Jaipur

We now write from Jaipur, a relatively big city of 2.3 million in the middle of Rajasthan. Erin and I spent all night on a train to get here in the best class seats available. We were on both sides of an aisle on the top level of a three-tiered bunk bed all night. The ride wasn't bad, other thn the guy in the middle bunk had a snore that powered the whole train. Thank god for ear plugs.

When we got to Jaipur we met my dad at the hotel as he arrived on a whirlwind tour through New York, Istanbul and Delhi. His eyes were the size of saucers at the third worldness of India. We proceeded to cruise all over Jaipur squeezed into a rickshaw made for 10 indians or 2 Americans. We managed three...barely. For all of you who know my dad, you will know that where he goes, so goes his camera. He lived up to expectations and captured all of Jaipur in the first day.

I, unfortunately, missed out on all of yesterdays adventures because the stomach bug finally got me...or perhaps the undercooked chicken or street food I ate. Fortunately, our $25 a night nice hotel had HBO...so it was just like being at home.

According to the stories I heard, Gar and Erin had a good time with all the touts and beggars in Jaipur who tried to sell them stuff by turning the game around on them. Gar kept trying to sell Erin's hat to people...needless to say they were confused with the turnabout. It must have been fun, because they both giggled when they returned.

After finally feeling better last night, we went out for an american night out. We went to McDonald's for dinner, where we had chicken big macs and the McCurry Pan since they don't serve the revered cow in Indian McDonalds'. We topped that by going to the largest cinema in Asia to catch a Bollywood flick. It was of course in Hindi, but the melodrama and dancing were so thick that we had no problem understanding the story. The most amazing part was the stares we got in the lobby from everyone. We were quite the center of attention.

In other big news, while Gar napped on a couch at a carpet store, Erin negotiated our way into a beautiful new rug from Kashmir to adorn our living room. We went to about 10 different stores over the last few weeks, saw hundreds of rugs, and were told hundreds of stories about the best ones. Finally we found one we both loved and bought it. Very exciting...now we just need to figure out how to get it home. We got a discount by not having them ship it...now we'll probably double the price mailing it home. They did, however, fold it into a nice burlap suitcase for us.

Well, the taxi is here and we are off to the Shekwati region for a few days. More to come soon.

Ted