Jaipur, the Pink City, and beyond

We are getting quite well versed in the elements of design and architecture here - the beautiful carved pink sandstone screens and balconies, the mirror rooms, painted frescos and ceilings. And the 'sneaky' passages, as our guide, Dheerendra, likes to call them.

A royal woman's lot was not a great one, consigned to watching the activities and celebrations of the court from high balconies behind a lattice screen. Certainly the stonework was beautiful, but it is impossible to get the 'full picture' - a bit like poor reception on the tv. And then there was the prospect of sharing your husband with up to a dozen wives and 500 concubines!

One of the surprises of Jaipur was the observatory. This was an impressive open-air monument dating back to 1727 which allowed them to tell the time, allocate star signs and identify auspicious times/dates. The scale and complexity was remarkable.

We spent a night in the small village of Sawarda, an hour or so from Jaipur. The local noble family are restoring a fort to host tourists. It was a great spot to sit on the balcony and watch the sun go down. A couple of Indian expats turned up and we enjoyed our conversation with them, to the background of some local music. Still working on our Bollywood moves!

Whilst in Jaipur, we went to the cinema one night to see the most recent release - Agneepath. The cinema was gorgeous, and the film was fantastic, even when all the speech was in Hindi. Not too hard to pick up the storyline, and when it is time to cheer! We gave it 4 1/2 stars.