Zeb and Soapy Smith Duck Explore Jaipur, India

We saw so many things here that we do not have at home in Colorado.   Jaipur is the capital of the desert state of Rajasthan.   This elephant is waiting for attention from a tourist.

Tourist with elephant

This young lady is petting the elephant’s trunk.   Later she gave the elephant a snack.  And if elephants on the steet wasn’t enough, look at this.

Camel cart

A camel cart.   We have seen horse carts, donkey carts, and now a camel cart.  Not even for tourists, but a working camel cart.   Here, in front of the Rajasthan craft center, you can see many forms of transportation.

Variety of transportation

The man is riding his elephant.   A man on a motor bike is driving on the street.   Also, a person pushing a cart of merchandise is working toward his destination.  And, of course, cars are driving on the street.   But this is India, and what animal is famous for being on the streets?

Soapy’s mom with cow

Here behind our hotel, Soapy’s mom is enjoying seeing this cow.  The cow is holy, so it is not working.  We were walking back from another craft center.   We purchased some items of beautiful white marble.   Marble from the same mine as the marble for the Taj Mahal.  On the edge of town, we stopped at the Amber Fort.

Amber Fort

This fort/palace was the ancient capital of Rajasthan.   The view from the top is beautiful, with views of the nearby mountains and lake.   We rode an elephant to the fort.   It was summer and it gets hot here in the desert, so the elephants do not work after 11:00 a.m.   We were surprised, but we like the elephant so we don’t want him to get too hot and get sick.   Unfortunately, this is where we had camera difficulties.   So, we will not be able to show the pink facades of old town.    Jaipur is known as the Pink City.   The market was interesting also.   We will see if we can get our camera adjusted.   We don’t think it is broken, just needs an adjustment.   We really like Jaipur.

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Entering Jaipur, India with Zeb and Soapy Smith Duck

Approaching Jaipur, the capital city of the western, desert state of Rajasthan, India, we see this building on the hill.

Pretty building on hill

We do not know what it is, but we thought it was beautiful.

Really thought this was beautiful

So white and impressive.   Our first stop, 2.5 miles (4 km) from Jaipur is Jal Mahal.

Jal Mahal. Water Palace

Jal Mahal means ‘water palace”.    Jal Mahal is in Man Sagar Lake.   This is Rajput style of architecture.

Zeb and Soapy by Jal Mahal in Man Sagar Lake

We like this palace.   It has 5 stories and with the lake full, 4 stories remain under water.   A perfect backdrop is provided by the surrounding Nahargarh hills.   Restoration and cleaning of the lake and palace began in 2004.   Now there are many venders here.

Venders and activity here

This is a popular with the residents of Jaipur.   These ladies have beautiful dresses.

Colorful dresses

Are the bright colors attractive?  We like them.   This must be a happy place.

Vender has balloons

Venders have balloons.   Balloons are for happy occasions.   This table of snacks was a puzzle to us.

Food for purchase

We recognize the tomatoes, but are not sure what the grain type food is.    Later in the evening Jesse took us to a nice restaurant where we ate outside.   Unfortunately we cannot find the paper with the restaurant name, and we forgot.  The food was very good.   Of course, Jesse was able to tell us what we were eating, and we liked it.   There were entertainers there also.

Musicians

These two men, sitting on the grass, provided music.   It was suggested that we not take flash photos, especially while the lady was dancing.  The flash could be a distraction.   New request to us, but it was OK.   These photos are dark, because we did not use our flash.

Dancer

The lady is dancing with two vases on her head.   Then she came to our table and asked Soapy’s mom to help her.

Entertainer and Soapy’s mom

Soapy’s mom helped with the third vase and then the entertainer and Soapy’s mom did a little dancing.   This evening was fun.   We were entertained and well fed.