Jaipur

A full day touring Jaipur and Amber with Himanshu, the most excellent guide and friend to royalty. We had a terrific day out.

First we went to the Observatory, which was built in the 1730s so the Maharajah could do very accurate horoscopes. The sundial (the biggest in the World at 27 metres) is accurate to 20 seconds. Lots of really cool structures help keep track of the Sun, stars, planets and all things astrological.

Then on to the City Palace, home of the present Maharajah of Jaipur, and some interesting collections of weapons (for the boys) and sparkly robes (for the girls). We had our pictures taken with the biggest silver objects in the World - 2 enormous water carriers.

Then on to the highlight of the day: the elephant ride and tour of Amber Fort. Our elephant was called Emily, and she was the fastest elephant in Jaipur, if not Rajasthan. The fort is enormous and very impressive.

After a good lunch (dal, tandoori potato, rice & roti, with beer) we went on to a textile & carpet shop. Sue tried on a sari, which looked lovely but was the wrong size.

Then back to the hotel for more beer and a very odd dinner: we sat down on our own in the dining room @ the hotel. 20 minutes later we were surrounded by 200 Chinese tourists. Quite unexpected!