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Put the plastic optic on the lensbaby and grabbed shots in between chopping and peeling and stirring and serving...
Continued : Half a million people march in London to stop the cuts. 26.03.2011
This large photo set celebrates the hundreds of thousands of decent, peaceful people who put so much effort into the best march you never saw...
Last weekend the TUC's "March for the Alternative" demonstration saw Central London streets packed with half a million Public Sector employees, Disability Rights and anti-war groups, students and many others angry at government cuts. As we all know the day's events were completely stolen by the selfish, cretinous actions of a couple of hundred juvenile "Anarchists" who used the day's events as cover to cause havoc all over Central London, attacking shops, businesses and the police for no reason other than jealousy, sociopathy and a desire to cause criminal damage. These are football thugs by any other name, no more, no less.
The so-called Anarchists claim they are fighting back against Capitalism, the Establishment and all Agents of the State - the Police, especially - and are doing what they do to show that they are not Slaves to the State or the Corporations, yet they are the first to complain if they think that someone has behaved illegally towards them like the immature children they are. I don't know if they can see the irony in organising their raids by Blackberry, Android phones and Twitter, but I can't help feeling that if someone attacked them in the street and stole their precious smartphones off them before kicking the living crap out of them they'd be crying and wailing all the way to the nearest police station to report the crime and wait there until Daddy comes to pick them up in the Range Rover...
The truth is that they are nothing more than Useful Idiots, serving the propaganda purposes of the very Corporations which they claim to detest, and if they had any vision beyond their aggressive juvenile male urge to smash the place up and piss on all the lamp posts to mark their fictitious territory, they'd maybe understand that they will always fail. You change large systems from within, and it takes time and intelligence, and the ability to win hearts and minds. At the moment in this country there are several million working and lower middle-class people fighting for their very survival at the hands of this ideology-driven right-wing government, and what they don't need are these utter morons robbing them of their huge public display of moral and social unity.
Predictably the Media the next week was awash with pornographic photos of Useful Idiots smashing bank windows and other Useful idiots throwing paintbombs at the police, and to all intents and puposes the half a million people who marched that day should have saved all the precious money they wasted hiring coaches, getting trains, driving down to London, because these Useful Idiots made a mockery of their aspirations as working class people.
As far as I'm concerned the tedious, unintelligent Black Bloc and Red Sky "anarchists" are as much our enemy as the Banks and Hedge Funds.
All photos © 2011 Pete Riches
Do not use my photos without my permission
None of the other bloggers I follow on Blogspot have put up a post this year as yet. And wondering whether I should. I mean I enjoy them, and love to reread old posts and shock myself with what I have forgotten. I am seriously thinking about stopping the Brexit posts, but then things will get really fraught this year, and will be a scary shitshow and at what I can scream on a daily basis: "I fucking told you so!"
What to do?
And then there is Norwich bloody City. After the no-show at Old Trafford, I really felt so let down by the players that I would just not bother with the rest of the season. And was quite resigned to this, until I got an e mail from Peter, my new work colleague, that his son's ticket at the Spurs v Norwich was free and would I fancy going along?
I thought about it for ages, and said I would be interested, and by that time the offer was now firm, and the ticket would in fact be free, and he would take me up, if I could get to Broadstairs, and it turned out, would return me in his car to my front door.
An offer too good to refuse.
Apparently.
The day started off badly with the alarm failing to go off. So, I laid in bed waiting for it, only for it to not sound. What time does the alarm go off, I asked Jools?
Six.
Its twenty five past now I said.
Bugger.
So, she scrambled around to get ready, and I stayed out of the way, as running interference is one of my key skills, apparently. Meaning that by the time she left it was twenty past seven, and too late for phys before work.
I'll make it up tomorrow I said, not believing it myself.
I have breakfast whilst checking my inbox: one mail to deal with, and then on with more reviewing.
I cook a decent lunch for myself, as I wasn't sure what the plan was for when we got to that London. Some more work and then, time to go.
All I had to do was walk to the top of the down, along Station Road, down the other side, over the Deal road and on to the station.
With my back. I mean, I couldn't leave it behind, but it has been screaming lately.
And as soon as I turned onto Station Road to climb to the top, my back began to ache.
It got worse.
But once at the top, it would be OK for a while.
