Jaipur

We were on speedtrack and did a whirlwin tour of Jaipur.  One night and one day before rushing off to catch yet another train.  We did manage to squeeze in quite a bit however.  Another early start complete with watching the sunrise from a rooftop garden.  So far our experience with hotels has been that the best part is most definitely the views from the rooftop.  We then hired a lovely tuk-tuk driver named Alibaba to drive us to Amber Fort (pronounced Amer) just 20 minutes out of town, hang around while we rode an elephant up to the top and then bring us back.  Yes, that is correct I just said ride an elephant!  We took the touristy route and decided to to be carried to the top by elephant (I think I will fit the word elephant into this post as many times as possible).  Bhavi, who was our elephant, plotted along with a slow calm sway, it was amazing.  The fort itself was quite impressive though we were a little pressed for time so we did not get a guide or learn too much about its historical significance.  Along the way Alibaba stopped to show us the water palace and take pictures at a few opportune lookouts-never lingering too long as he was on board with our tactic of squish in as much as possible in as short a period as you can.  After a wonderfully successful morning the afternoon consisted of climbing a minaret to see an overview of the "pink city", visiting the Hawa Mahal (also know as the honeycomb palace and also rushing through the city palace all before jumping on a bus to Jodhpur.  In order to see all the sites we also managed to skip lunch (an unfortunate habit we seem to have developed).  Not surprisingly, the afternoon is a but of a blur but I will share a few impressions I remember.  The most exciting part of Jaipur was certainly not the fact that it was "pink" or in actuality red (this seems to be a translation error).  Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan and so it is a rather large place and with large generally comes a bit more attention from eager tuk-tuk drivers and guides wanting your business, still nothing too bothersome.  The afternoon events were rushed and inconsistent in terms of the wow factor but Jaipur still managed to make a good impression.  The minaret was an interesting view away from the craziness of the streets, the Hawa Mahal was very impressive architecturally, and the city palace was flat our boring.  Hard to imagine I know!  Perhaps it was just compared to all of the other marvels we had seen that day alone, but it lead us to one of what Casey calls our "genius points"--this one was end on a high note.  So after an exhausting day we boarded train #3 and headed to Jodhpur.