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| Picking up Taj Mahal @ Agra, India |
- [Day 1] Basically spent time in the plane. Flew from KLIA - Singapore - New Delhi
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[Day 2] Photo session outside of Qutub Tower, India Gate, drove past the
President and Parliament Houses, government buildings and embassy area.
Went to Badminton Semi-Final.
- [Day 3] Tour to Old Delhi and drove past Red Fort. Visited Jama Mosque
and went to Siri Fort Sports complex to watch the Final Match of India
Open 2013
- [Day 4] Traveled from Delhi to Agra. Visited Agra Fort, Taj Mahal and Mohabat Taj Live Show. Stayed in Jaypee Palace Hotel
If you've missed out the first blog post about
my visit to Taj Mahal, you should
read it first =) All right, I shall continue with my India Trip [Day 5]! Since I got feedback from my friend saying that my previous post was too long, I will just decrease amount of photo I wanna share to day and it will be all about what happened during our fifth day in India!
[Day 5] Depart from Agra and heading to Jaipur to visit the City Palace and Observatory. At night we then went to the local market Bapu Bazar @ Jaipur for shopping.
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| Muralidharan Lee, also know as Lee. He is our funny and entertaining tour guide during our India trip. I like the jokes and life philosophy that he shared - "Don't worry, be happy" is definitely a good motto of life |
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| A lady using his head to carry 'holy shit'(cow dung) by the 'holy cow'. They were drying the cow dung and make it become pie shape and later use it as manure/agriculture fertilizer |
Since I don't usually travel to India (this was my first time), I've
decided to spot what I can while sitting on the bus and
capture the scenery/people I find them interesting. In my opinion, it is
definitely worth it to sacrifice your sleep for awesome photos
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| You smile, I smile |
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| Mother and daughter smiled back after I waved and smiled to them =D |
In first few days of our trip in India, I was having jet lag and don't really have the energy to greet the local. However on day 5, I have slowly adapted to the time in India and tried to greet every local I met while our bus passing by them. As what my tour guide (Lee)said, it is true that if you smile to them, they will smile back at you. Even if you wave at them, they might wave back too, just like the mirror =)
Here's a series of portrait photos I manage to take while we were on the bus:
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| A children with his grandparents I guess? =) |
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| Simple life = Easy to have happy smile |
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| A cow eating the food residue on the street besides a vehicle with beautiful eye painted on it |
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| Passing by the village and found this green farm with yellow flower plants blooming under the hot sun |
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| An organic block that was made of cow dung. Look at the designs printed on it =) |
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| A girl transferring dry grass that can be used to feed their livestock |
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| Camel spotted along our bus trip to Jaipur |
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| Organic banana served on the bus. Thanks to him for providing us enough bottled water along the whole trip |
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| A colorful horse cart for wedding |
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| Stopped at road side to buy some local handicraft. The price is definitely cheaper than what you seen in the city |
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Got myself the carved marble elephant statue at Rs 200 only (RM12)
Each and every elephant is unique in color and shape |
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| Stopped by Udai Vilas Palace Hotel, Rajasthan for a quick toilet break and spotted this lizard enjoying the hot weather |
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| I find him cool to be captured by my camera. That red turban paired with red classic glasses |
We made a stop at a restaurant for
Pakoras snacks break. I asked the man above if I can take a photo of him and he was telling me that I will be charged after that. I said no, feeling sad but then he allowed me to shoot a photo of him for free just for this time. That's the thing about people in India sometime, they will try to make money in any possible way to make their life better =) Why? Because we are considered rich tourists who traveled all the way from Malaysia to India.