But then there is other problems; the fact the road has no pavement and steep banks on each side, so the pedestrian would have to hope he is seen in time and cars, trucks and tractors drive round us, not through us.
Wednesday was dull and grey, and I was wearing my warm coat, coloured black, as it is January and would be outside for several hours later. So I was hard to spot, and when I could I got out of the road when a car came.
I reached the Deal road safe and sound. This was the hard part, traffic going 50mph and a staggered junction, and I would have to find a gap to scamper across. After a couple of minutes, I do get across, and was now over halfway to the station. From there is was downhill for a bit, then a slight rise into the village.
I do make it, but I needed to sit on the low back to reset my back, which helped. But I am puffing well when I got to the station with ten minutes to spare. I resolve to go to the back bender for a stretching session as soon as I can.
But I was at the station, I buy ticket and go down through the subway to the other platform and wait outside to cool down and get my breath back.
The train pulls in and I find an acceptable seat. I am choosy, I know. And settle down to enjoy the 35 minute run up through Deal, Sandwich, Ramsgate to Broadstairs, where, if things worked out, Pete would be waiting.
He was, but I was on one side of the station and he was on the other side. A quick phone lead to him driving round to collect me. I climb into his Audi, all 362 horsepoers growing from the back box, still sounding like a bucket of angry hornets. And that was at rest.
And all the way up to London there was the constant background roar of the exhaust and the popping of unignited fuel escaping. He put on a UK Subs album to help drown out the engine noise, and conversation.
But we do talk, and drive north as darkness fell, and a mist rose, making driving difficult. But he presses on, staying in the fast lane up to Dartford, inching forward through the tunnel then onto the A13 into the East End.
Driving is never fun, but on a dark and misty night, driving into London in heavy traffic is anything but, but with him and his son, driving in is half as cheap as the train, so is a no brainer.
Once near to Tottenham, the traffic inches along, before turning away from the ground to park in a muslti-story car park some 20 minute brisk walk from the ground. Or a half hour fast walk for me.
It is flat, so my back is fine as long as keep the pace sensible. Pete is understanding, but pushes the envelope.
Halfway to the ground, we stop at a kebab shop for a sober kebab. Skewered chicken, salad and rice all round.
And it was very good indeed, and half healthy.
Out of the shop and to the ground, past the rows of shops, barbers, betting shops and "fun" pubs. And everywhere there is rubbish and trash piled up. I could not live in a city, and certainly not this city. Nice to visit, for short periods.
Spurs have a new ground that towers over the surrounding streets and looks like a UFO crashlanded, all lit up like a kid's birthday cake. It is impressive, and is state of (stadium) art. But is out of place.
We walk round to the first checkpoint, up steps to the next checkpoint, then to the turnstiles and into the ground, where I find the whole area under the raked stands is one large money making scheme: bars, fast food joints and bars. Lots of bars.
And it was packed, people lined up a dozen deep to pay for quid for a pint of fizzy lager in a plastic glass. Instead we go up to our seats. Their seats are in "the wall", the largest end stand in all of Europe. We walk to the row half way up, then along to their seats, almost in the middle of the goal, with wonderful views of the pitch, which glowed under the floodlights.
Then began the pre-match build up: flashing lights, bright flashing videos on the four huge screens and bombastic commentary over the top.
All for Spurs v Norwich. Which was, let us not forget, a sell-out.
The teams come out, we stand and applaud. All I had to do now was not to show I was a Norwich supporter in the middle of the avid Spurs section, and hoping I could hide that fact in the unlikely event Norwich actually scored.
It was a poor match, neither side could pass the ball. And both were shot shy, when the goal was in sight, both missed.
There was little to choose between the teams, but just before half time, City lost possession, one pass and a cross, and Dele had a tap in after stealing between two defenders.
I want to hold my head in my hands, but instead stand up with the other 50,000 Spurs fans and clap.
In the second half, it is even stuff, Norwich play better, and just when it seems it would come to nothing, we get a penalty.
After waiting 5 minutes for VAR to rule on it, Pukki lined it up, ran and struck it into the corner, just out of Lloris' grasp.
I sat on my hands, and smiled.
Pete looked at me for a reaction.
I smiled some more.
