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Published: December 25th 2011
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Silver
Largest silver object in the world - it looks gold though. Merry Christmas! There is nothing like being away from family on the Holidays that makes you miss them. We do get glimmers of Christmas here in India, but nothing like the States - and the comfort of being around family and in a familiar place is never so longed for as it is when you are in a foreign country. I hope everyone has a wonderful time and truly enjoys and appreciates their time with their family during this holiday season. For our families, please know we are thinking about you from halfway around the world!
I'm happy to report that our train trip from Jodhpur to Jaipur was on time, heated, and overall everything went well. In addition, I'm feeling much better than when I wrote the last blog and was wiped out from Delhi Belly. Our time in India is coming to a close with Jaipur being our second to last stop (we stop in Delhi for one day prior to our flight to Bangkok, Thailand).
Jaipur (known as the the "Pink City") is the third part of the "Golden Triangle" of Northern India (Delhi and Agra being the other two cities). It is probably the most
Timepiece
This tells the time to within two seconds! Westernized city we have been to in India, clearly influenced by the abundance of tourists that come each year. Jaipur has an old area surrounded by gates and within the gates everything is painted "pink" (it is really more of an orange) - thus the name Pink City. Our guidebook states that next to Delhi, Jaipur is probably the best shopping destination. We were able to witness this while strolling through the Pink City as it is seemingly endlessly lined by small shops with owners begging for you to "just look" - which of course is followed by incessant nagging about buying something. Ultimately, we did not see that much that was appealing to us (partially because we have seen almost all of it already). Nonetheless, it is always fun to be in the busy markets watching people and just experiencing the rhythm and chaos of India.
So far in Jaipur we went to the City Palace and Museum, as well as the Jantar Mantar. The City Palace and Museum was pretty uneventful and not really worth going to with one exception - they have the largest silver object in the world as recorded by the Guiness Book Of
Time
This also tells the time. World Records. On the other hand the Jantar Mantar was absolutely wonderful and very impressive. The Jantar Mantar is an area of measuring devices created centuries ago to measure the time, locations of stars, day of year, etc. The most impressive of the monuments was nearly 100 feet tall and could measure the time to within two seconds. I would love to tell you I understood how all of the devices worked, but that would be a lie. However, it was all very impressive and I would highly recommend anyone who goes to Jaipur to go to Jantar Mantar.
After some deliberation over the past couple of weeks, and mainly because eating became more difficult, I decided to shave my beard. Now this was going to be the first time that a razor touched my face in probably 5 years (I did trim my beard with a beard trimmer). Also, this would be the first time my beard was touched at all since September - it was getting pretty gnarly. So, rather than just buy a razor I decided to make an experience of it and get a real barber shave, which was the first of my life. Not
Jantar Mantar
Many of the objects at Jantar Mantar knowing where to go for a barber I asked this gentlemen that Amy bought a silver bangle from where a barber was - he gave me directions and we were on our way. We couldn't find the place, so we headed on down another street and happened upon a barbershop. I asked how much a shave would be and I was told 30 rupees ($0.60) - deal! I'm guessing I probably could have bartered for 20 rupees - but I'm not sure I want a guy near my throat with a razor thinking I'm a jackass so I just agreed to the price. You can imagine my delight when he brought out a shiny clean razor blade. He whipped up some shaving cream and rubbed it on my face for what seemed to be forever (tough to get through all that hair after 4 months), and started shaving. At one point it appeared that we had a miscommunication as he left my mustache and some hair under my lip. As it turns out he was only playing games and thought it would be a good picture, which it was (see photos) - I really looked like a pirate. After 10
or 15 minutes, and a crowd of Indians gathered around, he had finished. I looked in the mirror and I saw a complete stranger! It is funny how after five years with facial hair you don't even recognize yourself clean shaven.
After the shaving spectacle we were handed a note in the street that said, "Dear American friends, please join us for some tea, your Indian Friends," as the delivery boy point to a window next door. After some deliberation we decided to accept their gesture of goodwill. When we arrived we had some small talk with three elder Indian gentlemen that were gemstone traders. We weren't sure if they wanted us to sell gems in the states, buy gemstones, or just wanted to practice English. In the end, we all left with smiles on our face and we didn't feel pressured in any way from them, so they may have just wanted to visit.
On our rickshaw ride to our hotel we passed the Om Tower, which we remembered from the guidebook had a bar called Amigo's in it. We asked the rickshaw driver to stop and we headed to the 9th floor for some views and
Barbershop Shave
My first "real" shave what would be our first alcoholic beverage since arriving in India. The selection was limited so I decided on a Gin and Amy decided on some Russian sounding drink with Rum (because they were out of Vodka). We also ordered a quesadilla since it is a "Mexican" bar/restaurant. The drinks were served and my Gin didn't really taste like much, not a hint of pine needles. Amy's drink came and it mainly tasted like oven cleaner. Guess the drinks in India aren't very good - they are really difficult to come by and many places that we have been in India alcohol is actually illegal. The quesadilla was served and it was actually an enchilada, although it tasted pretty good, almost passable as Mexican or Tex-Mex. Overall, a pretty weird experience.
A few more days in Jaipur and probably one more blog on India and our Southeast Asia adventure starts! What an experience India has been - it feels like we have been here for several months but it hasn't even been a month yet!
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