The Ordinary versus the Extraordinary – A year of travelling with three children: 1 February 2015 - Tuk tukking all the way to the Amber Fort and beyond!

Generally, when we make an arrangement with a tuk tuk driver, they are reliable and happy to have our custom. The friendly tuk tuk driver who had helped us on our arrival in Jaipur, Ilu, met us at the arranged place and we squeezed into his tuk tuk and putted off weaving in and out of the traffic to the Amber Fort, Rajasthan. It is about 11 kms out of Jaipur and was the citadel of the Kachhawa clan before Jaipur was established. It was absolutely magnificent from the first lake side stop for a photo and even more magnificent up close! HUGE, ancient and full of little rooms and corridors to discover, steps to climb and views to enjoy.

Five of us squeezed into a tuk tuk!

One of many camels en route.

By Lake Maotha looking towards the Amber Fort.

Goats joined us on our walk up the rocky path to the entrance. There were many beggars,too. We gave some bananas to a couple of grubby little boys with green snotty noses but we really cannot give to everyone who, and they do, often. Little kids weave in and out of lanes of traffic begging for money the moment a tuk tuk slows down. Poverty is confronting but even now we are less aware of it than when we first arrived in India.

Goats accompanied us on our ascent.

Luke asking to a goat why it was walking on the wall!

We were more than happy to pay 200 Rupees entrance fee and spent nearly two hours exploring nooks and crannies and even ancient toilets. We felt so high up above the town and had amazing views over the distance hills and ornamental gardens and Maotha Lake below. The Islamic influence reminded me of the Alhambra I had seen many years ago. It is apparently a blend of Hindu and Mughal architecture. Lattice work from carved marble and lovely arches blend with the rich red sandstone. There really were very few western tourists, but many Indians. Once again we were very thankful for sunny fine but not hot weather and good fitness to be able to do all the climbing and walking we did. I really would hate to be touring India in 40 C summer heat and can cope with the chilly nights at this time of year.

In the Amber Fort.

Through the marble lattice.

Jumping for joy!

Hand stand opportunity.


Gorgeous little girl all dressed up for the occasion.

Awestruck!

Beautiful.

Rest time and time to gather our thoughts.

It was all so wonderful and we were just discussing how we were so glad to have had this opportunity when our wonderment reached another level as we saw a couple of Indian musicians and their cobras in baskets. Yes!!! Snake charmers in India - we couldn't believe it! To add to our delight, the main musician let us play his "Mr Bean" pipe like instrument AND let the kids touch his cobra!!!

A cobra dancing to Indian music!

Tim touching a cobra!

Annika touching a cobra!

All that clarinet playing didn't really help!

Tim enjoying the magnificent scenery.

This is what he was looking at!!

What a picture frame!! And what a picture!

We were really towering over the town below but looming over the Amber Fort is the Jaigarh Fort. We went up a fairly deserted rocky set of uneven old steps along the edge of the fortress walls. It was heaps of fun to be scrambling through history again and even Tim, who generally has zero expectations of enjoying anything (but always does!), said it was awesome! And indeed it was!

There was a herd of pigs grazing between the rocks at the entrance. Only a small number of people seemed to be going in. We realised afterwards that there is a road on the other side and cars can actually drive up. We are so glad to have done the old time climb and had the opportunity to ponder about how it was built and how many workers were required and how many people over hundreds of years had tramped along the very path we were taking.

The Jaigarh Fort, also called the Victory Fort of Rajasthan, was built between the 15th to the 18th century to add to the defence of Amer. It is not as elaborate as the Amber Fort but it was wonderful to explore and find tunnels and little secret doors.

Pigs!

Guarding the castle doors!

We could hear more music and were hopeful we might find another cobra! It was a puppet show and did have a puppet cobra but it was all moving too fast to get a good photo!The story was sung as the puppets whirled. The auditory feast of India is something that we'll remember forever. Mind you, the noises through out the night leave us sleep deprived daily and it is hard to tune out to Mosque calls to prayer and random drum beats, fire crackers, possibly guns, and the general din of the world's second most populated country in the middle of the night! Karl and I wondered how the poor people who sleep on the streets and those in makeshift accommodation ever get enough sleep and physical rest. Is it just a western construct that we need a large slab of continuous sleep instead of a number of naps through the day, like other cultures do? At times I could easily doze off sitting in the sun in the middle of the day...may be I am better off in this wild culture!!

Puppet show and musician.

Did I really take this picture?

Green courtyard in the middle of a very arid zone,

Magnificent arches.

We are eager to follow the wall path all the way on another day.

Birds' eye view.

Framed again!

We all had an ice cream at the exit. The moment we sat down to eat our ice creams we became the attraction of the afternoon with school kids wanting to practise their English. They were well dressed and very sweet and spoke quite good English.

The crowd of kids around us!

Tim encouraged us to climb up one last bastion and these stairs were really in poor repair but safe enough! The view was utterly stunning and we were the only ones up that high to enjoy it! A real privilege!

Steep and crumbling but SO wonderful! we are used to such climbs now!

Steep ascent

Overlooking the lake and dwarfed Amber Fort.

Some brave person erected the Indian flag!

Arid hills.

Our descent.

Can't believe we were here.

Negotiating the tricky steps.

Secret tunnels inside the walls.

Brothers exploring.

Another friendly goat and smiling local!

On our scramble down we saw two mongooses (mongeese?) dashing through the undergrowth we gave Luke something else to concentrate on other than negotiating the steep uneven steps.

Mongoose - bit fuzzy but he was moving quickly and then went into his burrow under a tree.

Once we got to the main path again we followed the scent of elephant dung to find a group of the wonderful beasts in a little plaza. We might come back to ride them another day but we were hungry by this stage and mindful of not leaving our faithful tuk tuk driver for too long.

Elephants - sneaky photo as not permitted to take photos.

We found some of our favourite chhole and kulche to eat (at slightly inflated tourist prices - 40 as opposed to the usual 20 Rupee) and some potato patties and hopped/squeezed back into the tuk tuk.

We stopped briefly at the Lake Palace for a photo but it is not open to the public.