Picto Diary - 01 January 2015 - Amber and Jaipur
Above: AJ, The Bishop, and B1B. . Samod Palace, Rajesthan, India. 12:05 AM. 01 January 2016.
Happy New Year!
Good to ring in the new year with two good, respected guys.
B1B, AJ (our handler), and Mwah (sic) were the only ones of our group who lasted out the Samod Palace New Years Eve party into the new year. I kind of cheated. At 10:15 PM I went to bed, but didn't fall asleep. So, I got up at 11:45 PM, dressed, and went back to the party... to find AJ and B1B boogying away with a couple of sari clad Indian ladies.
I returned to the table we had booked and found it empty. I thot... we'll this is impressive... the establishment keeps our table open in case we decided to return. Then, some people, with heaping plates from the buffet, came and started to sit down. AJ came over and said, "Steve, they've turned your table," where upon he escorted me to a seat closer to the dance floor. The manager came over to me and apologized, offering me a complimentary drink. No big deal. The atmosphere was festive. Everybody was greeting everybody else with a "happy new year.!" Wait staff, management and patrons. A happy, hopeful tone prevailed. I mused to myself that it would be another 12 hours before people in Park City would see in the new year.
Above: Happy New Year in fireworks. Samod Palace New Years Eve party. Samod. Rajasthan, India. 01 January 2016.
Above: Floral arrangement on pavement for wedding at Samod Palace Hotel. Somod, Rajasthan, India. 01 January 2015.
Individual petals laid side by side to create this display! Another amazing sight at magical Samod Palace!
Somebody, who was at the Samod Palace, wrote a Trip Advisor review the next day. We didn't get to the wedding... but, the tone of the following write-up reflects the spirit we felt at the Samod Palace on New Years Eve.
Happy New Year! 01 January 2016.
Elephant selfie.
Amber, Rajesthan, India. 01 January 2016 (elephant on the right).
Above: Amber Fort. Amber, Rajasthan, India. 01 January 2016.
Image looks from inner courtyard out to portion of 3 mile wall which surrounds the fort. I was awed by the scale of the construction
The honey colored, sandstone fort was constructed by the Kachwaha Rajputs, headed by Maharaja Man Singh, begun in 1592. Amber was the former capital of Jaipur state.
Above: Elephant parade. Amber Fort. Amber, Rajasthan, India. 01 January 2015.
The Amber Fort stands above the town. Tourists have the option of riding elephants up to the fort in the elephant parade. Our tour bus parked below. We rode up to the fort in authorized hire jeeps.
Above: Hawa Mahal Palace. Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. 01 January 2015.
Translated as "Palace of the Winds." The palace is essentially a high screen wall built so the women of the royal household could observe street festivals while unseen from the outside.
It is constructed with red and pink sandstone. The palace sits on the edge of the city Palace and extends into the women's chambers.
Above: City Palace (section). Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. 01 December 2015.
The palace is a complex of courtyards, gardens and buildings right in the center of the Old City. The outer wall was built by Jai Singh, Maharaja of Jaipur, after he abandoned Amber Fort. But, within the wall the palace has been enlarged and adapted over the centuries. It is a striking blend of Rajasthani and Mughal architecture.
Image shows the Maharaja's flag atop the palace. The current Maharaja is 17 years old and studies at Eton in the UK.
The visit to the armory was most interesting to me of the inner palace sights. A wide array of Mughal and Rajput weapons, knives, armor, artillery. Three blunderbusses were in prominent display.
Above: Bishop (at the fence) observes World's largest stone sun dial. Jantar Mantar, City Palace, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. 01 January 2016.
Note the shadow on the right side arch which indicates the time at about 3:30 PM.
Adjacent to City Palace is Jantar Mantar, an observatory begun by Jai Singh in 1728. In aggregate, the observatory looks like a collection ob strange sculptures. Jai Singh liked astronomy more than he liked war and town planning (at his order Jaipur became the world's first planned city... ahead of Washington D.C., Canberra, Brasilia etc).
Jai Singh sent scholars abroad to study foreign astronomy constructs. He built five observatories. Jantar Mantar is the best preserved. It has been designated as a Unesco world heritage site.
Above: Samod Palace. . Samod. Rajasthan, India. 01 January 2016.
Magical. Image taken on our return from Amber Fort and Jaipur.
Addendum:
Glad you are having a great time. Sorry for Phin's tummy upset, hope he's okay.
Now for the grown up time - I wonder which one you will like better! The short time in Coronado with family was good. Nice to see first hand little Gray DeWitt Gilman. He is a darling baby. Cyd and I shared the drive and we drove a total of 1720.1 miles over a 5 day period.
Cold in Ashland and very gloomy. Cold wind has windchill. Got home Sat. afteroon after staying in Sacto overnight. Because of holiday freeways weren't terribly crowded.
Tomorrow is first Company Call and then first four plays intros - so things are off with a bang with intros and rehearsals. Sets are already complete and costumes in final stages.
