Jaipur and the Delhi Belly!

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Sorry, still no pictures guys. I am not sure if it is the Internet that is too slow over here or if it is the computers that are not so good. Either way, I can't seem to upload any pictures. Hopefully when I get to Mumbai next week. Anyway, Steph and I spent two days in Jaipur after a 12 hour night bus ride from Delhi. Jaipur is known as the Pink City as the facades of all the buildings in the older part are all painted pink. We hired a rickshaw driver to take us around the city for the afternoon. We hit many sites. It got a little pricey though. We had to pay for entry and had to pay to use our camera's as well. Most of the time we lied and said we only had one camera or sometimes none. Then we would pull them out when nobody was looking to take a few shots. It would have been nice to have the liberty to take as many as we wanted, but, need to save the RS's. I can't seem to find a bank machine that will accept my interact card here! So, besides the pink City, we sawJantar Matra which is a really cool observatory built in 1798. We also saw the Royal Gaitor built for the King. Apparently he had 9 wives... lucky guy. Anyway, he had these tombs for all the children he had who died of malaria. There were nine in total. Pretty cool. We also saw Hawa Mahal, which was not as impressive as the other sites but gave a good view of the Pink City and the Observatory. Overall, it was a pretty good day. The evening went poorly however, since we were both hit with a bad case of the "Delhi Belly". We are not too sure whether it was lunch or dinner that caused the bacteria in our stomaches but, it was not pretty. I thought food poisoning was bad, but this was worse. I ended up becoming quite dehydrated and was hospitalized for 14 hours in the general ward in Jaipur. Also not pretty! I wish I could describe the hospital to you all but, I think some of you would not appreciate it very much! I will save the details for my return. Needless to say. I am feeling much better now! Still not 100% but, getting there. This morning, Steph and I made the journey from Jaipur to Pushkar. We absolutely love it here. It is such a relaxed atmosphere compared to Delhi and Jaipur. We are staying in a very clean and cozy guesthous around the lake. It is quite beautiful. We hear the local people praying and playing music throughout the day. Pushkar is a holy city and has over 1000 temples. The lake is also thought to be holy. Steph and I got stuck in a little scam when we arrived though. This young boy gave us each a flower and welcomed us to Pushkar. We thought that was it.... wrong. We followed a gentleman toward his guesthouse, but along the way we were veared off the path toward the holy lake. Here we were told to drop the flower in the water.... wrong again. When you get down there, you are immediately taken by a priest to sit beside the water and do some sort of prayer for you and your family. Little do you know, that every family member you have costs you money. They wanted 100 Rs for each of my family members in exchange for being granted a wish, good health, life, happiness, etc. Well, that would have been a little expensive, so I offered 200 RS. He was a little insulted, but I stuck to it. He told me it went to some charity for the 2000 holy people in the City. Wrong again, we later found out the money goes to support their drug addiction. And, that you should not pay more then 20 RS. YIPEE, glad I supported a good 'cause. Well, at least my family has been given a wish of good health, happiness, etc. Tomorow, we will sight see around Pushkar, today, we relaxed and tried to recover from yesterday's long day in the hospital. Poor Steph had to stay with me the whole time despite feeling ill herself.

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Comments

[Sharron]

Yikes!!!!
Geeze Carolyn!! Twelve hours in the general ward of an India hospital....sounds kind of brutal!! At least you can say your are experiencing things you would NEVER experience back home. Can't wait to sit on the bus each morning and night to hear episodes of your adventures, on your return. Sit with me!!! Not Roger!!!

[Laura]

Quite the experience...
Wow..not sure if I DO really want to know what the hospital was like! Poor you. Hope you are feeling better now. I just can't believe the adventures you are having--I love travelling along with you. So glad you are finding the time to write to us. Think of all the things you are learning...like not following strangers to a lake, telling them about your family members and having to pay for it!! Too funny.