Story has it that Jaipur's universal shade of pink came in 1876 to coincide with the visit of the Prince of Wales (King Edward VII). Almost the entire city was given a coat of pink paint, thus giving it the name "The Pink City". Rather than pink, Gus felt a bit green as he experienced a case of Delhi Belly.Taking things a bit slower we stayed in and enjoyed our hotel The Oberoi Rajvilas.
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| Our Hotel |
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| Our Housekeeper, Lhaden from Bhutan |
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| Praticing 250 Year Old Shiva Temple Preserved on Oberoi Property |
While Gus spent some time resting in our room Joan was off to participate in the afternooon pujas(prayers). A priest at the temple preforms the Aarti Ceremony twice a day every day of the week.The cermony involves the circulating of an 'Aarti lamp' around Lord Shiva and is accompanied by the singing of songs in praise of Shiva. In doing so, the lamp is supposed to acquire the power of the deity. The priest then passed the lamp around Joan along with the offering of a purificatory blessing. The power of Shiva now passed to Joan.
The next day, after a breakfast of rice and poached eggs, we ventured out for an abridged day of sightseeing. Rather than engage in a day of palace hopping we chose one palace...the Amber Palace, more commonly referred to as Amber Fort and is actually located in Amber, India which is 10-12 miles from Jaipur.
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| Amber Fort Built to Protect the Palace |
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| Amber Palace |
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| Entrance to the Amber Palace |
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| Ganesha |
Ganesha, the Remover of Obstacles, has become our favorite Hindu deva.
(If reading from email go to Blog to view video)
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| Gus and Joan After Visiting a Hindu Temple in the Palace |
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| A Dragonfly in Jaipur... Next, A Tiger in Rathambhore |
Very nice entry. Thanks for sharing.
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