I still remember there was a boy in the toilet passing tissue to me and was told to give him tips afterwards. Well, I took the tissue and gave him the coins I have in my pocket. Hope it manage to help him a bit. *I am picky in giving tips to people who deserve it haha*
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| Beside the restaurant was a souvenir shop selling all kinds of stuff |
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| Beside India's god statue, spot the vase and globe model made of camel bones and |
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| Monkey god statue |
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| King Cobra God statue. Blue represent it's poisonous color |
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| Passed by this empty hill before we reach our hotel |
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| Flower ring welcoming us at Fortune Bella Casa Hotel, Jaipur |
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Surprised to see there are tons of beggars who stay at the road side. Which is just opposite of Fortune Bella Casa Hotel
That's a mom wiping her baby's buttock~ |
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| A passerby crossing the road |
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| Kid begging for money/food while we getting on our bus |
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| A new building under painting. It will be very colorful during my next visit |
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| Toilet could be anywhere in India |
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| A building with tons of pigeons on it |
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| An old man with his trishaw |
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The most obedient holy cow spotted and listen to my direction on posing
*listening carefully with its ears* |
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He wasashing hand and face after pumped water from the underground
He pumped again so that I can wash my hand as well haha. Thanks buddy |
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Walking towards Jaipur's World Heritage Monument - Jantar Mantar to learn more about Indian Astrology
Ticket to enter priced at Rp 350 |
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| The sphere shape astrology structure @ Jantar Mantar that can be used to predict the location of the stars/horoscope in the sky using the sun lights/shadow |
"The Jantar Mantar observatory consists of fourteen major geometric devices for
measuring time, predicting eclipses, tracking stars' location as the
earth orbits around the sun, ascertaining the declinations of planets,
and determining the celestial altitudes and related ephemerides. Each is
a fixed and 'focused' tool.
Built from local stone and marble, each instrument carries an
astronomical scale, generally marked on the marble inner lining. Bronze
tablets, all extraordinarily accurate, were also employed. Thoroughly
restored in 1901, the Jantar Mantar was declared a national monument in
1948.
Today the observatory is a popular tourist attraction. However, local
astronomers still use it to predict the weather for farmers, although
their authority is becoming increasingly questionable. Students of
astronomy and Vedic astrology are required to take some of their lessons
at the observatory, and it can be said that the observatory is the
single most representative work of Vedic thought that still survives,
apart from the texts. Many of the smaller instruments display remarkable
innovation in architectural design and its relation to function, for
instance - the Ram Yantra."
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| A selfie together with the Jai Prakash Yantra at Jantar Mantar, Jaipur.. Too complicated for everyone to understand the concept behind it. If you like to read horoscope remember to visit this place and the tour guide will tell you what's your lucky number, color or even date on particular date. |
Jai Prakash Yantra (shown above)
The design and purpose of this instrument is similar to the Kapali
Yantras.
As before, a map of the visible heavens is inscribed on the inner
surface of the bowls, with additional scales (including the zodiacal
divisions of the year) around the rim.
A small ring is suspended from cross wires. Its shadow projects the
position of the sun onto the inscribed celestial map.
At night, an observer could sight through the ring to discover the
position of any star or planet of interest.
According to my tour guide (Lee), Indians are very particular on astrology and they decide their children's wedding day by calculate the best day to get married. A correct dayday will bless the couple with good fortune and fate.
"Indian Astrology is the most ancient form of astrology. It differs a lot in comparison with the Western astrology. It correlates the ever changing planetary positions with the fate of the human being. It follows the date, time and place of birth of the individuals to make horoscope or the respective birth chart. It differs from the Chinese astrology as the Chinese people use only the birth year to calculate the prediction. They believe year of birth certainly indicates a special aspect of a circle of sixty year of time. So people who born in a particular year certainly share some common traits of that particular animal as people share under a same zodiac sign. But Indian astrology shares very particular traits regarding character, the future, marriage compatibility, jobs and career and so on." - read more @
Astrology and Horoscope
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| Weather was hot but you shouldn't miss a group photo! |
Here's a photo of me together with some friends at the Astrological devices for individual constellation. I've found my horoscope among all 12 of them. Wanna guess I belong to which horoscope?
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| Mr and Mrs Choy the loving couple I know during this India trip =) |
After visiting Jantar Mantar we then travel to the City Palace. City Palace, Jaipur, which includes the Chandra Mahal and Mubarak Mahal palaces and other buildings, is a palace complex in Jaipur, the capital of the Rajasthan state, India. The Chandra Mahal palace now houses a museum but the greatest part of it is still a royal residence.
The City Palace is in the central-northeast part of the Jaipur city,
which is laid in a grid pattern with wide avenues. It is a unique and
arresting complex of several palaces, pavilions, gardens and temples.
