Pushkar to Jaipur Day 11 - 28th October 2012

Part 1 - Pushkar & Jantar Mantar

Jump to part 2 - City Palace & Hotel

Camels near the hotel...

To quote Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, 'Guns for show, knives for a pro'; there must be plenty of pro's in Pushkar. Ceremonial sword and dagger stalls...

Brahma Temple

An important pilgrim centre, we weren't allowed to take photographs inside Brahma Temple itself.

It was quite small compared to other temples we'd visited and has British era silver rupee coins embedded into the floor, it was quite unusual to see British Monarchs as part of the decoration. There were also swarms of small bees that were attracted by the sticky, sweet offerings left by the pilgrims.

We had to take our shoes off some distance from the temple and walk through the crowded streets in our bare feet/socks.

Outside the temple...
 

Langurs with the Holy Lake in the background...

Bright saris in the vegetable market...

This bullock just stood his ground in the middle of the street and wasn't going anywhere until he was ready...

Amazingly vivid paints made from locally mined minerals - the column of magenta almost throbs in the light (sounds like it could be a line from an E L James novel - not that I've ever read it)...

Miche at Pushkar Lake...

Cow looking down at the ghats...

Panorama...

Rangji Temple's fine Gopuram tower...

Back on the road to Jaipur...

Happy to hang off a door whilst driving at speed along a three-lane highway...

Jaipur - The Pink City

This is not a parade, just a cow taking its own time about wandering around the city. Their sacred status means that no one tries to move them along any faster than they're going and they patiently wait; if it had been another car, the peeping would have been cacophonous ...

My poppadom order arriving...

Jantar Mantar

A vast park of 18th century astronomical clocks and instruments for various different seasons and constellations. It resembled a cross between a skateboard park and a crazy golf course for giants.

They're impressive in their accuracy and size - one of them is 90 feet high.

As you can see, it was 3:18 in the afternoon...

The 90 foot tall Samrat Yantra (Giant sundial)...

Miche by the Aries clock...

Together with an umbrella shaped tree...