Amber Fort, Jaipur and on to Delhi

We savoured breakfast at the charming Jaipur Inn which had a cozy, homey feel to it with colourful linens, a pretty courtyard and comfortable cafe.

While we were eating breakfast two female peacocks spent some time hanging out on the apartment building balcony railings overlooking our dining area.

We got back on the bus and headed out to see the Amer or Amber Fort. Not knowing what to expect, we were blown away by the sweeping scale of the complex set high on the hills.

It is surrounded by a large wall rolling over approximately 18 kilometers of the surrounding hills in ways that were very reminiscent of the Great Wall of China.

We were loaded into jeeps for the trek to the entrance of the palace.

There are several elephants working to ferry tourists up and down the narrow roads. G Adventures and other tour groups have stopped offering elephant rides on their trips as it is seen as a form of animal cruelty. Over time the elephants can develop spinal problems from carrying around too much weight. There are also concerns about mistreatment of the animals.

All of the elephants had painted faces and trunks so it was quite a captivating sight. It was good to see that each elephant was only carrying two people at a time and moving very slowly. They all disappeared around lunch time so we hoped they were getting well fed and having a rest.

One of the rulers in Rajasthan had over 10,000 elephants in his army. The poor beasts had their tusks cut off and replaced with iron spikes, were force fed opium and wine and then sent out into battle. It sounds like that may have inspired the gruesome battle scenes in The Lord of the Rings movies!

We had a tour guide take us around the palace and show us various courtyards, living quarters, meeting halls and areas for entertainment.

The current palace was built in the 1600’s expanding on the fortress that had been there for about 600 years beforehand. The king had 12 ranis or queens and 350 mistresses, not just at the palace but scattered around the kingdom.

The women were kept in purdah (seclusion) and could only see the outside world from behind stone screens cut into the walls.

Each woman had her own quarters and servants. The principle queens wore such heavy jewelry and clothing that they were wheeled around the palace in wheelchairs which ran on carpets in narrow corridors. Cotton covered the wheels so as to not damage the carpets.

One of the main attractions is the Hall of Mirrors which held thousands of tiny mirrors lining the walls and ceilings.

The detailing is very intricate.

Beautiful gardens were seen in the courtyards.

Dodging all the hawkers who were extremely persistent, we returned to our bus and traveled to the old city. The fellow.below was not at all aggressive. He played his music for donations & did not say a word to the passing crowds. We were happy to put some rupees in his basket. Maybe he should try to work a cobra into his performance. It certainly would keep people from trying to make change in his cash basket 🙂

On the way back into the city Manu stopped at a scenic spot for photo op of the Water Palace

and some refreshments. Our fellow traveler Hannes (from Germany) & Catherine enjoy some fresh coconut water)

Next Manu took us to a workshop to see gemstones being cut and polished.

I managed to coax Catherine to purchase a few items from their store.

Our next stop was a textile demonstration of wood block printing. Our travel companion Verena volunteered to help out with the printing demonstration.

The end result, after 5 different blocks & colours were applied. Verena was able to keep the sample as a small souvenir.

Both places had shops attached, served us chai tea and were most anxious for us to support the local economy again. We have done so much supporting of the local economy that we had to buy another duffel bag.

So many beautiful fabrics, so little time!

Manu took us on a walk through the old markets which was sensory overload!

Walking past this display of peppers literally took our breath away.

On a more subtle note, we stopped at a tea & spice shop & bought some masala chai tea mix to take home.

This shop also had an ample supply of jumbo cinnamon sticks! How about mulled Christmas cider 🙀

We got back to the hotel for a brief rest and went out at 6:00pm to Raj Mandir cinema, a famous Art Deco movie theatre that seats about 1,200 people- which was an experience in and of itself. We were very lucky to be able to get tickets to see the premiere of an Indian movie.

We had hoped to see a classic Bollywood movie with romance, singing and dancing but the movie was called Robot 2.0, starring Rajinikanth, one of the biggest names in the Bollywood film industry – the equivalent in North America to Tom Cruise.

Excitement in the lobby was palpable and when the doors opened, a huge cheer went up from the patrons and continued as everyone filed in to their assigned seats.

We couldn’t understand much of the dialogue although there were lots of English words and phrases but we could sure tell everyone’s adoration of the stars of the film.

There were waves of cheers, laughter and hoots from the audience which gave us a sense of what was going on. It was great fun to be there! It was a science fiction story but we finally got to see some singing and dancing at the very end. Who knew robots could dance?!

Happy to return to our little room at the Inn!