My original post from Jaipur (Day 1) included a few photos with descriptions of events that I’ll skip here because you already (likely) saw them. I won’t bore you with the story of the textile factory again, the photo from my hotel room in Jaipur, or the photo from my 6am wakeup with a sky full of hot air balloons. They’re not even any good! Here. These are better.
My first monkey (baboon? pretty sure that’s a baboon!) sighting. It’s kind of weird how they just
hang out in the cities swinging between buildings and congregate in alleyways. They fuck a lot, too.
But you’ll see more evidence of that in tomorrow’s post. This photo was taken near the observatory in Jaipur.
The observatory in Jaipur is used by astronomers and astrologers to…do whatever it is those
people do. Like I said before, I don’t know a lot about either field of study so I couldn’t tell you
what you’re looking at or what it’s intended purpose is. There were also sundials
(I know what those do!) but the pictures I took of those didn’t turn out as good as some of the other shots I took.
There were different machines for the different signs of the zodiac that are supposed to tell you
more about yourself, I think. They help you find your rising or ascending signs, and then I’m not
sure what the astrologers do with them. Part of the allure of the observatory was supposed to be
taking a photo at your “machine,” but since I’m a novice when it comes to astrology I didn’t
quite understand the purpose of the Taurus machine, or why I’d want a picture with it.
Weird machines make for weird photographs at the Observatory.
Sharp angles make for fun photographs.
This is at City Palace in Jaipur. It was original the seat of the Maharaja in Jaipur. Now it houses
a museum, but it’s also still a royal residence! In fact, the most recent Maharaja of Jaipur City died
like, a month ago, and he named his 12-year-old grandson his successor. So the kid lives there.
I think in the Chandra Mahal, which is off limits except for the ground-floor museum.
A bird in the chandelier is worth at least one Photo 101 quality photograph.
Diwan-I-Khas, a former private audience hall for the Maharajas. It currently houses the
Guinness Book Of World Records-certified largest sterling silver vessels. They each have a capacity
of 4000 litres and weigh 750 pounds a piece. They were made for one of the maharajas to take Ganga
water to England to drink during one of his visits there. I was more interested in the architecture.
Typical garbage piled up in the streets. Typical cow and dog eating garbage in the streets.
Street scene. Jaipur City.
Street Scene. Jaipur City.
Wind Palace. Night. I had to capture this really quickly as we were driving by, but I got much better
pictures during my second day in Jaipur. I’ll explain it more in depth tomorrow, but if you simply
can’t wait to find out about it, I’m sure you could Wikipedia Hawa Mahal and you’ll feel
like the smartest kid reading this website come tomorrow evening.
Minny Pops – Motor City
