Etape 3 - Jaipur, the heart of Rajastan

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Incredible. You have to visit Jaipur the pink city to understand it. Just incredible - beautiful, dirty, friendly, aggressive, hot, freezing, etc ... I could go on and on.

I went to bazaars and palaces in Jaipur, visited the famous fortress of Amber just outside Jaipur and there rode an elephant. One of the most famous Maharaja of Rajastan was Man Singh I who was about 2 meters tall and weighted over 230 kilos... his pyjama pants were on display at City Palace of Jaipur and one could fit at least 4 normal chaps into his pants. Enormous, unbelievable. Apparently this little chap had also over 30 wives and who knows how many mistresses... oh, just thinking those poor ladies.. ;-)

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Amber fortress was also cool place to visit and ride up with an elephant is an experience. I had some concern about the health and well-being of the elephants as books like Lonely Planet expressed concerns, but in the end it seemed that the locals were taking steps to improve the facilities available for the magnificent creatures. If people start boycotting them then for sure they won't have money to finance construction of those facilities. So in this catch-22 I thought better to support the local economy while supporting their efforts to make the elephants' lives more comfortable.