Hawa Mahal or Palace of the Winds

From Jantar Mantar, we looked at our watch, it was already 30 minutes past 5. We doubted that the next place still open.
Anyhow, we had no where to go, except to proceed to the next place in our Buku Hikmat.

Hawa Mahal, Palace of the Winds.

We paid Rp50=RM3.50 for a tuk-tuk ride and stopped opposite the Hawa Mahal façade. There were lots of street vendors selling sarees and souvenirs along the walkway. We didn’t move much as we were too fascinated with the façade, a five-storey beehive look-alike that offered 953 small decorative windows, which used to be a secret place for royal ladies to watch everyday life without being spotted, in their ‘purdah’.
Tips : Hawa Mahal is closed on Friday.

So too bad, we didn't get a chance to see what's inside. But I strongly believe, the outer facade is better coz that's the trademark of Hawa Mahal. To feel the aura, we covered little Aqilah with 'purdah' look to imitate the royal ladies. Hehe!Hubby once read in forum that local will always try to approach tourist, offer his house (which is facing the façade) for a better view of Hawa Mahal. AS EXPECTED, while enjoying the façade, we were approached by an old guy in his turban, offering us his house!
We smiled and rejected his offer.

Tips : DO NOT FALL into this trick. They say it’s free but later, you have to pay for it!

We walked to the start of the walkway and did some window shopping. Chawana got struck by one cute little Indian dress for Aqilah but she didn’t buy one. (Owh, she regretted like HELL!)
While I, thought of buying one super comfy pants, but I didn’t. (Owh, I regretted it too!) I once asked one lady in Sungai Wang, where did she get that pants, and she told me she bought it in her country. And guess where she came from? Mauritius! Dang! This comfy pants can only be bought from these countries??? Malaysia don’t have meh???

We walked almost to the end of the road and stopped to look at the map. We planned to go to Halal Indian restaurant, but failed to locate one.Suddenly, two little girls came to approach us, with a sack on their hands. They didn’t say much, just looked at us and handed out their empty palms.

We smiled and looked at them. Pity. But we didn’t dare to give any, coz others will come and bring us down. Anyway, what amazed us was, how beautiful one of these girls. I believe, if I take her back, bath and clean her, SHE MUST BE SO PREETY like Kajol. Kid you not!
I kept on telling her that she’s pretty by doing the “kadawale” (pretty) sign language, and I guessed she understood that. Hahaha!

“Eh, where to eat? Don’t tell me it’s Pizza Hut againnnnnn?”

We laughed. Pizza Hut was the OFFICIAL restaurant for our India trip. So we decided to try McD this time. (McD???)

“Let me ask the policeman.” I walked towards the booth.

“Namaste, is there any Halal restaurant around this area?”

He shook his head.

“Ok…where is McDonald?” I showed the map, hoping that he will point the place.

“You can try to go to this street…not far from here…” I had no idea where was he pointed out.

I thanked him and returned back. We had no choice, except for stopping a tuk-tuk and asked the driver to bring us there.

And that’s what we did. Since it was getting dark, tuk-tuk driver started to charge night rate. OWH PLEASEEEEE! It was 7pm! Not 11pm! We skipped few tuk-tuk and finally got one with Rp70=RM1.40.

We were greeted at the McD’s door that was opened by a Punjab guard. (WOW! McD also a classy place ka?) We sat at one corner and ordered a vegetarian burger, each. The taste? Not that bad.
Well, they claimed that the lettuce was handpicked from Himalaya!

Co-travelers:
For history element, read Travelista's version here (in English)
For trip experience, read Chawana's version here (in Bahasa)