Ten minutes later, a ball going nowhere near the goal was deflected and looped into the far corner of the Norwich goal, just out of Kruul's grasp.
Done and dusted.
Football is cruel.
We really did not deserve that. Honestly. And Spurs did not deserve to win. But they did win.
We leave our seats and are down in the concourse in a couple of minutes, go to the bar for a beer to wait while the crowds dispersed, but there were thousands around us doing the same thing.
At ten, we leave and walk to the car, the evening not cold at all, and me with an extra layer of clothes on, sweating for England.
We get to the car, pay the ticket and drive out along the North Circular to the A13, then to Dartford and back into Kent.
We have the Stranglers as our soundtrack, as Pete puts the horses to use. He shows me how well the car can use them as he accelerates the car to 120mph. I am thrown back into the seat, and am impressed.
The Stranglers play on.
He deposits be at the end of our street at five past midnight.
I say thanks, and he says thanks for the three points.
Back indoors I have a bottle of tripel and some crackers and cheese.
Again, apart from the result, the day was brilliant.
I once painted a girl in the nude, but I got so cold I had to put my clothes back on. Downtown Gastonia NC
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Trimley, Suffolk. We put the box up in March. Lots of activity from June creating the nests inside. By the end of summer, 18 cells in the box were in use.
I'm only able to identify to Megachile genus, confirmed by iRecord but not to species.
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/29697818@N03] has suggested it may be Willughbiella. BWARS website www.bwars.com/bee/megachilidae/megachile-willughbiella indicates it is frequently observed and widely distributed in the UK and thus supposrts Bernhard's suggestion.
STRANGE UPDATE: I had last night 05 July put here a "Memorial" for my 2nd grandbaby who died on 02 July & joined his/her brother Gabriel who also died this year 12 Jan 07 but now We are in a state of "confusion" not knowing now as 5 days after we were told our 2nd grandbaby "Little Baby Nava" had died on 02 July 07 bet. 1:00 Pm- 5:02 Pm. and now today 06 July at 1:35 Pm, we get another phone call saying the Baby is still alive or atleast "appearing" so as my daughter's pregnancy & hormone etc.. levels are all registering that they are increasing!! The blood test came back positive! We are in shock, and after 5 days of mourning, to get news like this is quite confusing to say the least! You can read the full story to my 'REPLY" to dkhlucy down below.... Do we mourn or do we celebrate that we have a "Miracle"?? One thing is for sure, we are frightened as we do worry about Little Baby Nava's Health now.. I trust in God, that he has a greater plan, I just need to catch my breathe here for a moment to try to grasp all this...
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This is my 1st Grandbaby- Little Baby Gabriel's grave whom died 12 January 2007 at 2:30 A.M. age: 56 days, BUT we sadly just lost our 2nd granbaby- Little Baby Nava on 02 July 2007 between 1PM-5PM. Monday, age: 7 weeks and we have no way to bury him/her so I am burying him/her here with his/her older brother Little Baby Gabriel. My daughter was going to announce her pregnancy on the 19th if she felt comfortable as because of what happened to our 1st grandbaby, it is most understandably why. I got the phone call at 5 pm. and just couldn't believe my ears!! We lost 2 precious grandbabies just 10 days short of 6 months! How can this be? Tears just choked my eyes & my heart sank with deep grief. My beloved cousins had told me on 15 May that I was to be a grandmother again which just so happens to be the day Cousin St. Sr. Marie Rose Ferron- Stigmatist, Mystic, Victim Soul of Woonsocket, RI., USA.'s, burial day and her brother Anatole's birthday and now it became the conception day of Little Baby Nava! I didn't say anything to anyone except my husband for worry of what happened to Little Gabey, so I wanted to wait to see. No, the death of Little Baby Nava is not related to what happened to Little Gabey at all, Thank God, it is just sadly, very common for most women to experience miscarriages atleast 1-3 times during their lifetime of child-bearing years. Much of it happens during the "early stages" and some women don't even know they have miscarried til there is another sign. My daughter was at work and collapsed bleeding & had to be rushed to the hospital. There is where she lost Little Baby Nava after they had done the sonogram etc.. She was released before 5 pm when that was the time I got her phone call. My heart aches for my daughter and beloved son-n-law whom love their children so much and was so looking forward to this new precious baby. God, blessed us again with such a beautiful gift of life even tho it was cut very short, Little Baby Nava's life is precious to us!!! He/She is a part of our family forever now and I place him/her under my cousins care as well as my St. Grandparents and relatives. I wish we could have been able to atleast christen & baptise him/her but that is just the "selfish" part of me, as I know, trust, and love God, our beloved Father to do so for us as he has a greater plan for these 2 precious children we share! Thank You my Beloved Father for my 2 precious Grandbabies-You have shown me that Life is valuable no matter the age or stage and I treasure your gifts dearly! Please Kiss them daily from Grandma as they sit upon your precious lap with your loving arms about them. Thank You Father, I know you will and that you hear my prayers!
