Amber and Chokhi Dani

---

Georgia and I set out to explore the Fort/ Palace at Amber, stopping en route to drop off my luggage at the luxury (15/ night) Madhuban Hotel - hot water and everything! The auto driver was a delight and we buzzed through the old city getting a glimpse of the Palace, out into the barren countryside dotted with pinks and reds of the bougainvillea - full of rustic charm.

We thought that our early start would avoid the majority of the tourists groups but the lines of coaches were there in force, still this did not mar our sightseeing. My first glimpse was from the road, a magnificent yellowish pink stone structure stood majestically on top of the rolling mountains, covered with coarse vegetation and stumpy trees, the outside walls stretching all around us, I was stunned. We opted to walk up to the Fort, instead of joining the masses on the elephant ride. There is something so sad about the repetition of their daily life - up/ down, it’s not the use of an elephant for a working purpose, it’s the boredom and what appears to me a never ending trudge that’s cruel.

Elephant’s aside, we secured our guide (my first!) and entered, working our way through the building site and gwaping at the builders jumping around the bamboo scaffolding many metres above the ground. Rather than detracting from the Fort, the activity gave it life, you felt as though it was a living building unlike the Taj, which on reflection, beautiful though it was, left me feeling as though I’d walked around a mausoleum!

The guides description of the Palaces was slight different from the books but I would have been the Queen here (no.1 of course), the mirrored Summer Palace (Jal Mandir) was amazing, it totally blew me away, not an inch of wall or ceiling was left uncovered. I could have spent longer just exploring the patterns, the more you looked the more you saw; silver foil covered in glass murals of flowers and animals, inlaid marble, carvings. Depending on how you looked at the walls flowers changed shape to animals - elephant trunks to birds to bees - just like the clouds! Marbled latticed galleries cast intricate shadows in the little alcoves, decorated waterways and fountains, colourful paintings, rows of columns will elephant carvings perched at the top, always something to see. One of the most striking characteristics is the mixture of design, the detailed curves and forms of Hinduism balanced against the geometric Islamic patterns. From the domed covered stone balconies jutting out from the side of the walls you could survey the land below, the lake and carefully manicured gardens. I’m always a little wary of standing in these as you invariably remember at that moment that parts of the fort were built in 16th Century!

Returning back to Jaipur after a refreshing cup of chai, a sweet Indian fragrant tea; the strength of ‘builders bum’ but the fragrance of ‘ladies derrière’, with a heaped teaspoon of sugar, we arrived at the hotel. I literally whooped with joy and if the bed hasn’t been so high I probably would have jumped on it. We spent an enjoyable afternoon drinking tea from tea cups and eating egg sandwiches without the crusts.

Georgia and I decided to join the locals for a Saturday night at Chokhi Dani, a neo-Rajasthani village, south of the city for some evening entertainment. A cross between a Victorian village fete and a small town beach arcade, lit by candles and lamps. We joined in with gusto; throwing darts, shooting balloons, fighting off the kids and adults to whizz down the tree slide, watching magicians, and boys and men getting funky on the dance floor (single sex only). The bizarriest point had to be when we stumbled into the dark Umbongo (literally!) section and were met by men dressed in leopard skin loin clothes, dancing around a fire to the sounds of the drums and chickens clicking, the rabbits sharing red eyed out of their cages. As the evening drew to a close we sat people watching, one arm outstretched waiting for our henna tattoos to dry the other clutching a pistachio kulfi (Indian type of ice-cream). A great day!

---