Jaipur

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Diary entry: " Today we spent sightseeing in Jaipur, "The Pink city" and capital of Rajasthan. We visited the Amber Fort another architectural Feat and built in the 17th century. this was where we experienced an Elephant ride! Marco and I had the slowest and naughtiest elephant!!Elephant rider had his hand out for a tip, i offered him 50 rupees but he said NO! - 200. this made me wild so we walked off." This place was very touristy, when we hopped off the bus there was a man with a cobra! We did the elephant ride thing but as these poor animals struggled up the hill there were Hawkers and touters and photographers. When we walked through markets down the hill the photographers chased us with our photos and for peace we ended up purchasing 10 photos of us on Elephants! By this stage I had acquired a head scarf and I felt like a celebrity ( Elizabeth Taylor) escaping the Paparazzi!

The pink city was kind of a dusty terracotta pink and I liked the atmosphere of the place. We visited a venue where we were shown more hand knotted carpets. This place demonstrated "Block printing "which I thougt was quite fascinating. Upstairs there were lots of scarves, shawls, saris and "Pashmere jumpers" We made a few purchases here.We were taken to more Palaces , Temples and forts eventually ending up at the royal residence of the "city palace" - museum, palace and halls. this palace also had the "Jantar Mantar observatory" which was built centuries ago and demonstrated how time was measured, "the winds of harmony " and the basis of astrology. It was so hot when we were here and Nikki and Marco wore out, but it was interesting and we did think that "Dr Robinson" would be in his element here! By this stage of the trip we were all tired, hot and over palaces, forts and Temples! Sanjeev took us to a great restaurant for some delicious curries - all tummies good today. We went back to the pool for a swim, where we actually ate dinner at the motel, the first time we have had 3 meals in a day! Nikki and I had massages booked that didn't eventuate - India!

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Photos

Jaipur
"The Pink city"

A Cobra
Being Charmed

The Amber fort
elephant rides

The Amber fort
Nikki and Lou on the elephant

The City Palace
The most amazing handmade tiles

On the way to the City Palace
Nikki getting henna