~~In Sweet Memory of:
Gabriel E. Nava
(Conceived: 05 March 2006, Born: 18 November 2006 05:55 PM., Baptised: 04 Dec. 2006, Died & Revived: 08 Jan 2007 (Anniversary of the Baptism of the Lord & Anniversary of Our Baptism & Anniversary of Cousin Bl. Andre Bessette Rejection to Holy Cross Day), Died: 12 January 2007 2:30 AM. age: 56 days- the Anniversary of his cousin Blessed Brother Andre Bessette's Burial day- 1937 Eve of BVM & St. Hilary) (Buried-16 January 2007 2:59 PM.- Eve of St. Anthony Day & also, very oddly our family good friend Wendy Davis died while we were burying him.)
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~~In Sweet Memory Of:
Little Baby Nava
(Likely Date of Conception : May 15, 2007 (St. Isadore day & Anniversary of Burial of St. Sr. Marie Rose Ferron & also her brother- Anatole's birthday), Born: 02 July 2007 1:00PM. ca. Died: 02 July 2007 bet. 1-5 PM., Buried: 02 July 2007: Estimated Due Date : February 5, 2008 (40 weeks full term) ) (Anniversary of 3rd Pilgrimage to Marie Rose Ferron where many miracles happened including the Prayer Song "Heaven" by Los Lonely Boys & the day of her prayer- she must have more souls!)
(Note: I used a planned parenthood conception- due date calendar pregnancy.parenthood.com/pregcal.html)
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Sadly I must put more loved ones here that have passed recenly :
~~In Loving Memory Of:
Leopoldo Carpentieri (15 July 2006 Saturday, 71 years) (day after Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha day & Eve of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel)
~~In Loving Memory Of:
Gabriel E. Nava (18 November 2006 05:55 PM. Day aft. St. Elizabeth of Hungary Day- Died & Revived: 08 January 2007 Anniversary of His cousin Bl. Andre Bessette Rejection to Holy Cross Day & Our Baptism - Died: 12 January 2007-Anniversary of his cousin Blessed Brother Andre Bessette burial day & His g.g. grandfather Thomas Barron Death day) (Buried 16 January 2007 Eve of St. Anthony Day)
~~In Loving Memory Of:
Wendy Davis (16 January 2007) (Died when we were burying our 1st Grandbaby Gabriel) (The Eve of St. Anthony day)
~~In Loving Memory Of:
Joseph Wilkinson (16 March 2007 7:33 PM) (Eve of St. Patrick day)
~~In Loving Memory Of:
Paul Barney (26 March 2007) (The Annunciation of the Lord)
~~In Loving Memory Of:
Little Audrey Marie Santo, Mystic, Stigmatic & Victim Soul of Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. (19 December 1983- 09 August 1987- 14 April 2007) (The Saturday of the Octave of Easter & The EVE of DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY & HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY)
& Now Happily to report 2 births:
~~BABY ANNOUNCEMENT:
Trinity C. Luiz d/o Tadd & Tara (Martin) (21 April 2007 12:34 PM., 6 lb. & 11 oz., 21 Inches, 36 hours labored.) (St. Anslem Day)
~~BABY Announcement:
Angelina Joe Gallagher Roche d/o Paul Roche & Barbara (Gallagher) born: 02? June 2007 (2 months early but is doing well and growing weight Praise God! born 3 lb & ? oz.
