10-19-2011

I'm sitting by the side of a lovely pool writing this and looking at our beautiful hotel courtyard in the gathering dusk. We're at the Alsisar Haveli in lovely Jaipur, waiting for time for dinner. There is a puppet show going on in the courtyard and a young man selling puppets. The haveli is a heritage hotel, formerly the home of rich people, who have turned it into a hotel. There are numerous courtyards, the haveli architecture is typical Rajasthani princely architecture and it's all very atmospheric. A bit of old India.

We started out less than early this morning, after a night listening to a barking dog. I slept okay with my earplugs, but Grace and Pat had a rough go of it. Breakfast was a delicious Indian omelet made with onions and toast with the ubiquitous Indian red jam. I love red jam. We set out in the coach for Jaipur, first passing through the Sariska Forest. It turns out that the Forest is a national park and the park service won't let anyone build a road through it. So the road that's there was originally built years ago and has fallen into complete disrepair. We bounced and jounced through the park and eventually got to a good road after more than an hour.

When we got to Jaipur, we ate a nice lunch at a restaurant that Vikas brought us to. Then it was on to shopping! We went to a store called Antiquariat, a very nice jewelry store and had a nice shopping experience, including chai and Diet Pepsi. The next stop was store selling textiles and carpets, where I did some hard bargaining but could not come up with a good price on a salwar suit. George and Sue bought 2 rugs, though and they were beautiful.

Now we're getting ready to eat dinner at the hotel restaurant. Our room is great, with 2 twin beds and a cot, so I don't have to sleep in the bed with Grace. Not that I minded it particularly, but it's nice to have my own bed.