Amber Fort and Tiger Fort

After a restful/ not so restful night's sleep we were ready to go again in Jaipur. We'd arranged a flight to Mumbai for later in the evening, but the airport was 25 km away. So what to do? Of course, hire a driver for a half day. Amber, well, of course. Everyone told us to go to Amber Fort. It's the beautiful and intricate one. More importantly, it's much easier for the drivers to get to. We insisted however, that we'd like to go see Tiger/Jaigar/other name I can't remember for it Fort on the basis that it's atop the city. It's WAY up a hill side and looks directly down on Jaipur. So, after much negotiating, haggling, fussing, bitching, complaining, and promises of payment we jumped in a car destined for Amber Fort, Tiger Fort, and Jaipur Airport.

Amber Fort: Well, to be fair, it is simply astonishing. It's a beautiful and intricate fort/palace that is set up essentially like a maze. There is lots of beautiful marble inlay similar to the Taj Mahal. In addition, there is a hefty amount of wall painting which (at least to me) is characteristic of Rajasthani art. In and out all day are people riding in on elephants. These elephants, by the way, are decorated with the same powder used at Holi and for making Kolam here in south India. Those elephants are well trained. I don't know how well treated they are, but they don't seem to mind. They walk down the hill, back up the hill, walk around the court yard in the fort, drop off passengers, pick up more, drop some elephant droppings, repeat. Anyway, the Amber is quite beautiful, but I got the biggest kick out of it because I got charged the Indian rate.
I knew that my Indian residency paper would come in handy somehow. I handed it to the guy at the window, handed him the correct Indian amount, and in I went. Saved myself Rs 200. The ticket collector once again inquired as to my status, but I assured him I live in India, and he let me pass. WOO!

Tiger Fort: The road up to Tiger Fort is harrowing. I now understand why not so many cab drivers want to go up there. It's bumpy, winding, narrow, with overgrown bushes and shrubs coming in the open windows all the way. Ouch. Little scratches on your arms by the time you get there. But, I will tell you this. Visiting Tiger Fort was amongst the best tourist decisions we made the whole trip! There were only a dozen tourists there and most of them were Indian. In addition there is a beautiful restaurant/bar on one side where you can look way down onto Jaipur. It's far enough above all the noise and traffic, that it's almost, dare I say it, peaceful. Of course, Jaipur (a tiny city of 2.35 million) is busy enough that it's still not very peaceful even where it is "peaceful." We had a couple of "beers" and some Rajasthani and Gujarati style Thalis for lunch with egg sandwiches. Delicious.
In one sense, Tiger Fort is less spectacular than Amber Fort because it's not as intricate. But I'm more impressed with how they got the material up the mountain that much further to construct the thing at all.