Another fort, this one, also a palace. The thing to do here was to ride and elephant from the parking lot up to the entrance. We happened to arrive at the same time as a Spanish tour group. They were whooping it up having a grand time. Many of the men had purchased turbans and were negotiating with the local touts for carved wooden elephants. Nicola bit when an older guy offered her one for ten. She, thinking that was 10 rupees agreed and he, thinking he'd caught her in a trap said, no, 10 dollars, to which she responded with a shake of the head and a laugh. He was not to disheartened. He continued with the offers to the point that Nicola became agitated and angry. I intervened and told him enough causing him to pause and lose face. He could continue with the offers for as long as he was within reach.
The elephants were rented by the beast with a maximum of two passengers. Nicola and Jordan sat on one and I on another. We started out together but it didn't take long of them to get way ahead. The elephants do a slow lope that moves the rider from side to side in a slow rocking motion, very comforting. Even though it was only 9:30, the sun was already becoming intense and with it, the heat. At least one elephant was trumpeting his protest on the way down the hill. We did notice that later in the day, no elephants were lumbering up the hill. It's an ancient rode they climb, walled against attack from the side still well preserved over time. Large signs had been listed asking tourists not to tip their riders but this didn't stop the pleading as we ended our tour. The pressure to tip or purchase in this country is relentless.
The Amber Fort was designed much like the Palace of the Winds except on a far more massive scale and walled against attack. The second floor had a mirrored room where everyone was having their picture taken. I gave up on photographing the room alone and instead included the tourists as well. Views from the top were spectacular providing vantage of the floating garden and the entire valley. The wall extends high up the ridge that in cooler times might have been worth climbing but I couldn't imagine doing it on this hot hot day.
Our driver stopped at a local garment store where he said we could purchase stuff "whole sale, very cheap." Jordan immediately found items of interest right by the front door, sling purses that hold a lot and you can just throw shit into. Her thoughts went to gifts and she started picking some out for them when the chatty young salesmen told us that we would find better upstairs, always upstairs. Before we know it, we were being shown rugs and wall hangings and bed sheets and table cloths and shawls, all of various qualities, always the cheap and lower quality and always, for a little bit more, much better quality, and always just look, you don't have to buy. And they come one after another so that it's hard to keep one item in your head before another is thrown in. To be honest, it's quite tiresome and I was getting overheated and not feeling well at all. In fact, that wasn't a good night as would be most of the next morning. (And I thought it was Nicola and Jordan who were more susceptible to the heat.)
We did stop at an antiquities store where Jordan and I bought puppets. We'd seen a performance by some puppeteers at the City Palace. One guy would drum while the puppeteer would jiggle the puppets hips and cause her to sway back and forth. He did do a thing with a Michael Jackson puppet that was pretty amusing.
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