Thursday, January 29th, Jaipur

Hovering Waiter was at in again; however, his mark was lessened today as we engaged in PI (pointedly ignoring) him. We shall have to discover an effective strategy to lessen the sting his presence causes tomorrow. Unity is key when enemies lurk everywhere.

:-)

Our taxi driver from yesterday came for us again today, along with the "student taxi driver" who transported us last evening. The student driver was accompanied by his boss for, I'm guessing, several reasons:

1. The boss wants to ensure proper customer placement at businesses of his choosing.
2. He doesn't trust the direction-sense of his student.
3. He doesn't trust his student regarding what occurs to the cash.
4. Perhaps he just loves jawing with Americans.

We were taken today the famous City Palace, located in old Jaipur. This part of the viewable architecture is extremely tourist-friendly: admission is cheap, guides are available, audio guides are also provided free-of-charge, and people asking for tips--for actions not usually associated with rewards ("dial your phone for you, sir?")--are few. Despite the name, this tour only covers the extensive courtyard and ancillary buildings of the compound. To view the actual palace, you need pay an impressive admission fee. The audio guide had 32 tracks, corresponding to locations which were usually easily discovered. Unfortunately for those not employed as seamstresses with concentrations in anthropology, many of the tracks discussed jewelry, dress, and so on.

There was an armory, however, which was fairly interesting. An audience hall later on in the tour, containing portraits of maharajahs far in the past, was simply stunning--gilded tracings covered nearly every square centimeter of this beautiful hall. Sadly, pictures were not allowed inside. Two giant silver jars, the largest such in the world, constructed of 14,000 silver coins each, were visible in one of the hall inside another courtyard. After seeing this, I sat with my wife, stunned, as no less than 150 monkeys of various ages scrambles across the palace rooftops, only to disappear through an opening in one of the battlements. Wildlife in like that in Jaipur: visible, prevalent, and totally unconcerned about humanity. Finally, I stepped through a corridor into a gorgeous courtyard which contained four doors, each door decorated to represent one of the seasons. From here, there was a great view of the palace--the picture speaks for itself.

The remainder of the day was spent shopping, and my masculine genes do not permit me to speak of such things.