Reporting From Somewhere: Tourists on Elephants

Reporting from Jaipur

We got to sleep in ‘till 8 this morning! Yes, I do like my sleep. This would be a full day of tours, nothing to redeem the day academically or intellectually. I’m fine with that though.
First up, elephants.

We visited the Amber Fort, an incredible medieval palace not far from Jaipur city on a hill. The traditional way for tourists to get up the hill is on the back of elephants. Of course, what other way would one climb a hill while in India? We fit in well with the other tourists, some of whom were sporting the turbans they’d purchased from the touts in the line. I suppose there was an alternate route, but why would we pass on the elephants? Other than the last minute fleecing by the elephant “driver”, it was everything we wanted (needed?) it to be.

The fort was a spectacular setting with several palaces and a warren-like harem in the back. We spent most of the time getting lost and finding secret rooms. Apparently, the way down from the fort is by jeep…

Next, we visited the City Palace, which was built by one of the maharajas from the Amber fort. Not a whole lot there other than the largest (as registered in the Guinness Book) silver urn.
We ditched the guide after he wanted to take us to the government jewelry store (for a sizeable commission.) All that was left was shop and haggle until we were exhausted, which didn’t take too long. The market we were shopping had a ton of shops and touts, but was light on quality goods. A perfect place to hone our bargaining skills. After about two hours of “that’s not possible my friend”, “for my first customer, a special price”, near walk outs, and treasures acquired, we took our bags home.

That evening we went to dinner at rooftop Mediterranean place that had a huge square table capable of accommodating all twelve of us. The food was good and the staff friendly, but the best part was the beer served in teapots! There’s nothing quite like drinking your beer out of a coffee mug after pouring it from a teapot…