INDIA - DAY 6: kishangarh & roopangarh.

In the morning, we had yoga and then our India Q&A, where we could ask Singhji & Zac about anything regarding India. It was a good learning experience and it was nice to get answers to some less-talked-about questions. They also gave us a tutorial on how to play cricket and the local game of sitolia, as we would be playing both games later in the trip. Then we were off to the R.K. Marble Factory, the largest producer of marble in the world. We got to tour the factory and see how they cut and polish the marble. It was an unexpected excursion, but interesting.

singhji yoga

view from the yoga blankets

the group waiting for our q&a [jennifer turner]

zacji & singhji explaining cricket and sitolia [jennifer turner]

me & ranjeet on the way to the marble factory [sandy adams]

cutting marble at rk marble

stacks of white & pink marble

singhji & our guide who looks like he "likes hard liquor & soft women" - lanji

rk marble

Next, we went into the center of Roopangarh, to the Roopangarh Fort. The fort is over 350-years-old, and has been renovated into a hotel. They love to advertise that Sting once stayed there on a visit to the village. We played tennis on a rooftop overlooking the village, watched a man make chappati in a tandoori oven, explored the amazing rooms, and ate a swadisht [tasty] lunch.

roopangarh fort [blair stirek]

view of roopangarh [colleen holland]

balcony [jennifer turner]

the suite sting stayed in [jennifer turner]

lisa, peggy & johanne [jennifer turner]

jennifer & blair in the swinging bed [jennifer turner]

masoleum of the 12th century sufi saint, sultan pir

fresh chappati from the tandoor oven is delicious

the drivers on a tower [blair stirek]

me, on the edge of roopangarh

indigo building with clothesline

they caught me photographing them

contrast

me, leaving the fort [blair stirek]

man outside the fort [colleen holland]

INDIA - DAY 5: kishangarh.

I just realized that I hadn't really posted any pictures from our yoga practice. I wish I remembered what type of yoga this is, but I just call it Singhji yoga. These photos are from our last morning in Jaipur, and include an extra session of rooftop sun salutations led by Lisa.

morning yoga with singhji [jennifer turner]

it was early [jennifer turner]

rooftop sun salutations [jennifer turner]

colleen going into a handstand [jennifer turner]

Our main attraction for the day was the Jaipur City Palace Complex. First, we toured Jantar Mantar, the old royal astronomical gardens built in the early eighteenth century. The people of Jaipur put a lot of faith in astronomy and Vedic astrology, even determining their marriage compatability by the stars. I've always been interested in astronomy and astrology, so Jantar Mantar's complete dedication to the celestial sky amazed me. The geometry and precision of all the sun dials and other architectural instruments was incredible to observe.

the narivalaya yantra shows the rotation of the earth

detail of narivalaya yantra

a sundial

geometry

the samrat yantra is the largest sundial in the world with a height of 27 meters

the hindu chhatri is used to announce eclipses & the arrival of monsoons [jennifer turner]

another pretty door

the jai prakash yantra is used to calculate horoscopes in jaipur

these structures show the placement of individual constellations

me, at the leo structure

and, of course, the cancer structure, as i am a cancer/leo cusp

landin, on his gemini structure

grids & lines

the two main sundials

INDIA - DAY 4: abhaneri & jaipur.

In the morning, we said goodbye to Bharatpur and headed out to Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan.  On the way, we made a stop in the village of Abhaneri to see the Chand Baoli, the largest stepwell in India. It was built in the ninth century, and was used mainly for storing water to help resolve the fluctuation of the water supply from season to season. I was excited to see it because Landin had shown us all a photo of a Rajasthani stepwell from the current National Geographic, and it looked awesome. It was even better in real life. The perfect geometry and careful planning of the structure was mind-blowing. We got to explore all over, including the attached building, which had some pretty great architectural details. Some of the other women and I had some boy fans following us around, taking our pictures with their phones. It was interesting to be on the other side of the camera; a reversal of my photographic ambitions.

scene from abhaneri

chand baoli

we look so tiny [johanne lu]

the main building [landin donner]

pigeons in flight & peggy looking a little scared [joel kraut]

me

the stalker boys [landin donner]

woman in blue [landin donner]

locked door [landin donner]

elephant carvings [joel kraut]

We walked from the Chand Baoli stepwell to the ancient Harshat Mata Temple behind it. This was also built in the ninth century. On the walk over, we saw and heard women in a funeral procession singing the most beautiful mourning songs. Unexpected moments like this really made the whole experience even better than planned. When we got to the temple, we were blessed by the priest and got to look around at all the statues, carvings and what looked like a statue/carving cemetery.

funeral procession

mourners arriving in the village [jonathan dipratna]

abhaneri girl [blair stirek]

kathryn, my trip twin, with handsy abhaneri boys [jennifer turner]

walking to the harshat mata temple

closeup of the temple

the priest [jonathan dipratna]

indian chelsea

some of the dirtier carvings

column cemetery

outdoor shower in abhaneri

goat outside the temple