Jaipur

Jaipur was a fascinating city.

There is a section of it where all of the buildings are painted pink.  It was considered a welcoming color by one of the rulers.

This is a magnificent building, but it's a facade.
It was built for the ladies to view the street,
so that their faces would be hidden.

Side note - There were very informative history lessons at each stop, but I forgot most of the names almost immediately.

I'm sitting in the train station waiting for a train that leaves at midnight.  When my driver picked me up, it was clear he had been drinking.  Thankfully, the ride was only about five minutes.  He was a nice guy though.  He bought me snacks to take on the ride.  A really sweet gesture.

There are lots of people sitting on the curbs and sidewalks outside, and plenty inside, too.  My driver negotiated a deal for me to wait in a special place for the sleep car folks, and so I waited with older, calmer passengers, who looked like me, just wanting to go to bed.

This is the only part of the trip where I am not with an escort or driver.

It was full day of seeing magnificent sun dials, forts and palaces.

This is a sun dial, with a 20 second margin of error.

Another sun dial.
These were fascinating because they were built in 1716!

This one represents my Zodiac sign - Leo.
There were 12 of these, one for each sign.

By 3:00, I was done.  We headed back to the hotel, and I checked out.  There was still eight hours to wait before boarding the train, so I was dropped off at another swanky hotel to hang out there for a while.  If I'd been thinking clearly, I would have just gotten another room to wait in comfort.  Hindsight is 20:20, of course.

Since I arrived in India, here are some things I've seen.  There're in no particular order.

---Heavy duty work trucks painted with bright and colorful flowers and designs everywhere.  They almost all have "blow horn" written across the back of them.

---Elephants with painted faces, in celebration of the ongoing festivals

---Roads that are shared by cars, trucks, tuk tuks, roaming cows, goats, sheep, elephants, bicycle taxis, motorcycles, people walking, school kids, cow-drawn carts, and all kinds of buses.  One of the buses had as many people riding on top, probably at least 75, as were riding inside.  It was a precarious sight to see.

City Palace

Amber Palace

But this seemingly reckless behavior was not the exception, but rather, the rule. There were people crowded tight as could be in whatever the mode of transportation they were on, and those that couldn't fit inside, held on to something and hung out the moving vehicle.

The most precarious sight was a family of five on a motorcycle.  There was the dad driving with a toddler in front of him. Directly behind him was a younger toddler, with the mother riding sideways holding an infant.

Mercy me!

Mirrored Wall

Closeup of wall

---Like in Egypt, it is extremely rare to see a traffic light.  Folks just govern themselves on the road.

---Monkeys with the red bottoms were hanging out along the roads and on the grounds of the monuments

---Little squirrels that fit in the palms of your hands, including their tails.  They were brown with light strips, looking very much like skunks.

And . . .

---Women in the most beautiful, bright clothes, brighten the already colorful landscape

The adventure continues with more soon.