Jaipur

You can ride the elephants up the hill to get to Amber Fort in Jaipur.

Amber Fort and Amber Palace -- two amazing pieces of architecture.  This is one of the maharaja's "casual" rooms in the palace.

The snake charmers at Amber Fort.

Jaipur City Palace.

Another view of Jaipur City Palace.

One small component of the great astronomical observatory of Jaipur's Jantar Mantar.  Delhi also boasts a Jantar Mantar, but the one at Jaipur has been restored to nearly full working condition.  Using the various sculptures, one can calculate the positions of the stars, determine the exact date of the equinoxes, the time of day, etc.

Jaipur Lake Palace.  The lake is man made and, when full, floods not only the surrounding ground, but the palace, as well.  Apparently, there are two full floors that are underwater.

When a Hindu dies, his or her body is always cremated.  While the moghul emperors created beautiful tombs for themselves and their loved ones, the maharajas created magnificent cenotaphs like this one as memorials.

In the afternoon, we wandered around the Mahdavendra Palace where we ran into a few little guys like this one.

Unless you're really adamant, every tour guide wants to take you to see (and buy?) the local handicrafts.  The gentleman above is applying the second bit of color to what will be a six-color pattern on cotton cloth.  He uses a hand-carved wooden stamp to apply the dyes, which are all vegetable based.  Once the dyes dry in the sun, they are dipped in a salt solution as a fixative, which greatly alters the colors on the fabric.

The carpet weaver at the textile shop.