DAY 11 - JAIPUR DAY 2 & ELEDAY:

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Today we are going to visit the Amber Fort, and then Melaney and I are going to Eleday for several hours of playing with elephants. The same, or a similar tour was offered by Viator, but it was $99 for just one person, plus it seemed like it would conflict with our Intrepid tour, so I had figured I wouldn’t get to do it. However, our nice guide found the details for us and it turned out to be only about $60 each. Intrepid doesn’t believe in elephant rides and such, feeling they mistreat the animals, so our guide couldn’t actually book it for us, but he did give us all the details and arranged for a tuk-tuk to take us there.

We all piled into tuk-tuks for the long trip out of Jaipur to the Amber Fort, also called the Amer Fort. When we arrived, I was somewhat awestruck. The place is gigantic, sitting way up on a hill. There are also two other forts, and several outposts even further up the hill/mountain. Our guide has arranged for a guide to take us around to describe all the neat history of the place. Amber Fort is famous for their elephant ride up the hill to the fort’s courtyard, but as I mentioned, Intrepid doesn’t believe in the practice, so we all walked up the hill to the fort. It was a loooong climb, but I enjoyed watching all the elephants going by in both directions, in anticipation of our special tour to come. The royal family of Jaipur lived in the Amber Fort for like 150 years before moving down into the city of Jaipur. Because of its defense, along with the outposts, the fort was never taken. The fort is made of red sandstone and marble, with several different courtyards, each with a different theme and decorations, often a combination of Muslim and Hindi. Our guide described each area, and then gave us some time to wander around and take photos.

When we were done with the tour, our guide told Melanie and I that he had arranged for one of the tuk-tuk drivers to take us to the elephant village, wait for us there, and then return us to the City Palace where the rest of the group would probably be. He underestimated the amount of time we’d spend with the elephants, so the group was long done by the time we returned to Jaipur and the City Palace. Our guide also informed us that the elephant tour would cost 4,000 Rupees each (about $60) and that we should pay the tuk-tuk driver 400 Rupees when we returned to Jaipur.

Our tuk-tuk driver took us to a place called “Eleday”, which is part of the elephant village where the elephants used for the ride up to the Amber Fort came from. When we arrived, we were greeted by a nice gentleman that spoke very good English. We sat down and were asked if we wanted anything to drink, tea, coffee, or water. I got a coffee and Melanie got a black tea. While we sipped our beverages, he started asking us what we knew about elephants, and about the differences between African and Asian elephants in particular. He was quite surprised by how much we knew. I have to admit it wasn’t information that I’d found out on my own, but what our guide had told us recently and Melanie and I both remembered. After our drinks, we were introduced to our elephant; a 30-year old female (I think 30) named something like Ranjamal. She was a very peaceful creature. We both petted and caressed her while handlers took photos with our phones. Next, we went over to a mounting platform where the driver maneuvered the elephant over for us to mount. We then took a fairly long ride out the gate and down some of the streets of the nearby village. Even though we were sitting on a steady platform, we were tossed around quite a bit, enjoying every minute of it.

When we returned from the ride, they asked us if we would like to eat lunch. While we waited for lunch, we both did some painting on our elephant. Melanie painted one side with her initials and the date, while I tried to be artistic on her forehead. While I was painting, Ranjamal like to push her trunk and head against me, not I think to move me out of the way, but to make more contact with me while I painted. About half way through painting, our lunch was ready, so we sat down to eat. After a decent lunch of some curry dish, bread veggies, and a drink, we went back to finish our painting. When we finished painting, the handler showed us how to feed her. He took a small handful of some straw-looking thing, wrapped it with a green herb or plant, and then we held it under her trunk. She’d tilt her head back and we’d place it sideways in her mouth after which she would chop down on it and chew it up.

When our elephant had eaten several bunches of grass stuff, we walked with the elephant to their swimming pool. It was like a regular pool, but had a ramp for the elephant to walk down into it, with the water at about 2 feet deep or so. Since I hadn’t worn clothing I wanted to get wet, I unfortunately had to pass, but Melanie in her sandals and shorts gladly went in. The handler splashed the elephant with water, and then Melanie scrubbed her down while she played in the water. She would suck up some water, then splash her belly, then suck up some more and throw it over her head, often getting Melanie wet. When she was all clean, she walked half the way out and Melanie and I got on her back, with the handler. We first thought it was going to be a bare-back ride, which is cool enough, but the handler slide off and let us go it alone. He guided her across the lawn to a dismount spot and then we got off. What an amazing thing, riding her bare-back. You wouldn’t believe how much bone and muscle movement goes on that you can’t really feel with a seat or platform.

After her bath and our bare-back ride, we returned to the main yard where we both got a treat. We feed our elephant about 40 whole little bananas, which she loved. We could either stick them in her mouth, which she would gladly open, tongue and all. Or, we could hold one out in front of her and she would sniff it out, grab it with the tip of her trunk and swiftly stick it in her mouth. After about three hours, it was time to leave. We gladly paid the guy our 4,000 Rupees each, or about $60. What an experience! Our tuk-tuk driver had waited all that time for us. We got back in the tuk-tuk and headed back to Jaipur, stopping along the way to take photos of the Water Palace. When we arrived at the City Palace, apparently the rest of them group had already moved on, so after waiting a little while, we took another tuk-tuk ride back to the hotel. The guy driving this tuk-tuk was either a maniac, or trying to scare or impress Melanie, because he went all out, coming so close to things, so often, at top speed, braking hard fairly often to just miss a pedestrian, motorcycle, tuk-tuk, or car.

When we arrived back at the hotel around 4:30, we found the rest of our group. At 6:30 a couple of Hindi ladies came and did henna painting on the arms and hands of several of the ladies in our group. Afterwards we all went out for dinner at a cool restaurant called The Peacock Rooftop Restaurant. Not only was it cool being on the roof, but it was literally quite cool because they were spraying a fine mist of water in several places, cooling the whole place down quite nicely. Unfortunately, before we finished they must have run out of water, and the temperature started going up noticeably. I guess we’ve done so much by this time that the food we ate and where is starting to be a blur, even though this was just a couple days ago, I can’t remember what either Manoli or I ate.

Anyways, when we got back to the hotel, we went to bed pretty quickly because tomorrow we have to be up and ready to go by 5am, to catch our train to New Delhi.

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