Exploring Jaipur in Rajasthan, India!!!

After 5 weeks freezing our buns off in the Himalayas, it was time to leave the cold behind and venture into the desert for the first time! We took our first local sleeper bus all the way to Jaipur.. it was a long and tedious ride, having to backtrack to Delhi and then on to our first Rajasthani city.

We chose Jaipur because there are so many incredible sites, most of them within the walls of the old Pink City.

When we got there though, we discovered that the prices had gone wayyy up for visiting most of them.

So we settled on the Hawa Mahal, it’s an incredible, towering building that looks like a Hindu temple fused with a giant honeycomb. It was constructed of pink sandstone and it’s located right at the edge of the City Palace.

In 1799 when the “Palace of Winds” was built, women were unable to appear in public without covering their faces, so the latticed windows of this palace in particular, allowed the royal ladies to observe the festivals and the every day life on the streets without being seen.

It’s also meant to catch a lovely and refreshing breeze as the temperatures climb higher in the warm months of summer.

Another reason we chose this site in particular is, because it towers 5 stories high, it actually gives a fantastic view of the City Palace, the Jantar Mantar, and the Pink City all from above.

The Jantar Mantar, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a fascinating collection of astronomical devices built more than half a century before the Hawa Mahal. The assortment of instruments housed there include the world’s largest sundial and they facilitate the observation of astronomical positions with the naked eye.

The City Palace is still in use today by the royal family, it also houses a beautiful museum.

After a couple days in Jaipur, we were ready to leave the big city behind for Jaisalmer! Coming up next we'll tell you all about riding camels and exploring forts in Rajasthan's west!