A Day in Jaipur

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Today was 115 F and we spend an wonderful day touring Jaipur. Rather than having our breakfast at the Rambaugh Palace, we were off to see the many sightseeing spots in the city. After driving through the city gates we realized why this is called the Pink City. Duhhhhh.... everything is pink... all of the facades are required to be finished in Pink. First top was a place called Dera Amer which is known as the elephant polo field. Apparently while the men played polo on horses... the women played a slower game on elephants. We first had breakfast with the elephants.... We fed them banannas and we had a full buffet breakfast. After that it was time for the elephant safari... two to an elephant.. ours was named Lela... It was quite an experience.... more for picture taking than for adventure, but a lot of fun.

After this we drove to the City Palace in Jaipor which occupies the center of the city which is quite large. The palace is surrounded by a stone wall and the current Majarajah lives there. He is only 15 years old. The last Maharajah had no sons... and while i cannot remember the whole story he ended up adopting this boy and now he is the big guy in town. Remember that Maharajahs have no power... just a title. We also saw the facade where the concubines hung out of windows... sort of like the red light district in Amsterdam. the name of this is the Palace of the winds which is supposed to be famous. also noted was the fact that every ten years they pain this part of the palace... and guess what.... the scoffolding was up for the paint job.

Finally for the morning a few of us went to see Jantar Mantar which is a huge array of astronomical insturments which includes the largest sundial in the world which allows you to get the exact time within two minutes... we tried it and it worked. by then the temperature was unbearable and we went back to the hotel, some choosing to stay back and others (like us) went on a shopping expedition in downtown Jaipur. EVerything is bargaining... and we were told after they gave us a price to cut it by 60%.... It worked pretty well... though we were still paying more than the best bargainers. For example in the first shop the guy quoted 25$$ for a t-shirt which i really did not want... and before you know it he was down to 5$. I still did not want it.... and a few stores down the block... the asking price for the same shirt was 2$$. The key is buy what you want and spend what you think it is worth.

Dinner back at the Rambaugh... first dinner on our own (not hosted)... we skipped it and susan was in bed by 8pm and I by 10pm.

Tomorrow we drive to Agra and the Taj Mahal.... i can hardly wait.

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