We traveled most of the time overnight. First day we woke in Jaipur where we caught a bus to drive thru the city past the Palace of Winds, or Hawa Mahal, where harem women sat concealed behind stone screens with a cool breeze to watch the street markets. This amazing building is only 1 room deep – a bit like a Hollywood façade.

Then on up to the base of the Amber Palace fort on the cliff top.

The very steep narrow road to the top was easy on elephant back.

The hawkers are every where trying to sell things – they throw their goods up to you!!!

After that tour we went back down town and after lunch in a luxurious Taj hotel which is one of the more recent palaces that have been converted into a hotel. We very often ate lunch in these palaces.

This is very common, the 15 or 20 remaining Moguls or regional rulers get taxed on their wealth. Since they own a lot of property they either must put it to work by leasing it out to hotel chains etc, or they legally pass title to a trust. In this case they then often take a leading board position to supervise the management of museums and tourist sites etc. But this means they no longer personally own the palaces and forts.