Amber Fort and Royal Banquet, Jaipur
Trip Start
Oct 14, 2005
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13
21
Trip End
Oct 31, 2005
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Jaipur,
India
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
We got out the door at 8am to be sure that we got in line early enough to get elephants to carry us up to the Amber Fort. Even though we were early, we still had to wait for about 45 minutes. Since an elephant went crazy recently and trampled a Nepalese guide to death, they stopped allowing the elephant rides. Only a few days before we arrived did they reinstate them -- but with the regulation that the elephants could only be ridden for 3 hours in the morning. If you don't get there early enough, you won't get to ride.
The experience was a thrill for the guys, and the fort was an amazing thing to behold. We went back down the hill by jeep and then proceeded to a fabric store where everyone -- myself included -- went berzerk buying these amazing products
01 Sunrise Call To Prayer
. There were gorgeous bedcovers and custom tailored suits and saris. One of our guys used to be a professional drag queen, and he modeled a sari in fabulous fashion. We returned to the hotel for a lunch break (I napped), and then went back out to tour the city palace, which was quite fantastic (a Maharaja lives in several floors to this day), and also the observatory -- where a sun dial tells time to within a few seconds accuracy.During some free time a few of the guys climbed up the huge sun dial, and I found a shady spot to sit down and relax. I was immediately surrounded by schoolboys who were eager to speak English and practice with me. It was a lot of fun, and I made some new friends.
Next stop was a silk rug factory, and again thousands of USDollars were expended on the finest quality rugs. By this point the total from the beginning of the tour is probably approaching $60,000, and I am sure my guide is making plans to purchase property. If only I were getting a percentage cut! But the guide asked me if I wanted anything, and I just said hey, my birthday is in a few days -- just surprise me. We'll see what he does. I also got him to promise that there would be no shopping stops in our next destination -- Jodhpur.
02 Amber Fort Elephants
We returned to the hotel and made preparations for our Royal Dinner. At 8pm we were escorted to the front of the hotel. There a bugler and bedecked elephant, camel and stallion were waiting to announce our arrival with great fanfare and racket. It was really astonishing, and the clients were delighted by all the hubbub. Next we were taken to the back lawn by the pool where our dinner seating had been laid in a horseshoe shaped table facing a circle on the lawn that was drawn with various colored crushed petals from red roses and yellow daisys. Stunning! We were each announced by our first name and escorted under a royal umbrella to the table. For example, a man would scream something in Hindu followed by "Maharaja Dan", and then the dancers and trumpeters would take that person down some stairs and onto the lawn in majestic pomp and circumstance. We were all hysterically amused.
Finally, after all were seated, the dancing women began. Their act progressed with huge pots of things balanced on their heads (the most agile was about 6 months pregnant), and they would race around the tables and when the music came to a pregnant (ahem) pause, they would come to a screeching halt. Any one of us would have sent the pots flying, but they could do it without dropping a thing.
03 Elephant Driver
The dinner proceeded beautifully, and the most amazing conclusion was the blaring of a recording of Handel's Music For the Royal Fireworks, during which they set off an amazing display of pyrotechnics. It was honestly the most jaw-dropping moment I think I have ever experienced in all these years of doing tours. The exhilaration was soon to come to an end, however.
Earlier in the day I had a word with the manager telling him that we were not responsible for the opening of the bottle of Dom Perignon champagne, and that we would not be paying for it. I thought the matter was concluded, but he came to me again and told me that the boy who had actually brought the bottle was up all night crying and was very despondent because it was going to go very badly for him. He would be punished if the hotel was going to lose money because of what he did, and wasn't there something, anything, I would be willing to pay to make the poor boy's life easier. I let him know in no uncertain terms that they boy was not responsible, that indeed the manager himself should pay for the mistake because I had given him strict instructions that there was to be no Dom Perignon served. But he continued to tug at my heartstrings. I didn't flat out refuse, but said I would think about it overnight, and consult with my guide in the morning and see what we would do
04 Group Waits to Board Elephants
.Before going to bed I went back out by the front lawn and was informed by one of my clients that $200 had been stolen out of his suitcase during the day. I immediately went to that same manager and said now we have a new problem. He called the boys who had cleaned the room, and of course they said they had not taken anything, and even went to the room and made a big show of turning everything inside out to see where it might be hiding. After they had left the room the manager said "I will break their legs" and "They will be torn limb from limb" and all sorts of other nonsense, knowing perfectly well he was probably going to do absolutely nothing of the sort about the problem. I took a sleeping pill and went to bed.
Hugs,
Dan
