India 2

So this last post about India is a little late...okay well a good amount of time has passed since we left Delhi but we have been very busy since. Regardless this last post about India will cover some interesting topics.

The first topic is our trip to Jaipur which is located in the state of Rajasthan. It is a very colorful city with many shops and artisans that line the streets for many miles, or km (since we are abroad). The one thing I didnt like about Jaipur, and Agra for that matter is how dirty both cities are. They both make Delhi seem like a very very clean city in comparison. There is trash everywhere along with more visible poverty and many times we saw people defacating in the middle of the sidewalks...we're not in Delhi anymore folks. But outside of this Jaipur was a delight to see. The city of Rajasthan still has a ruler, and we got a chance to see his palace which was very impressive. Next to the City Palace was our favorite sight of the Jaipur trip. The Observatory called Jantar Mantar was a very interesting place to see because it was something different...different from the many many forts we saw. It was built by the Maharaja Jai Singh II between 1727 and 1734. Inside the Jantar Mantar was a collection of different instruments used to tell the latitude and longitude of Jaipur, predicting eclipses and even telling the time. There was a small sundial that tells the time accurately to about 20 seconds. The larger sundial (which is the largest in the world) tells time accurately to about 2 seconds. Think about that! Your watch is accurate to 1 second and this was created in the 1700's and is accurate to about 2 seconds. Amazing!

The rest of the sightseeing in Jaipur was filled with more forts...one of which was built in the middle of a lake. Very cool to see. We eventually made our way back to Delhi where we reunited with my family and told them about our great experiences. The day before we left, which was a Thursday, we met up with an Australian journalist posted in Delhi who is good friends with my uncle. He took us out to a couple of bars and we chatted about sports, life, and politics. We went to a restaurant called Panjabi by Nature located in Vasant Vihar (about 10 min. away from my aunts house). We enjoyed a good night there until the restaurant staff tried to overcharge us (almost double) for our night of drinking. I think they thought they could get away with it b/c we were foreigners and drunk but being Americans (especially from NJ) we dont take crap from anyone. We argued our bill, calmy and politely to start with but that soon escalated to us yelling and cursing a little. We argued and argued but they wouldnt lower the price so we paid but our friend Mike told them that he was going to write a nasty article about them and tell all his expat and journalist friends to avoid Panjabi by Nature. So if you are ever in Delhi do not, I repeat DO NOT go to Panjabi by Nature! Other than that blemish the night was a lot of fun and we enjoyed hanging out with Mike.

The day of our departure was pretty uneventful. Lots of packing and repacking to make sure our suitcases made the weight restrictions. Our flight was at 1 am on Friday morning so we got to the airport around 1030. Alka and Seema bua dropped us off and after we said our goodbyes we headed in and waited to board our flight to Bangkok.

Two countries down and one to go....Next stop Bangkok!