Week Ending 1 December, 2019

Monday morning we drove to Agra where we visited the Mughal fort there.

Next stop was the Taj Mahal.

Tuesday morning we headed for Jaipur stopping at Fatehpur Sikri to see the Emperor Akbar's fort and palace from which he ruled for 1571 to 1585.

We also stopped at the spectacular Chant Baori stepwell in Abhaneri.  Both sites are beautifully preserved.  The drive itself between Agra and Jaipur was pretty interesting too.  My favorite sight were the large, ungainly camels pulling heavy wooden carts and goatherds with their flocks alongside the road. 

We passed into Rajasthan and arrived at Jaipur in the early evening at our funky heritage hotel, the Nila Bagh Palace, built in 1872.  

Wednesday we “did” Jaipur starting at the Hawa Mahal which features an undulating façade of multiple windows (almost Guadiesque) from which the royal woman could observe the world while remaining unseen.  Next was the Amer Fort, located about 11 km from Jaipur, which contains the beautiful palace of the Rajput Maharajas. Fort and palace were built between 967 and 1727.
 

We entered the fort on elephants which added to the charm. There they are. 

Here we are.

Standing at the entrance to the palace, the "Ganesh Gate,"  you can see the elephant-headed god up there above the doorway.

The palace is laid out on four levels, each with a courtyard.  The Sheesh Mahal or "Mirror Palace" is especially beautiful.

Here is a view of the fort from the palace.  

Before leaving Amer we stopped at the Anokhi Museum of Hand Printing, housed in a nicely restored haveli, to learn more about block printing.  This man was making wooden block stamps.

We even tried our hands at it.  

Our next stop was the Jal Mahal or "Water Palace" built in 1799 in the middle of an artificial lake.  Its closed to the public.

After lunch and a visit to a carpet and textile shop, we toured the Jantar Mantar, a fascinating collection of nineteen architectural astronomical instruments, including the world’s largest stone sundial, built by the Rajput king Sawai Jai Singh II in the 1730’s.

We ended the day at the City Palace which included a museum with some spectacular historic textiles.  That night we ate at The Green Pigeon and watched some Rajasthani dancing. 

Friday we were invited to the home of a sister named Swarupa Reddy Annepureddy from the Vasant Vihar Ward. We had a delightful visit there with her.  Swarupa joined the Church a couple of years ago while living in Geneva, Switzerland.

That evening we hosted Rohit Prakash and his new bride, Babita as well as the Gupta Family for a day-late Thanksgiving dinner.  Most had never tasted turkey or pumpkin pie before, but they loved it all.  

Saturday we visited the Red Fort, Spice Market and Jama Masjid in Old Delhi.  The highlight of that visit was lunch at Rehatullah Hotel (run by Fazalur, the man we had dinner with two weeks ago).  Check out this video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFeCI-vosqI We were the only “foreigners” in the place but they treated us like royalty and the food was great.  

In the evening we went to a BYU Management Society sponsored talk by Lant Pritchett, BYU and Harvard grad, development economist and currently the RISE Research Director at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford.  Gena and Seokhee know his son Isaac from Qualtrics and frisbee.  (Small world!)  The lecture was interesting but made India look pretty bad.  

Sunday afternoon after church we visited the Gandhi Memorial.  It was peaceful and inspiring.   That evening we quickly decorated the apartment for Christmas, put on the Christmas music and had a candlelight dinner that will have to serve as my comfortable and familiar Christmas experience for 2019.   Seokhee and Gena left for the airport at 11 p.m.