Jaipur (by Michael)

We’ve spent the last two days in Jaipur. This is the largest city we’ve been to since leaving Delhi. I’d enjoyed the (relatively) laid back pace of the smaller towns. Jaipur came as a bit of shock again. But there’s plenty to see here.

We started with a walk through the pink city, which is more a rusty-orange. Apparently it was at one time pink. The paint changed, but the name didn't. The pink city is the oldest part of town. A planned city, it's a grid of streets lined with shops and kite-filled trees. As far as I can tell, it’s essentially one big market. The focus of the market changes as you walk further into it: from jewelry to textiles, to electronics, to furniture. Walking through here is hectic, fun and stressful.

The pink city of Jaipur

We also visited a block printing shop, where patterns are stamped onto fabric by hand, with a separate pass for each colour. We saw Amber Fort, and ended the day with a hike up to a temple atop a hill full of monkeys. On the way back down we saw a third of the Chinese zodiac animals jostling for food. Sadly, no dragons.