And sadly our last Death Announcement:
~~BABY DEATH Announcement:
Little Baby Nava (02 July 2007 1Pm) (Eve of St. Thomas Day)
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Banjo is growing so fast it amazes me. He's a not that tiny 7 weeks old puppy we brought home anymore, it's hard to see it in pictures but his face is changing. I can see another breed in there I just cant put my finger on it. And his ears, oh his cute ears. I really hope they go all the way up haha.
taken with : Canon 350D + Leica-R 60/2.8 + available light indoors
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Bonobo
Have a wonderful day everyone!
Dassanech men put on leopard skins and ostrich feathers headdresses to join dimi ceremony to celebrate circumcision of teenagers, Omo valley, Omorate, Ethiopia , Camera: ILCE-7RM2 , f5.0 , 1/500 , 43.0 mm , ISO 80 , © Eric Lafforgue www.ericlafforgue.com
These shoes are way out of my comfort zone, what with the shininess and the lack of heel and did I mention they're shiny? But I desperately needed a non-flip-flop flat sandal that I could wear to work because apparently 5 months pregnant is the point at which I can no longer stand to wear heels on a daily basis. I was thinking of everything I learned from M:PT when I picked these, and I think, despite how far out of my comfort zone they are, I kind of love them. They're pretty casual, which makes them good for office wear (the dress code is not strict at my workplace) or weekend wear.
Also, if I may say something about this skirt. I haven't owned a denim skirt since I was in elementary school, and now that I have this one, I can't believe I went so long without it. I'm pretty sure I'm going to need to buy a non-maternity version of this skirt next summer.
Construction sites near Moor Street Queensway (mainly near Park Street).
Saw another construction site on Albert Street / Fazeley Street.
This one had pipes in it.
I noticed that the tarmac covering where pipes were laid on Jennens Road went towards Masshouse.
It's poppy season again. A billboard with the message "It's not as painful to put on a poppy".
Its been raining for the last 24 hours, so I went down to the beach for my daily shoot. The pelicans were cleaning their feathers and got into some curious positions. I liked the gull framed by the pelican's wing and tail.
Trevi fountain (put these on short view)
11/20/2004 When in Rome! Heather and Rich fly to Rome and have fun on their first day.
It is 11:30 pm local time, and oh but we've been footsore and on the way. It all started a couple of day ago, Thursday for us, when we left home about 6:40 pm with Maddy and Spencer. I officially finished the book by writing two chapter intros. I later got on line and learned that Schuyler planned to do intros for ch1 and ch6, and write the 'how gps works' section for ch5. This meant that I am, officially, at least until QC (quality control) comes back, done with the book.
Wow.
And we drove to Dad's and the kids were rambunctious until we opened up our new CD's for Harry Potter and the Prisonar of Azkaban...we listened to the first CD and that quieted them right down!
And we had a dinner at Dad and Judy's and then up to my Mom's, where we chatted a bit...then bed. And the 5:15 am alarm. It didn't feel all that bad, surprisingly.
The flight to NY went well. I watched the incredibly stupid, but still amusing, movie Anchor Man, heather geeked on our itinery. Then I did a bit, then geeked with my GPS.
Note to self...GPS is cool, and this whole idea of narrative of place is cool, but really, taking GPS tracks in Rome doesn't work that well. I think it is best supplemented with voice recordings of places and later geocoding to a map.
hmmm. I try and create meaning by automatically/quasi automatically parsing track logs of less meaningful trips or segments of trips-down I5 to go lobster diving, for example, but perhaps it is the meaning in the trip that is more important. The GPS is a tool for helping to look at that, but I think I can post process intermittent track points, coupled with memory and photos and voice recordings, to get a better sense of trip.
Anyway...the leg to NY went very quickly. Then we were stuck on the tarmac for a bit while our gate was cleared for us. Eeeks...I had to pee!
Then we actually were in a bit of a rush to make our connection...we got there before the 'we are closing the door on your ass' stage, but not much!
I felt a bit ick for a bit, but once I took an ibuprofen, got rid of my heart burn and had some dinner i was okay. We took sleeping pills when we took off. I took another one after dinner, and then forced myself to try to sleep.
It didn't feel as though it were working-almost as though the sleeping pill made weary but not asleep...odd feeling. But I guess I slepped. Heather woke me when they served breakfast. I did not wake easily, and I went back to sleep a couple of times. I was seeing double for part of the time.
