After a slightly later than usual start to the day of 8:30am we head into the [faded] pink city of Jaipur. The streets are lined with back-to-back stores, stalls and peddlers, and the ground is a layer of sand and dust. The air is also a layer of sand and dust. My pants are also a layer of sand and dust.
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| That's "international" pants by the way. Not "English" pants. My English pants are a layer of something else... |
We set off for Amber Fort and the road takes us past the water palace
Jal Mahal where the royal family would live during the summer heat. The lower section of the palace is submerged in the water (the lake was artificially created in the 16th century which is pretty impressive in itself...) and in the heat of the day the royals would hang out in the cooler lower levels of the palace, moving up to the rooftop lounge in the evening to chill out with some music and hot babes.
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| Snoop Dogg was likely there too... |
We join a 40 min long queue for an elephant ride up to Amber Fort - an extremely picturesque pink fort on the side of a mountain.
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| If I was Raj I would have called it the "Fantabulous Pink Fort". |
There are a hell of a lot of elephants carting the tourists up the path to the palace, and after the fun but brief ride to the top, the driver [rider? sitter?] gets angry that we don't give him a tip. I point at the multitudes of signs at the elephant exit point saying "strictly no tipping drivers", but he just gets angrier and threatens to not let us off. I don't mind sitting on the elephant for a bit longer as elephants are kinda fun so he's not winning that one.
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| You're trying to get me to pay to get off this ride? Look how much fun everybody is having! |
The Amber palace itself is pretty fun to wander around in. It's many courtyards, corridors and tunnels weave in and out in a seemingly random fashion and you can easily spend an hour or two exploring every nook and cranny.
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And using the royal facilities...
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