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Nicole's
Travelogues and Budget Travel Tips..
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JAIPUR, INDIA
Anyway, after a few days in chill Pushkar, we took bus to Jaipur - the capital of the state of Rajasthan with 2.3 million people. The weather was great - no rain, about 75 degrees.
The pink color was used at the time of making to create an impression of red sandstone buildings of Mughal cities - and repainted in 1876, during the visit of the Prince of Wales. The major rivers passing through the Jaipur district are Banas and Banganga. We stayed in a place called Diggi Palace Hotel which was near a women's college. The Diggi Palace is the city seat of the Diggi family.
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The city is laid out into six quarters, separated by broad streets. The urban quarters are further divided by networks of gridded streets. Five quarters wrap around the east, south, and west sides of a central palace quarter, with a sixth quarter immediately to the east. The Palace quarter encloses a sprawling palace complex (the Hawa Mahal, or palace of winds), formal gardens, and a small lake. Nahargarh Fort crowns the hill in the northwest corner of the old city.
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Jaipur is also known as the Pink City but is more of a cajun salmon faded burnt red color. Jaipur was founded in 1727 AD by one of the greatest rulers of the Kachhawaha clan, the astronomer king Sawai Jai Singh. 
The main building and its surrounding bagh (garden), as well as the fountain was constructed by Shri Thakur Saheb Pratap Singh Ji Diggi of the ruling family of the house of Diggi around 1860’s. Originally a Bagh (Garden retreat) for the family, the House and its surroundings with the gardens were used for holding the Durbar (state reception) whenever the Thakurs were there. Later converted into the permanent residence for the family, it was converted to a Hotel in 1990. The lawn area was gorgeous and had tables set up for the restaurant. The trees filled with monkeys (boo!) and peacocks (strange sounds) and bats (really big ones that came out at night). 
I spent the next morning walking through Jaipur's Old Town and Market area. It was cool to look at the shops, people, and atmosphere. In the market, there was everything from copper pipes and furniture to silks and tapestries. There were men dyeing cloth and others pulling taffy (reminded me of taffy pullers in 
