I got up early and had chapati and green tea for breakfast and then I asked at one of the Jaipur hotels where I could hang out with elephants. The fellow at the desk, impeccably dressed, took me out to the street and called out to a fellow wearing a Nehru cap. They spoke a moment and it was clear I was going off with this capped fellow in his auto rickshaw, that infamous conveyance with shocks or doors. The thing bleated up the narrow street as other vehicles and people and animals all seemed to have a sense of when to step out of the way, which was good because it felt like mayhem and hurt were around every corner. He dropped me off at the Ambur Fort. Well I did not get to actually ride and elephant but it was nice to see them as they ambled past the Pink Palace. They started building this Fort in 1592 all of marble and reddish sandstone. The court yard are huge and the entry way I went into was guarded by the godGanesha’s image. The high walls of the Fort look impregnable with its enormous watch towers. They were really making a statement with this fort!
Not far is the Palace of Winds which, beneath the pinkish sandstone facade. It seems it was built for royal ladies who could stand on the balconies and see the city without being seen. It is not much more than a facade, and now I know why it’s called the Pink City of India. Just about everything here is pink, or pinkish. The Palace is also known as Hawa Mahal. I then found a little restaurant with a black smoking wok and had some samosas and lentils. Very spicy.