Poor Heather says she only slept about 2 hours.
But we arrived, and waltzed through customs and onto the train. Amazing! About 10 euros apiece and we had a nice train ride with two Italian women and an italian man...we didn't really talk, but, oh well.
Into the train station, and a bit of trouble getting oriented to find our hotel. Now it is easy, but the first time was not so easy.
And then somehow it got later and we figured out the metro to go to the vatican. I was pissy about wanting to eat, and we had trouble with that-the place Heather wanted for us wasn't open until 12:30. We had okay ham and cheese sandwiches and excellent olives from a deli, ate in the plazza (?) by the gellatti milleneum.
Then we went up to the vatican. We had missed the vatican museum, sadly, but we perservered and toured Saint Peters. Heather and I were seperated at this point. I hooked up with a free tour guide and learned lots of great stuff.
Heather called when I was about to learn how to become a Swiss Guard. I accidentally hung up on her, and then couldn't figure out how to call her back, but I guessed she'd be in the front, and she was. She was pooped! But gamely lead me through the tombs of the popes. That is neat...it is so non-cave like...and yet, there is plenty of room for more of them :-)
Well we hiked back to the metro, metroe'd back to the train station and walked back to the hotel and took a 2ish hour nap...it was about 3:00 when we started this 'nap' thing.
Well we woke and did like the Romans, and then got ourselves out of the hotel. We took the 40 bus out and walked down to campo di fiori and did Rick Steve's 'Nighttime rome' walk...
We had dinner in the Piazza Navona at the 'Tre Scalini' cafe/Mokarabina coffee bar. We had drinks an appetizer and a primi-ie, we shared 1 appetizer and 1 primi, and a desert, shared, and it cost a bit. Later we saw what looked like better food for much less money. live and learn. I loved the pantheon (only the outside, as it was closed) and saw where kids had set up to camp at the pantheon, etc.
We got minorly scammed at the Trevi fountain over some flowers that were 'given' to us...and when I didnt' pay enough for them the guy took 2 of three back! ack. I was not too annoyed-I mean, I should know better, right?
And I took pictures and we made our way back to the hotel.
tags: italy heather rich rome
A close up of the extraordinary palps of the male cellar spider, Pholcus phalangioides. Its shots like this that make it obvious why the male palps are often described as 'boxing gloves'.
Coll Misc 0840-2
The cartoon in this poster shows a political meeting and a speaker shouting to an audience. The Speaker has 'Municipal Reform' written on his belly and is saying (in speech bubble) 'Our Policy is- All for us, and, the remainder-for our friends!'. He is flanked by two men to his right, who are marked 'Capital Trust'. To his left, seated behind a table marked 'Municipal Reform', are three figures, one of whom declares, 'That's what I've always done!'. At the bottom of the cartoon are the heads of the audience from the back. On these heads are written various terms, such as 'Gas Trust','Landlords Trust' and 'No Parks and Music for the People, Primrose League'.
Here it is…my last big vacation of 2015. It also happened to be the longest of the year. I’ve actually put off editing these pictures (until this week – mid-January 2016). I’ve been putting this off because, honestly, I have very mixed emotions about the trip.
I have absolutely nothing but good things to say about India and all the Indians I met there – better things yet to say about Indian cuisine. However, I didn’t travel alone, and that caused quite a bit of headaches. So, I’ve been lazier than usual about going through these. However, in looking at them, I’m starting to dwell only on the good side, and hopefully will show that here. (I won’t mention anything else about what or why I didn’t enjoy the trip. Honestly, I hope to go back to India again sometime. It’s the 7th largest country in the world and has a lot to see…)
This particular trip was 13 days…and very localized. We only visited two states: Rajasthan (RJ) and Uttar Pradesh (UP). Also Delhi, though I didn’t go out in Delhi and don’t have a single picture to show for it. In those two weeks, we took the following tour, in this order: landed in Delhi (at 3:00 a.m.) on September 26. At 7:30 a.m., we were on a bus to our first destination: Rajasthan.
