We ate lunch at the Surabhi restaurant and turban museum, where the waiter was delighted to discover that I speak Hindi – though not enough to follow everything he was saying. “I feel sad because I don’t speak much English, so I can’t converse properly with the customers,” he said. He was very concerned that Ross didn’t look happy (she was hot and tired). His solution, while we waited for lunch to arrive, was to demonstrate how to tie a turban.
This is only one of the many kinds of turban traditional in Rajasthan, as we learned when we visited the turban museum, which has examples of around 50 different types of turbans, most of them incredibly complex.
The book mentioned is Stephen Alter’s “Elephas Maximus,” a thorough account of the Indian elephant, in all its scientific, historical, mythical, and symbolic facets.
Amber Fort, just outside Jaipur, is best reached by elephant, and the ride is included in standard tourist packages. So off we went. It takes about 20 minutes altogether, but I edited it to 4:31 min, 28 MB
After Amber Fort, we visited some touristy handicraft shops. They’re very well organized with demos and explanations, and, of course, opportunities to buy!
After arriving in Delhi at 11 pm and getting up again for a 6 am train, when we arrived at the Samode Haveli hotel at mid-day, we were ready for a nap. We spent the afternoon resting. Later, we sat out by the pool and absorbed the sights and sounds of the evening.
