Details

Written by Nanqi You

Category: India

Published: February 23, 2019

Hits: 3431

Amer Fort and Palace in Jaipur India Nanqi You

We booked 3 nights in Jaipur so we can arrange to go to Taj Mahal. Taj is in Agra and we flew into Dehli. Dehli, Agra, and Jaipur form a triangle. We read Agra is really a bad city to stay, plus Jaipur has a Karma resort which happened to be on a special. So we picked Jaipur without knowing much about it.

What a treasure Jaipur is with Amer Ford and Palace, right up there with any palace we have visited, and we won't be surprised if tops any fort and palace combo in the world; City Palace; old Jaipur which is built with pink sand stone and earned a name Pink City; Water Palace, Wind Palace, and lots more.  We didn't get to tour the city at night which has some spectacularly lit structures.

Pictures of The Amer Fort/Palace: a beautiful structure that was built by Raja Man Sing in the 16th century, he and his 12 queens stayed here for centuries. The structures were build with marble and pink sandstones which creates a contrast of white and pink in colors.  The different symbols from Hindu and Muslim religions reflect a harmony of the time among peoples and religions.  

Amer Fort and Palace near Jaipur India.

The white marble and pink sandstone make a spetacular contrast.  The bottom of the pillar is common in muslim Multhal architecture, the elephant trunk at the top of the pillar symbolizes the Hindu religion, while the lotus flower at the end of the elephant trunk indicates buddhism co-existed at the time.

Teh fort has a long wall which you can see in the distance.  It reminds us of the Great Wall in China.  There are steps and one can climb along it.  Looks a little scary where you might end up with.

Elephant rides are popular up to the Palace from the man-made lake.

This is the square for the 12 queens. Each queen has a living quarter which is designed to get to the king through private without any other queens noticing.

Queens quarters

This is a really cool trick.  It is taken by our guide in the mirror palace inside the Amer Palace.  The angle he took this makes it look like we are part of the mirrored wall.

Man-made lake

Elephant rides

Maintenance crew.  One doesn't look too happy that I took this picture.  But they are so beautiful.

Details

Written by Nanqi You

Category: India

Published: February 22, 2019

Hits: 4196

The Taj Mahal - We were there Feb 2019 Nanqi You

It is one of those moments that makes you think: are we looking at Taj Mahal? Yup, we were there. It's magnificence and intricacy met no challenge in the 400 plus years of its being. The Taj Mahal stands clear of any structures in the midlle of thousands of acres of land in a otherwise very crowded city Agra. It draws 30,000 to 70,000 visitors every day. To our surprise, they are mostly Indian visitors. There are 4 lines at the entrance, Indian Male, Indian Female, Foreign Male, and Foreign Female. Foreign visitors can just walk in with no lines while natives are sardined in their lines. It felt a little odd to enter on the Female line, but it is a common practice here. 

The Taj Mahal was build by a Muslim Mulghal king. There is a practice mosque on the ground which opens for praying to local Muslims (with IDs) every Friday for 2 hours. They are confined to the mosque building alone though it is just to the left, and only steps away from the Taj Mahal. We planned to go on Friday, but because of the religious activity, we went on Thursday.

The well maintained grounds and building inside the Taj Mahal makes a strong contrast for the rest of the Aqra. The city is very dirty with sewage water gathered on the street and garbage piled up all over. 45% of Aqra's economy depends on tourism. But it doesn't seem to care to make the city clean and more attractive.

Cost to enter the Taj Mahal is $1250 rupee per foreigner. 

Steps leading up to the main hall Nanqi You

Marble carving and gem stone inlay. The Taj Mahal is still maintained by the same mughal families of craftsmen. The techniques are passed on from generation to generation and no outsiders are allowed in on the techniques and formulas of the mortar. Nanqi You

Marble carving and gem stone inlay. Nanqi You

The 350 year fountain with bronze hardware are still functioning. They were running the day we were there and our guide says it is normally on when "VIPs" are there.

Details

Written by Nanqi You

Category: India

Published: February 21, 2019

Hits: 2987

Our trip was smooth till Dehli. India airports are super strict on checking each passenger. Only those with valid ID and the same day ticket can enter the airport building. That is when we were told our tickets to Jaipur were for March 20, a month from today. Luckily, there are seats on the 9:10pm flight, just a mere $314 change fee on the original $58. This is the night of Feb 20th (we left 3am on the 18th). "Yes, please, we would pay the change fee".
Also, the Indian airports security pat down is gender specific. I had to line up on the sign "Female wait here". I got into the female booth with a female agent and got patted down. She stamped my boarding pass but realized that was Steve May's. If we were in the same line, it is a simple matter. But No, Steve is in the Male Line. I came out of my female pat down booth and shouted to get Steve's attention. All good in the end, but this Female Line got me, are they respecting us females or??? I don't know.  Bali does the same.
Now we got to the gate, a couple samosas later, we started boarding. When the line didn't really move for at least 10 minutes, I started to doubt if it is really another Indian thing. When in doubt, trust your intuition, sure enough, our plane landed in the International terminal, and is on the way over. It is a 20 minute bus ride between these 2 terminals. How does the plane get over here? With or without the original passengers? Taking off, float over 50 feet, land? Who knows. We got on the plane, and headed over to Jaipur. If the rest of the trip goes smoothly, What would I be writing about?