Riding the Elephants

Well the most exciting thing that I did while India had to be riding an elephant. While in Jaipur we were going to tour the fort way up on top a mountain. And how did you get there? You either walked or rode an elephant. We opted to ride in style!!!!!!! The first photo is of course me and my riding partner Lynnette. As you can see we had to ride side saddle. This had to be the bumpiest ride I've ever had but the most fun! The second photo is one that I took on my elephant of the two guys behind us. They were Gerard and Paul. The ride was very slow but the scenery was beautiful and the laughs were heard all the way down the mountain I'm sure. Their elephant driver was really a ham. He wanted me to take more and more photos of him. He didn't care about the elephant or his passengers! The last photo is a close up to show just how ornately the elephants were decorated. I don't know what they used to do this but it looked as if it might have been pastel or chalk. Whatever it was it sure gave the elephants a festive look don't you think? By the way there is a man who raises these elephants there in Jaipur just for this purpose. If you want to ride you have to be there early during this time of year. We had to be there by 7:00 a.m. Since the weather was so hot the elephants were allowed to make the journey up and down the mountain again only twice. Lucky for us we got there first!

Larry