Jaipur is the state capital of Rajasthan as of 1956 and houses a population of about three million with a population growth of about 4% per year. It is a fairly young city as it was only established in 1727. The population is a bit segregated by hills and lakes. It is considered the state's most advanced commercial and business center rendering it also the most prosperous. In the heart of Jaipur lies the Pink City, the old walled quarter and bazaars which rank among the most vibrant in Asia. The title Pink City comes from the numerous building painted pink - basically to hide the poor quality of construction.

Our first tour of the day is to the "magnificent Amber Fort". The fort sits high on a hill and there are only 2 modes of getting up there - on foot or elephant. Our tour leader decided that we would like to ride the elephants. We then waited in line for nearly an hour but we aptly entertained by hawkers, some very persistent. Many could not refuse the trinkets, very colorful umbrellas or finely carved elephants. I think our elephant was on steroids, or perhaps his keeper understood that the quicker you go the more rides completed. At any rate we passed almost all of our group and more on the way up, which enable a picture of John and Mariette arriving on their elephant.

11k north of Jaipur, the Amber Fort's walls stretch more than 10 kilometers around, protecting the Amber Palace, the temple, the hall of Public Audience and courtyards. The main forts construction was completed in 1592 of red sandstone and white marble. Our elephants and their masters dropped us at Jaleb Chowk courtyard at the entrance to the main palace complex. Over the entrance of Amber Palace presides Ganesh, the god that governs successful day to day activities. Amber is the classic and romantic fort-palace with a magnificent aura. The various audience halls and courtyards are separated by beautifully sculpted gardens. Opposite the fountains, we find the private chambers of the maharaja and his queen decorated with intricate mosaics fashioned out of shards of mirror and colored glass and recesses with delicate marble screen. The Amber Fort sits high in the hills, overlooking Kesari Kyari Garden in the middle of Maotha Lake.

On our way down to lunch we stop to view Jai Mahal, a beautiful hotel situated in the middle of Man Sagar Lake. On our way we observe more of local life, laundry on the move, a possible double date with the girls on camel back, a turban sales market and street urchins.

Hawa Mahal - "Palace of Winds" was build in 1799 to enable women of the court to watch street processions behind finely screen windows. Constructed of red and pink sandstone it stands 15 meters over the street. The front of Hawa Mahal appears as if it is just a frame with nothing behind it. The top 3 stories are comprised of just one room each. It is called Palace of the Winds due to the 953 stone carved screens or windows which allow excellent ventilation. Adjacent to the Diwan-i-khas (Hall of Private Audience) is an open pavilion which contains 2 silver urns. (These urns are now listed in the Guiness Book of World Records as the largest crafted silver objects in the world.) Madho Singh II, who was particularly pious and reluctant to use western water, used these urns to carry Ganges water with him to England for Edward VII's coronation. We are able to see some museum pieces - clothing especially coronation robes as well as some of the vehicles that carried the royal family. The courtyard, offering the best view of the royal family residence has 4 superbly painted doorways - all exiting "Peacock Court".

We stopped briefly at Jantar Mantar - a large grassy enclosure containing 18 astronomical measuring devices. But we are tired - been a long day and the locals look much more interested than we did, unfortunately.

For our evening we visit, Dera Amer, a valley camp behind the hills of Amber Fort. We are greeted by baskets of bananas to feed the welcoming elephants. Our treat is a parade and an elephant polo demonstration. We are shortly surprised to find that we are the next polo players. An absolute hoot! We break into 2 teams and while we do not control the elephants we must make the very long and heavy polo stick work, without injuring us or the elephants. In this situation, our team didn't have the fastest elephant. No animals or children were harmed during this exercise.