medium sized sundial

The current time on the dial. Each day is divided into 12 parts, to turn it into the current time there's some calculations you have to do.

This is another one to measure the suns angle and azimuth. There's two of them next to each other so when the shadow is in a gap in one the other can be used.

You can tell exactly when this photo was taken from the shadow! Or you can just look at the EXIF data...

Big marble bowl for tracking other objects in the sky.

Smaller sundails, one for each sign of the zodiac.

Here's mine, Cancer!

I think this was the current one. I have no idea, had to look it up.

Current time in Libra.

Another big bowly thing for measuring stars.

The BIG SUNDAIL. It's the biggest in the world at 27m high! Very big. Also in the bottom is a little pinhole that shows  the sunspots on the sun at exactly midday. However you can't go in there, would have been good for the venus transit.

One side of the sundial.

From the other side.

Jantar Mantar, the City Palace, and a hill fort all in one photo!

Very cool park. Had no idea it was there before we got to town. Next it was the short hot walk over to the city palace.

First snake charmer we've seen!

Inside one area... Not sure of the name.

The building in the middle.

Pitam Niwas Chowk. There are four gates in this area which represent each season.

This one is for Autumn. And the one every focuses on.

Mubarak Mahal (The Welcome Palace).

The actual big palace building at the back is off limits to the public though. It was pretty interesting, but we were tired and hot so we got out of there.

Dinner!

The most degrading photo I've taken... So far! There's still time!

The next morning after a quick McDonalds breakfast and a quick hassling by beggars Drew headed north so he can cross into Pakistan, and I headed south so I can ship into Iran from Mumbai! Travelling Lone Wolf again, it's different. Will India beat me?