Today we left the hotel at 8am to visit Amber Fort. The coach dropped us at the car park and we
were to make the final climb to the fort by elephant, which we were very
excited about. The queue to ‘board’ the
elephants was pretty long despite the early hour and we were harassed by
hawkers constantly while we waited. They
were selling everything from colourful turbans, jewellery, wooden elephants,
puppets, pictures etc. People were
buying just to get rid of them.
It’s a very strange feeling riding on an elephant, a little
like sitting on a see-saw. Our elephant
was called Bobby and walked very slowly so that all the other elephants
overtook us and we came in last! This
might have had something to do with our driver talking throughout the journey
on his mobile phone. We certainly got
our money’s worth as the journey took twice as long as everyone else’s!
The Fort was yet another example of a city within a city,
gardens, and reception areas, harems and yes they really did have eunuchs. This maharaja only had four wives so to
maintain his same moderate way of living restricted himself to merely having
400 concubines.
The ladies view of the world was restricted to what they
could see from a specially constructed viewing gallery with latticework windows
overlooking the main reception hall where the maharajah received his
visitors. Also in the harem was an area
where disputes between the ladies were heard and resolved. 400 ladies one man Judge Judy would have had
a heyday.
We had the ‘opportunity’ to visit another carpet/textile
outlet which we declined and we returned to the hotel where we spent a very
pleasant afternoon sitting by the pool soaking up the sunshine.
Ladies view of life.
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