The most prominent and most visited structures in the complex are the
Chandra Mahal, Mubarak Mahal, Mukut Mahal, Maharani's Palace, Shri
Govind Dev Temple and the City Palace Museum.
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The turban guard with huge tummy
PS: He might ask you for money after photoshoot since it is a tourist area |
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| A guy showing us how he tie the turban onto his head |
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Don't miss a chance to take photo together!
PS: My lips was cracked which shown a funny smile |
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| One of the beautiful gate found in City Palace |
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| An awesome group photo taken by the guard in City Palace |
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| Picture together with the photographer and my travel buddy, Chin Chye after he took the group photo for us |
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| Travel buddies right in front of the beautiful Peacock Gate |
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| Touched the gate knobs for some good luck (Not sure if it works haha) |
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| Stop by the cafe inside the City Palace for some cool beer. |
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| The kid transferring the rest of the beer given to him into a plastic bottle |
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| A guy showing us how they make the printing for sarees @ Jaipur Haat |
After our visit to the City Palace, we then depart to a shopping stop
- Jaipur Haat in Pink City, a place where you can buy colorful sarees, genuine gem stones at one same place.
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| You must learn to bargain for good price |
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| Variety of gem stones for you to choose |
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| A beautiful corner of a building at night. Spot the colorful glasses on the window |
After visited Jaipur Haat, we then travel again to a local night bazaar - Bapu Bazaar, heavens for shoppers.
Bapu Bazaar is famous for drawing the highest numbers of shoppers in Jaipur. Shoppers can buy a huge number of traditional Rajasthani products ranging from textiles, perfumes, products made from camel skin and many more. Mojari footwear, which is made out of camel skin can be found in the markets of Bapu Bazaar.
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| Our travel buddy using one of his bargaining skill - "The Pout Mouth" |
Remember, bargaining is very common in the shops of Bapu Bazaar. It is a
skill that the tourists will need to cater in order to get the best
bet. The more the tourists learn to bargain the better will be your
buy.
Since I am not into shopping at the bazaar, I just bring my DSLR that was paired with 50mm f1.8 and focus on snapping portraits on the street. Just a few photos to share:
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| A family on one single motorcycle. |
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| A simple family |
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Approached them again for another shoot besides the shop
Better lighting that reveals her striking red saree. Thank you for posing =) |
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| Local food stall in Bapu Bazaar |
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A picture together with two old man who shared a lot stories with me
Thanks my buddy for taking this photo |
I don't know where did I find the bravery to approach the two old man who were in their shop selling luggage and electronic device. We chatted for quite a long time and he shared a lot stories with me after knowing that I am from Malaysia. According to him, there is one Tunku's son serving as an officer in the Indian army now.
Thanks to Google, I found out that the prince who is serving in Indian Army now is none other than
Tunku Ismail Idris ibni Sultan Ibrahim Ismail, the Tunku Mahkota of Johor (Crown Prince). Following a family tradition of getting trained in armed forces, with his late grandfather in the Malaysian Army and father in the US Army, Tunku Ismail aspired for a career in the Indian armed forces. Oh well, he is the first ever Malaysian royal to join the Indian armed forces.
Since my travel buddies were leaving the place after done shopping, I asked my buddy to help me take a group photo before we left. Thanks the wise old man who shared his knowledge with me haha. If you haven't notice only his hair remains black while eyebrow and mustache has turn all white.
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| Special performance by the villagers at our hotel's dining room |
We all went back to hotel for dinner of the day. As usual, spicy curry (mutton) and spicy noodles awaiting us. The chef never expect we Malaysian like to eat that much rice and hence plain white rice is always out of stock. Thanks to our tour guide (Lee) he manage to ask the chef to cook more rice for us haha. I was too tired to take a photo of the food being served though.
That's all for my sharing about the fifth day in India!! Stay tune on TianChad.com as I am gonna share the exciting post of us at Amber Fort. We took a ride on the elephant, took a photo with a living cobra *fear factor challenge* and visited Chokhi Dhani Village that is actually a very huge and unique fun-fair. Yeah we manage to have a camel ride at the fun-fair as well!
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| A cobra quietly 'listen' to his master's music |
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