An elephant never forgets.Nor will I

Saturday started off quite plesantly. We spent some time near the pool, but were given the unfortunate news that Phil wished us to go shopping at Four. Not too pleased about this disruption, on such a relaxing day I eventually relented and decided to tag along.
Curiously we had to wait for our vehicle to pick us up at the back of the hotel. Still I suspected nothing. However Phil had a sly grin on his face, and kept on saying the words 'Wait for the People carrier'....

Suddenly this massive,grey,magnificent,slumbering beast was walking up the road. Now I've always had a child like awe about Elephants, and was lost for words to be so close to one. We all immdeiately began to pet, and stroke this amazing creature. I can't even begin to count the ammount of pictures we all took.

The handler then began decorating & painting it. Even at this stage I was still not aware of what was still to come. Suddenly Pooja announced to us that as there was Seven of us, we needed to split up into 2 groups before we went on our Elephant ride?????

Our group (Me,Phil & Sue) were 2nd.This then meant an excited hour wait before we took our amazing journey.

The hour soon passed and we all were left to stand next to the elephant wondering how on earth we were going to get on it. The Handler uses what can only be described as a poker, to give commands to the creature. I can certainly imagine that even this is hardly considered a scratch when compared to the leathery tough hide of the elephant. Ths skin feels very strange and again I just spent many minutes dumb struck. The handler gave out a few commands and the beast slowly got on it's knees and waited for us to hop aboard.
I boarded first.And with great trepidation stood on its neck and clambered aboard. There was quite a lot of room and I settled as Phil & sue managed to get on as well.
Once on there the elephant rose again. It does this 1 foot at a time (obviously) so the carriage goes round in a circular motion. We must have been a good 15ft off the ground.
The handler again gave a command, and we began our journey, if somewhat slowly. I was amazed of the attention we were receiving. Everyone seemed to have either stopped working and were just staring at us.
It was also my first real experience with people in Delhi. Everyone had time to stop & wave. Children were shouting and waving. Locals were asking where we were from. It certainly did create quite a storm.
I later found out from Pooja that an elephant is a not too common event anymore in the major cities. In the past they would have been found everywhere, but traffic restrictions meant that most of them are gone now.
We all really enjoyed seeing a new part to India and spent a majority of the journey, open mouthed in a state of wonder.
What topped it off was riding back to the hotel just as the sun was setting.
Soon enough our journey was over but one that will never be forgotten.