Incredible Northern India Garden Tour
March 3rd - March 15th, 2010
DELHI –AGRA – BHARATPUR - JAIPUR –JODHPUR –UDAIPUR – DELHI

 

March 9th, 2010

The cool thing about driving instead of flying is that you get to taste India along the way. And taste we did. The road was an excellent divided toll highway and we did stop for a break along the way at a great stop where we enjoyed refreshments and did a bit of shopping. The highway was lined with potato trucks and tractors hauling all manner of goods. The big puffy looking loads were soft sided containers that held spent stalks from lentils. They are used for either animal feed for roofing. Nothing goes to waste here. The loads of potatoes were going to huge storage sheds to keep them in good shape until sold. It amazed us all to see elephants and dromedary along with vehicles. They seemed at ease in the noisy traffic. The dromedaries are used a lot in the cement factories for hauling the wagons around. Trucks filled to the brim with people in bright coloured clothing, cattle laying by the sides of the roads, Women in bright sari’s carrying loads of twigs or stalks of lentils or food or even cans on their heads. It was an amazing drive and gave us all a real insight into India in just this tiny bit of space that we occupied.
 
We arrived at Sisodia Gardens just outside Jaipur late morning and what a pleasant surprise. This was a beautiful serene garden and the home is being renovated and we sure are happy to hear that. The building itself is painted with all kinds of ladies on it…in pretty dresses. It goes all along the top of the road and the gardens spill down from there. Inside you will see lots of rooms that have painted walls with flowers on them. Once inside the gardens, the house windows are like a big glasshouse with a patio out front and that looks down unto the gardens. In the center of the garden is a long waterway. It was designed for a Queen from her King Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh. What must the gardens have looked like when she lived there? Now cycads, frangipani and grass are all that remain. You cannot help but wonder as this was truly an exquisite place to live once upon a time.

Sisodia Rani Ka Bagh is a beautiful garden, located at a distance of 10 kms from Jaipur, on Jaipur-Agra Highway. The Garden appeals more to the beholder, since it stands as a symbol of love. In 1728, Sisodia Rani Garden was built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh, with an intention to gift the garden, to his Sisodia Queen from Udaipur. As the name suggests, the Garden was named after the queen, who was adorable to the King. The structure of the garden is imbibed from the Mughal style of Architecture, which makes it a well-designed garden. Sisodia Rani Garden appears to be designed on the theme of eternal lovers, Radha-Krishna. The garden appeals to the artistic and visual tastes of the visitor with its layered gardens, fascinating fountains, painted pavilions and galleries. The interesting frescos, depicting the exotic scenes of Radha-Krishna, enthrall the visitors for their divine appearance.

From here we continued to our hotel, check in then met for lunch before heading out to a block printing and wool rug demonstration then back to the hotel to rest and enjoy some leisure time before heading out to dinner and a dance show.

Our hotel here was the Jai Mahal Palace, once the residence of the Prime Minister of the state of Jaipur. Regal is all you can say about this hotel, ensconced in 18 acres of landscaped gardens recreating the glory of a bygone era.

Jaipur was the first planned city in India, quite remarkable since it was built in 1727. Did you know that there are 60 different ways to tie a turban in Rajasthan? The clothes used average 27 feet but they also be as long at 50 feet.