Day 103 - Pink Elephants on Parade

Jaipur is known as "The Pink City", because all te buildings of old twn asre painted 'pink'. Much like the 'golden' of the Golden Gate bridge, the 'pink' of Jaipur is more of a terra-cotta colour. It is still attractive, and the colour is supposed to signify welcome, so I won't knock it.

Our first stop was the Amber Fort, the main palace complex of the king. It is perched on a high hill, and though possible to walk up, most people opt to ride up via elephant. Most of the elephants have pink, freckled faces and ears, and are either painted or wear bells on their necks and ankles. Part of their harness is often a frilly 'hat' that looks for all the world like a prim 50's bonnet, or the hat that Dumbo's mama wore in the movie. They lumber quietly up and down the hill with their loads of tourists, occasionally stopping to (I imagine) gossip with one another through a series of snorts and the occasional muted trumpet.

We rode our elephant up the hill - very scary, the saddle felt like it was slipping - and into the fort. The fort is a stunning piece of architecture, with courtyards and secret passages all linking one into the other. We had a recorded audio guide which I was grateful for, if not for the hiustory and insight, then for the numbered markers to help navigate the warren of the complex.

On the way down the hill, we noticed a distinct lack of elephants going in either direction. I joked that they must be on their union break. When we got to the bottom of the hill though, a whole herd of munching, snoozing pachederms greeted us. Elepphants do get union perks!

Higher still from Amber Fort, stands Ajmeer Fort. Older than Amber, and originally built for city fortification, it is now home to one very large cannon, and LOTS of monkeys. The cannon has a range of 40Km, but has only been used for celebration, never once in battle. Fanning out from the fort, are the city's walls, marked by towers from which signals were sent by semifore, lights, and giant drums.

The town lies in the valley between the fortified hills. Its most striling feature, aside from the pink colour, it its floating palace. It is smaller than the lake palaces of Udaipur, but I felt it looked more enchanted, like something froma fairy tale. I felt the same for the small garden that we visited right afterwards, with its secluded location and a number of its denizens taking an afternoon nap under the trees or in the building steps and niches.

Udaipur is also known for its textiles and gemstones. I haggled happily for most of the afternoon over saris and antique skirts. (Came to my senses and only actually bpought one sari). We also visited a jewelery and stone shop. The owner is friend with our driver, and we spent an hour playing dice with them. Our driver and I won both sets. OK, the first was technically a tie, but we got the right number of points first!

India's craze for crticket is only matched by its love for movies. Tonight, we went to the cinema. The movie house was more like a movie palace, dripping with chandeliers, mosaics, niches, and plush carpeting. The seating was assigned, like in live theatre, and each floor had its own lobby with soft couches and wall sconces. There was even a velvet show curtain and an intermission! Furthermore it was cheap. 2 tickets, 2 cokes, and a popcorn all came to under 5 dollars! AMC 24 could learn something here!

The movie (Chak de India starrting bollywood favorite Shah Ruhk Khan) was entirely in Hindi with no subtitles, but the story was formulaic enough (burnt out field hockey player coaches underdog girls' team to world cup victory), that we pretty well could follow what was going on. Coming so close on the heels of the Cricket World cup, the audience was in fine frenzy, cheering and clapping and talking back to t he screen.

Overall, a very fun day!