Hello from Jaipur! We arrive yesterday morning and are staying in the nicest hotel I can imagine! Not only are there no bugs, but it's also completely devoid of mold! I tell you it's the little things that can make us happy at this point... I think we all agree that if we were to ever come back to Jaipur we would have to stay here. It's reasonable and has a really cool rooftop garden/balcony to watch the city below.
Yesterday we got into the first rickshaw and noticed the first difference between the guys here and everywhere else. They seem to think that we are whores and sexual advances are acceptable! Oh no... As soon as we realized what he was saying we got out and Stacy was yelling at him! I am surprise she didn't hit him! (but with every right!)
Finally we made it into a decent rickshaw and were off again. There is a beautiful old observatory as well as the amazing city palace! It's right in the center of the Pink City. The observatory had numerous tools for recording everything from the phases of the moon, the patch through the different astrological signs, and eclipses. It was like stepping into Alice's through the Looking Glass. The tools were immense and otherworldly. The craft work that went into the palace was amazing! From the painting to the tile work to the carpets... Everything was grand and beautiful. Even the armory was filled with huge, amazing guns and knives. I sort of wanted one of the really pretty curved knives.
We were going to head for food, but since we have had such good experiences with the temples we happened upon a temple of Krishna and decided to check it out. It was closed, but the guy running it told us to go next door and climb onto the roof for a fantastic view of the whole pink city at sunset. It was a beautiful sight even though the monkeys were pretty scary! A man working in one of the shops scared them away for us. We found out he was actually working in a gem shaping studio! He showed us some uncut amethyst and smoky topaz! I have never held a stone that large in my hand before! It turned out that they are wholesalers to some of the places we visited in Agra. They are just WAY cheaper... I had to get something. I am pretty excited about it, but I want it to be appraised when I get home. It's an antique necklace (I love all the gaudy old stuff!) made of turquoise and bright red coral.
Our last stop was at a wholesale fabric place. It was sort of sad because we saw these small boys doing all the work too... I know that's how most "fine bead work" is done because of the small hands, but it was really awful to see! Finally around 8 we ate again! Yes I have even tried macaroni and cheese in India! (what? It's all they would cook at the hotel at this point! And it was tasty!) Today we are off to another fabric place for the ladies and then to see another movie at this theatre that looks like a wedding cake.
