We rose early this morning (still in Jaipur) to exceptionally lovely weather. Apparently, during the night there was a storm that passed over us, cooling the area; though, I'm guessing most of us were so far into dreamy-dream land that we never even noticed. We drove a few miles away to Amer Fort (first picture) where majority of us rode atop an elephant for the first time. The fort was built in the late 16th century, and is essentially a labyrinth of rooms and staircases, hidden balconies and lookouts. There's really something magical to it.
The elephant that took me and Meredith (my elephant-riding buddy) up to the fort was named Sonia (see above). She was a lovely animal with real spirit; really, we passed up five or six others on the way up the mountain. The man sitting atop her head was the driver; though, I couldn't quite catch his name (I tried to make him spell it, but instead he told me Sonia's name), but he did tell us he has lived in Jaipur his whole life, and has no intention of leaving...and, by the by, he has six children. I find myself striking up conversations with people as much as possible (perhaps it's the writer in me), because I think the only way to really understand a place and its people is to watch and listen to a place and its people--yet, as often is said, sometimes the more shocking realization while abroad is how similar we all are... there's really no way around it.
On the way to Agra this afternoon, we stopped at Chand Boari (also in Rajasthan), a well built by King Chanda sometime between 800 and 900 AD. The small pyramid-looking things are steps, and though it's not visible in the picture, at the very bottom is a well. Because I thought important to show how large this piece of architecture is, I made sure to get those two people in the picture (yeah... it's that big).
Off to sleep, but will write soon--we go to see the Taj Mahal at sunrise...
The elephant that took me and Meredith (my elephant-riding buddy) up to the fort was named Sonia (see above). She was a lovely animal with real spirit; really, we passed up five or six others on the way up the mountain. The man sitting atop her head was the driver; though, I couldn't quite catch his name (I tried to make him spell it, but instead he told me Sonia's name), but he did tell us he has lived in Jaipur his whole life, and has no intention of leaving...and, by the by, he has six children. I find myself striking up conversations with people as much as possible (perhaps it's the writer in me), because I think the only way to really understand a place and its people is to watch and listen to a place and its people--yet, as often is said, sometimes the more shocking realization while abroad is how similar we all are... there's really no way around it.
On the way to Agra this afternoon, we stopped at Chand Boari (also in Rajasthan), a well built by King Chanda sometime between 800 and 900 AD. The small pyramid-looking things are steps, and though it's not visible in the picture, at the very bottom is a well. Because I thought important to show how large this piece of architecture is, I made sure to get those two people in the picture (yeah... it's that big).
Off to sleep, but will write soon--we go to see the Taj Mahal at sunrise...
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