The first week we spent in Rajasthan visiting each of these cities for approximately two days: Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, and Udaipur. (I found myself thinking, “There sure are a lot of ‘purs’ here…just like there are a of ‘zhous’ in China – Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Zhengzhou, Zhouzhou. ‘Pur,’ like ‘zhou,’ apparently means “town.”) Rajasthan is hot. Damn hot. Even in late September the daytime temperatures seemed to soar close to 40 degrees. At least 35, for certain… Rajasthan has a lot of desert terrain and many castles. Quite a few old palaces are out in Rajasthan, so it can tend to have a bit of a romantic feel to it.
After finishing in Rajasthan, we went over to Uttar Pradesh for literally one afternoon seeing the Taj Mahal in Agra, before shuffling off to the holy city of Varanasi (one of Hinduism’s most famous – if not the most famous – cities). From Varanasi, we took an 18 hour train ride (during which I apparently ate something so nasty that it stayed with me…for close to three months). Note to readers: Try to avoid eating on Indian trains. After another two days in Delhi, we flew back around 4:00 in the morning on October 9. For now…back to the beginning in Jaipur.
Jaipur is famously called the Pink City. A lot of the old town architecture is pink, so…well, you get the idea. It’s named for its founder, Jai Singh II (1688-1744), a great warrior-astronomer who assumed power at age 11 upon his father’s death.
The following is from Lonely Planet India: “Jai Singh could trace his lineage back to the Rajput clan of Kachhawas, who consolidated their power in the 12th century.” Their capital was at Amber (which is pronounced ahm-AIR…not AM-burr) about 10 kilometers northeast of town. This is northern India’s first planned city, if LP is being honest with me.
All I hope you get out of that is that this is an area with close to a millennium of “important” history to India, but the city of Jaipur as we see it now is only about 300-400 years old. Jaipur currently has a population of about three million. There’s an Old City (Pink City) which is where most of the tourists head – including yours truly – a new city, and….that’s about it. For my purposes (and in an attempt at brevity), I’ll say we went to the Central Museum (Albert Hall) south of the Old City. We also visited Hawa Mahal, Tripolia Bazaar (and Gate), and Jantar Mantar in the Old City. Other than that, we went to Amber Fort for a few hours.
Things started innocuously enough. We had left Delhi at 7:30 in the morning and gotten to Jaipur about 5 hours later. We had one stop on the bus for breakfast. I don’t recall what I ate…some type of curry, of course, but I don’t recall which. It may have just been mutter paneer. It was, however, delicious, and I didn’t feel hungry at all again until dinner.
The bus. Bus transportation in India, by the way, is rather interesting. Sometimes they are private buses (the small kind that only hold 8-12 people), sometimes sleeper buses, sometimes regular coaches…but the regular coaches didn’t seem too common. There doesn’t seem to be any uniformity in India about this.
Anyway, the bus dropped us off right next to Amber Fort. Since this was one of the small 8-12 person jobs, it could pretty much stop and go where it pleased, it seems, and this one didn’t actually take us to Jaipur.
As soon as we got off the bus here, we hired a tuk tuk (san lun che, for you Chinese readers) that took us down to the Old City. There, we switched to another one that took us the 2-3 kilometers west of the Old City to the more quiet and residential Bani Park where our hotel (the Hotel Anuraag Villa, which turned out to be about the nicest one we stayed in) was located. The second tuk tuk driver is the one we hired to take us around that afternoon and the next day. For the first day, I paid 500 rupees (~50 RMB/$8) for 4-6 hours’ work. We checked in and he waited patiently as we ate lunch in the backyard of the hotel.
Our driver took us first to the Central Museum (Albert Hall) where we spent an hour or two in mid-afternoon. The museum itself isn’t too bad. It has standard fare: tribal dress, Buddhist sculptures, even an Egyptian mummy. The building itself, though, is worth seeing. Anyway, an hour here was more than enough time.
From there, we went to the Sun Temple (I think that’s what it’s called) where I enjoyed the late afternoon sun (and rather smoggy view, though not quite as smoggy as Chinese cities I’m accustomed to). After that, we ended up going to a rather nice restaurant that cost about 2500 rupees (250 RMB/$40) for two. I splurged. It was fantastic.
After a night of sleep that may or may not have transported me to an alternate universe (I sleep more deeply than most bears), I woke up ready to go the next morning. I hired the same tuk tuk driver to haul us around, and we went first to the Old City (Hawa Mahal, the Tripolia Bazaar, Jantar Mantar, and Amber Fort…plus another fort in the middle of the water whose name I’ve forgotten). Though the time was a little shorter than the previous day, I paid him 750 rupee, since he actually drove us around farther. That’s still just under $15, so I had no problem with that.