First four plays are Twelfth Night, Great Expectations (adaptation premier), River Bride (premier) and Yeoman of the Guard.
Have a great time with Callens and other couples.
Aunt Joyce,
Ashland, OR
Steve
It is wonderful that you have your grandchildren on this trip. They will have happy memories and an urge to see and understand the world.
Most people do not have memories from an early age but travel to different parts of the world tend to stick and be endearing. When I was 3 years old, my family took a 4 week ship ride from Sydney to Southampton England. I remember being in the hills of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) where I was given several carved wooden elephants, watched Aden (now Sanaa) residents dive off our ship when passengers threw money in the water, going through the Suez Canal, passing Stromboli at night and seeing the glow of the volcano, walking around Gibraltar and standing with my great aunt in Southern England to watch the Golden Arrow train pass by. Those memories are still with me and made a lasting impression and created a passion for seeing the world.
The Pope,
Tallahassee, FL
Rajasthan ...spelling, no?
Great pics.
Bronx Girl,
Pelham, NY
Tks Bronx girl
I’ve really enjoyed your diary of this trip Steve! Thanks for sharing…and never doubt the TIMDT picks!
- Joan Cusack, Chicago, IL
HI Steve!
Your "picto diaries" have been a true education! Thanks for including me -- and what a wonderful opportunity for your family!
I can hardly believe that you may have returned home by now but if you happen to be considering the Wasatch Bagel for breakfast this coming Thursday, 1/7, please let me know as I would like to be there if your were there. Otherwise, anything I might wish to talk about can surely wait !!
Manhattan, Park City, UT
Steve,
I was with you at the Sariska Tiger preserve sighting in the summer of 1972. I do not think TIMDT went with us. It was just you and me. I do not remember any other Citibank folks being with us.
I also remember it vividly. We went in the back of a four wheel drive vehicle, in the dark of night. I thought I remembered it was a water buffalo that had been tied up, but maybe I got it wrong.
We got up in an old shooting stand near a water hole of some sort. I remember watching one of the adult tigers rip off the hind quarter of the beast with one swipe and carry it off into the bushes to eat.
It was an incredible experience.
I also remember there was controversy back then about the presence of the tigers in the preserve. Apparently they had eaten a few farmers who had strayed into the preserve to take their cattle to better grazing areas. We talked about the long range viability of the preserves with the inevitable growth in population that was occurring in India.
Sounds like the tigers took a hit for a while, but have now been restored.
Regards,
Delhi PJs,
Riverton, UT
DPJ,
Thanks much for filling in those blanks. One of the reasons I started to keep a diary is frustration about remembering trip details. I remember the event but who was with me, when I went etc. often blur. In hindsight, I wish I had started my diaries earlier.
I accept your account of the event.
Richard and I cleared our motorcycles in Bogota today, the usual (as Dr. G says) monkey fook, and while we were waiting I said to Richard, "I once offered my opinion on travel in India, after having spent some months there on a motorcycle, and shouted I'd never go back unless I got soft and rented a car and driver." It made me think....wonder if Steve is moving around by train? Nahhhh. Bus? Nahhhhh. Motorcyle? Nahhhhhh. Airplane? Maybe.... but my conclusion was chauffeured car.
It's kind of a British thing, having a driver, sitting in the back with the cooler for nibbling on packaged food and drinks....just a dream for a Cheap Charlie like me, but the only way I'd do another 10,000 k's over there....
Soooo, are you riding atop a train, jambed in a bus, or being a bit British?
Dr. G, from Bogota
British. A/C tourist bus with TIMDT, two other adult couples and three kids. Local, highly qualified and compatible handler/guide. Bus driver and bus driver assistant. Assistant helps you off the bus... brings you bottled water... helps the bus driver with paperwork when their are road side check-in requirements (yes India still overly bureaucratic)
I have (as have you) motorcycled in India before..., but not that much. In 2009 I rode from Darjeeling through a short northern section of West Bengal into Bhutan. Then from southeastern Bhutan south, through Assam to Guwahati.
Two news updates: There was a fairly major quake in Assam yesterday. 10 killed 100 injured (order of magnitude. Also, friends from Miami just joined us here in Delhi and informed that on their trip to Bhutan earlier this year, the east/west road spanning the country was all torn up and under construction. They said they saw a lot of motorcyclists "dragging" their bikes through the mud. I assumed that meant that they weren't always upright.
I have ridden the length of that road (2009) What is it, about 300 miles in length?. Then the road was mostly a rough macadam... fairly narrow. There was sameness in traveling through Bhutan that got old for me after a while. Perhaps its because we went in October when the mountains were occluded by a permanent low grade fog. I enjoyed the riding experience in Assam more... and was glad to go back there last week.... albeit dodging the earthquake bullet by only a couple of days.
Thanks much for you posts on South America look forward to more. Hi to Richard.