Jaipur Day 12 - 29th October 2012

Part 1 - Palace of Winds, Amber Fort & Elephants

Jump to Part 2 - More Amber Fort

Painted tiger scene on the hotel restaurant's wall...

Part of the lounge area, deeper in there were further rooms with mouldy books from the Raj era and rusting swords...

Fine portraits and decor in the hotel bar area...

Palace of Winds - Hawa Mahal

An impressive edifice, used to permit ladies to watch parades unseen...

It's only one room thick for the top three floors...

Amber Fort

Reflected in Lake Maota, Jaigarh Fort is on the left and Amber Fort on the right...

Impressive backdrop for a laundrette, women washing clothes in Lake Maota...

We succumbed and took an elephant ride up to the fort, we are tourists after all...

Elephants and their drivers awaiting their next fares...

I'm not sure they told the elephant drivers about the no tips policy, they weren't shy about asking...

Sue and Joan speed away...

Our fine pachyderm approaching (known as no 71, but with a proper name that I'm ashamed to say that I've forgotten)...

Miche enjoying the rolling ride...

The pleasantly slow approach to the fort, the driver kept asking if we wanted to go faster...

A beautifully decorated elephant coming down - we were told that they only did 2 trips a day (though we suspect they did a couple more than that)...

Another elephant descending the winding ramp...

Getting close to the entrance at Sun Gate, we were accosted by a guy who called himself 'Ali Baba', who was yelling to us from these rocks - he was a photographer who took our photo's and was making sure we knew that we could buy them later...
 

One of Ali Baba's shots (after a fair bit of haggling)...

Approaching the disembarkation point...

Sue & Joan's elephant striking a triumphant pose...

Catherine and Derek on their elephant and its freshly coloured head ...

Looking into Jaleb Chowk, the first main courtyard...