Hawa Mahal (Palace of the Winds) is the most recognizable architectural building in the Pink City (though it’s technically just outside the Old City). It’s a five story building that was built by Sawai Pratap Singh in 1799 to “enable ladies of the royal household to watch the life and processions of the city.” There are nice views of Jantar Mantar and the City Palace to the west and the Siredoori Bazaar directly across the street.
Jantar Mantar is an observatory that was built by Jai Singh in 1728. “Jantar mantar” is derived from the Sanskrit “yanta mantr,” which means “instrument of calculation.” There are some rather large, interesting, and certainly eclectic sculptures, all for measuring time among the heavens.
Amber Fort was the highlight of Jaipur for me. The Kachhawaha Rajputs ruled from here for over 800 years. This fort was built beginning in 1592 by Maharaja Man Singh using war booty. It’s a royal palace built from pale yellow and pink sandstone with various courtyards. If you walk up the hill, you will enter the fort through the Suraj Pol (Sun Gate) and find yourself in Jaleb Chowk (Main Square) where the armies presented to the king. Walking up the stairs from Jaleb Chowk will bring you to the second courtyard and Diwan-I-Am (Hall of Public Audience) with its double row of columns. The maharaja’s apartments are located around the third courtyard, which you enter through Ganesh Pol. On one side of the interior courtyard is the Jai Mandir (Hall of Victory) which has many mirrored tiles. On the opposite side of Jai Mandir, across Maota Lake (a very small decorative pond, really) is Sukh Niwas (Hall of Pleasure). The fourth courtyard has the zenana (women’s quarters), which were designed so the maharaja could make his nightly visits without the other women knowing about it. In all, the fort/palace and the views from the fort are wonderful. I won’t say “breathtaking” or “stunning,” but certainly worth the visit.
Once I bade farewell to the tuk tuk driver, we wandered around the Old City a little longer before heading over to the hotel for dinner and to see a puppet show (that was not free, but wasn’t advertised as costing anything; they basically try to shame you into “donating” when they’re done). After that, we headed to the train station for a midnight ride across the state on Indian Railways…the first of five train rides throughout these two weeks.
If anyone has seen Slumdog Millionaire, you saw Indian Railways in action…with people riding ON the cars, among other things. I didn’t see anything quite like that, but…the lowest class passenger cars were quite crowded. We were always in first- or second-class sleepers which, to me, didn’t differ too much from the style of sleeper cars in China, though they weren’t quite as nice. They were…very close to the same, at least from my experience.
So, goodbye Pink City and hello Golden City. Jaisalmer was a twelve hour ride due west from Jaipur, and we arrived sometime mid-morning. More to come…
Sikorsky SH-3H Sea King, 148999
"Blade Tip Sock," part of the rigging that prevents motion of the rotor blades when they are folded.
Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King (Wikipedia):
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_SH-3_Sea_King
USS Hornet Sea, Air & Space Museum
Alameda, California
USS Hornet (USN Naval History and Heritage Command):
www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/da...
USS Hornet (CV-12) (Wikipedia):
Put on your red dress baby,
'Cause we're going out tonight.
Put on your red dress baby,
'Cause we're going out tonight.
You better wear some boxing gloves
In case a fool might wanna fight.
Inspired by the work of Ron Diorio (av_producer).
View Put your hands in the air on Black
View Put your hands in the air Map/EXIF
Sony DSC-RX100 + 28-100mm F1.8-4.9 @ 16.2 mm - 1/250 sec at f/5.0, ISO 3200
Aperture priority mode @ 0 EV E.C - Pattern metering - no flash
Subject Distance: unknown
One of many confetti cannons fired that night. Sander Van Doorn is on deck.
47°35'43" N 122°19'54" W, 311 ft
WaMu Theater, Downtown Seattle
Seattle, Washington, United States
Taken on 10.27.2012, uploaded on 10.27.2012.
©2012 Adam James Steenwyk. Please contact me at ajamess [at] gmail [dot] com if you would like to use this photo. Blog: www.f128.info