We started off at about 7 am this morning. After about 2 hours of driving we stopped at a restaurant/hotel for a bathroom and some snacks. Grilled cheese (yep- a taste of home) and pakori, which were like fritters- fried potatoes with califlower in the middle. So good. yumm.
Then, it was back on the road and into the fog. It was super foggy this morning- no pictures at all. I could barely see farther than the outside of the road. As we got closer to Jaipur, the fog cleared first a little, then a lot. (hooray!)
When we finally arrived in Jaipur, we met Aneel's family: his wife, Geeta- his daughter, Apoorva (18)- and Akul, his son (15). We also met Praveen Verma and his wife (other rotarians). Our group was given about 15 minutes to get our bags to the hotel room and then come back out for lunch.
Lunch was served outside and delicious (as always).It was amazing how much warmer it was in Jaipur compared to Agra. This morning it was very, very, very cold (well... comparitivly speaking) and (of course) the bus didn't have a heater- they usually don't need it.
Then it was off for the sightseeing of the day. First stop: Jantar Mantar Observatory of Jaipur. Sawai Jai Sigh made a bunch of structures in which he was able to tell the time. Our guide found the fime with the dial/monument and then we checked our watches. I think that within 2 minutes is pretty great for stone structures.
Next was the city palace muuesum. They had many replicas and plastic modles showing what it must have been like back x years ago.
After basically complaining and worrying the whole trip, the women finally got to go shopping. We only got about 2 hours- but yes this was/is importatn becasue we are supposed to wear formal Indian clothing for our meal tomorrow.
I got a pajama (not pajama's like pj's though) which is basically a tunic , pants and a scarf. Mine is read with sparkles. kind of undescribable. I'll post the pictures of me wearing it tomorrow night at the big dinner as soon as we 1) have the dinner and 2) have internet.
Back to the hotel then, quickly and then off to our dinner/evening destination. It was set up to look like what a real ragistani village (a recreated muslim town in Ragistan) would be. We saw indian dancers (the one girl danced with a stack of pots on her head- probably 4), drank some traditional muslim drink and rode camels and elephants.
What an experience! I must say that I liked the elephant better. You go up stairs and go to him. With the camel- they lie down for you to climb on and then you have to hold on to your life as they lurch forward-back-forward to their feet. Other than the getting on and getting off part- the camel ride was pretty great too. If anyone didn't know, both camels and elephants are REALLY tall. I think they have Kenyon and Alex P. both beat.
Then we had a traditional ragistani meal. i was still full from lunch, so I ended up just tasting small portions of everything. It was good, but most everything was spicy. Also- we weren't allowed to eat the salad (because of washing it with non-bottled water). near the end of the meal, one of our servers gave me his turban. Not permanently- so I had to give it back. But at least we got a picture. :)
So, yeah. It's 1:30ish. And I'm exhausted. Time for bed- wake up call is at 6:30. Jeez.
By the way- no pictures now because the internet is so slow- but I'll post them as soon as I can.
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