Jaipur, the pink city, so coloured to commemorate a Royal visit from Prince Albert. We are in Rajistan, which translates as Land of Kings. Maharaja's exist only in title since India became independent but many of them still have their palaces and their wealth, we are guests of one such family at the Bissau Palace- a fabulous throwback to the glory days of the Raj.
Our tours today include the Amber Fort and the Royal Palace, I would tell you lots about the Fort but we never made it out of bed, the palace however is a statement of the wealth and austentaciouness of the Royal family of Jaipur, they still live there today, but as with most Royal palaces they open a considerable section to the public to help pay the taxes.
The Great Great Grandfather of the current monarch was a sizeable man at 500lbs and 7 feet tall, he was a house, his dress robes, as displayed, would make shelter for an entire scout troop, with vestibule!
Upon his visit to England for the coronation of Edward VII he commissioned 16 silver urns in which to carry holy Ganges water to bathe in...but being the king his urns were made of solid silver and carried 900 gallons each, at todays prices they are each worth $475,000 each, they are also in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest single pieces of silver in the world.
And we though MJ was extravagant with his Evian baths....
After a huge and tasty local lunch at LMB (since 1736) we decided to walk back to the hotel and through the local bazaar, there wasn't anything you couldn't buy from bra's to bananas and sari's to steel pipe, each street seemed to have it's speciality.
Tonights treat was the opening day of a new Bollywood film, the 'Bodyguard'. Now to summarise this film my review would read as follows:
Take a Bruce Lee film, base on a Benny Hill plot line, add a serving of kitch Broadway, sprinkle in the 80's, bake for two hours in a packed theatre, ensure plenty of whooping, whistling, applause at obscure moments then present in India, and garnish in Hindi.
If that doesn't grab you I can summarise the film in one sentence, the lead actor had biceps that flexed when he whistled. It certainly wasn't Whitney and Kevin but it was much more entertaining.
Spoiler Alert
.....he gets the girl...well technically it was her best friend, but he didn't know that, as he thought she was the love of his life, but then she died, but they had a son, before she died, so then he married the best friend, the one that wasnt dead, who was originally his client and who actually loved him but was actually his secret admirer, but he didn't know that, until he read his dead wife's diary, which his son threw away, but his Dad found...on a train.
Our ride back to the hotel was, as all rides are in Jaipur- bumpy and stinky and unfortunately my last experience of this walled city was as the title suggests.
Up at 4.30 tomorrow morning, there is nothing I get up for at 4.30, no, not even that...so this better be good Delhi.
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