Honeymoon recap: Bali, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, India: Varanasi and now India: Rajasthan, Part 1.
Rajasthan is made up of independent city-states that are controlled by royal families called Rajputs. At one time, it was a collective of kingdoms that each grew strong from taxation of the spice routes that wound through the region. The major cities are Jaipur, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Mandawa. Each city has it’s own series of palaces and forts that were used to fend off constant wars. Each kingdom city is now used for more benign purposes and each are in varying states of repair, restoration and disrepair. The royal families now mostly use the palaces for tourism, hotels and money-making functions like weddings. Jaigarh Fort in Jaipur and Meherangarh Fort in Jodhpur, in particular, are known as two of the must-have places to get married if your Indian and extremely wealthy. These areas are home to once extravagant houses called Havelis that have been turned into hotels and home-stays.
Rajasthan sits on the edge of the Thar desert, one of the largest deserts in the world and Jaisalmer, the farthest city to the west, is about 100km from the Pakistan border, which is closed, because of political maneuvering between the two nations. The Rajasthani women dress in bright colored saris, traveling through the desert you can see women from miles away, their bright colored saris, starkly contrasted against the colorless desertscape. A high percentage of the really gorgeous pictures you see of India come from here and Rajasthan is well known for it’s crafts, precious stones, textiles and rug export businesses. When see a “made in india” tag on a piece of clothing, chances are, it comes from Rajasthan, Jaipur in particular.
We journeyed through Rajasthan by car and driver. A 12 day, manic paced, joy ride through the gorgeous indian countryside.
This is part 1, it covers Agra, Fatepur Sikri, Jaipur, Udaipur, Ranakpur and Jodhpur.
Nice photos!!