Jaipur - Elephants, Cobras, Amber Fort

Bear thought he had fruit in his basket. Raz though it was money. Nope.

It's one of those pesky cobras.

Going back down the hill this chap rolled himself a cigarette.

King Cobras and a ride on Nelly

On our first day of everyone feeling that they could take a trip away from the hotel loo for a few hours, we took a short drive to the huge Amber Fort just outside town. We spotted a young elephant standing beneath the fort, on the pavement. We pulled over and let it snuffle our smelly crocs and had a cuddle. The local snake charmer piped up in competition. Raz later confided that he thought the basket was for cash, and Bear thought it was for fruit. Nope. That'll be a cobra. The handler beckoned for us to bestow the same affection for his creature as the cute elly - he even kissed the thing to prove it was vernom-less. We gave him a wide berth on the curb as the reptile lashed out at him.

Digs and Raz went off on the first elephant. It was 900 rupees. Digs gave him 1,000 and let him keep the change. They shouted down the line that this tourist had given a 100 R tip and for others to try and get the same out of their customers. Further down the queue we saw the 100 R tip expectation continue. I rode with Bear and Magi and our elephant, Jamma, was keen to get ahead of the others and overtook a few on the cobbles as we wound our way up the hill to the entrance of the fort. Once inside, it opened up into a piazza and a kind of elephant jamboree with music.