Tuesday, January 27th, Hyderabad/Jaipur

It is called a "babymoon" when an expectant couple goes on a vacation together somewhere, according to my wife. Our "babymoon within a babymoon" started today, as we flew from Hyderabad to Jaipur. My in-laws had been extremely generous, and had purchased, for the two of us, flights to Jaipur as well as a three-day stay in a converted palace. The palace was a moderate-sized affair, with outer gate, inner gate, and circular driveway. It is beautiful both inside and out, and the grounds of the estate are nothing to sneeze at. Turbaned wait staff rush about, fetching tea, laundry, and orders, peacocks wander the estate, and guests sigh with contentment and laze about the pool.

After a brief tea-n-biscuits hiatus at the pool, we ventured via...auto-rickshaw into the surrounding city. I was thrilled. We entered the Old City, in which every building is painted a light-red/soft-pinkish color, via of its seven gates. If Hyderabad's streets were chaos, then Jaipur's are raging pandemonium. "Tuk-tuks" (auto-rickshaws) swarm the streets, pedestrians landen with the day's wares dare death at every corner, and cows wander aimlessly. Monkeys gather in courtyards and vendors beckon endlessly in this area, commissioned for construction in the early 18th century by maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, making it one of Asia's first planned cities. The markets are exercises in frustration, for one cannot walk the sidewalk without being harassed by extremely aggressive bazaar employees. And of bazaars there are many, a different shop every ten feet, with its requisite full complement of howling owners. Being an obvious foreigner, as you might have guessed, didn't tone down the aggression much. Before I abandoned my interest in bargaining for some useless trinket and traveled to a government-controller "set-rate" store, a took a couple shots of the Hawa Mahal. This building was constructed for the various palace ladies so that they could view street parades without being seen, a common theme dictating various aspects of architecture throughout medieval India.

We then retired (via "tuk-tuk"!) back to the hotel, but not before an evening meal at our palace, complete with a live performance of traditional Rajastani dances. The young boy made up in enthusiasm what he lacked in technique, and one of the dancing girls managed seven pots balanced on her head while standing on swords! Don't try this at home.