Continued from Jaipur Day 2 Part 1.

On the way to my next destination, I walked past by a few bazaars. It’s interesting how different areas specialize selling certain items.

This area, I am guessing there were maybe 30 stores, were about 90% watch/clock stores, pot stores and lock safe stores.

A rare fabric store in this area.

I ducked behind an arch way and walked on the street that runs parallel to the one I was just on. The stores here are the back side of the other stores that I just saw. These stores carry utility goods.

Found the entrance.

I walked up the first flight of stores, there were two guys there selling tickets. It was 20 but I accidentally gave them 40. He said, no no no, and gave me twenty back. It’s nice when people aren’t trying to scam you constantly. He asked why I wasn’t buying for two. I said that I was by myself. Then this is the common response whenever Indians find out that I am traveling alone. “You should bring your girlfriend.” You know, I just go to the store, and buy a girlfriend off the shelf. Yup, it’s simple, just like picking out apples at the grocery store.

262 steps to the top.

1/3 of the way.

2/3 of the way.

I’ve arrived at the top.

Love vantage points.

There were no foreign tourists here when I got up here. It was just this group of guys, and they asked me to take a photo of them on my camera…Why? I am not sure, but I complied for the hell of it.

City Palace and Jantar Mantar.

Just like the minaret at Jama Majid in Delhi, there are no guardrails to the stairs. That’s about a 6 foot drop, so you better not fall.

Look at the fortifications on the top of the mountain.

I was at the top of the observatory for maybe 10 minutes and no other tourists showed up until as I was about to leave.

Back on the ground. I’ve decided to just walk around the bazaars in old city.

Nonstop honking.

Looked like bags of natural salt to me.

Pasta store.

Tea and soy oil store.

Spices?

I found a smaller alley and decided to explore a little.

Tools for making bangles.

While walking around the stores, very few people tried to hassle me. Not many tourists in the area and most of the goods are targeted towards the locals, especially here in the smaller alleys.

Shanti Motherfucker, Shanti!

It’s the same all over the world.

I saw this guy actually making the bangles. He would heat up the premade bangles over heat and then put it over the stick of wood and shape the bangle into a more perfect circle. I wish I could have seen him make some from scratch.

Many shops of stonework.

Chai Tea? I’m scared of getting ill, so I didn’t get it. I stood there debating with myself for a good 30 seconds though.

All over India the bike power vehicles have two extra supports for the front fork.

Street of apparel and fabric shops.

I was tired of walking around, and I tried finding a rickshaw. No one would agree on the 50INR price that I paid to get here. The rickshaw drivers here in Jaipur are terrible. They are unwilling to negotiate and keeps on quoting me outrageous prices. There aren’t that many tourists here. Whatever I would pay, even if I haggled would still be better than what a local would pay. But nope, they’ll just stick their noses up in the air. I don’t get it? There are so few tourists around that its not like they are likely to get a better offer quickly.

I finally decided to just take a pedicab. Slower, but at least I won’t have to deal with more rickshaw drivers.

The problem was that my guy didn’t know how to speak English and he rode us the wrong direction until I told him that I wasn’t going to City Palace. Here we’ve stopped to ask another person for directions. This scene would repeat itself about 5 times.

He also had a penchant for riding on the wrong side of the road. I think we spent more than 80% of our trip going against traffic.

Yup, going against traffic….what’s that I see?

Camel pulled cart. Hey, look, I see camel toes.

Still against traffic.

Yup, wrong way.

We are in America right? So, we ride on the right side. Damn everyone else!

Well, despite going against traffic almost the entire time, and having to stop and ask for direction all the time, the guy did get me back to my hotel in one piece.

In Jaipur, there are a lot of Piaggio(makers of the Vespa) made auto rickshaws. I noticed on the first day that the Piaggio rickshaws do not have CV joints like all the other rickshaws. They have a rubber donut as a flexible joint on the axle. This is the same system that they used on the Porsche 935 race cars.

What to eat for lunch? Hmmm.

Time to eat! Mango lassi to go along with my meal.

Then of course, it’s Chai Time!

After lunch, I blogged for hours, until it was dinner time.

Dal, stuffed egg plant and malai kofta. It was a little bit too much food, and I couldn’t finish it all.

The food was very filling and I felt bloated after eating it. Then I came back to my room, hours went by, and something doesn’t feel right. I feel sick. Oh, no……Fuck me! Next thing I knew, I was in the bathroom throwing up and feeling ill all over. It’s the Delhi Belly!…I just had another authentic India travel experience. Curry tastes terrible on the way up.

I actually had started a regimen of Cipro before I even got food poisoning today. I started after a couple of days in Varanasi because I kept not feeling 100%. All that shit(literally) that I ate in Varanasi couldn’t get me full blown food poisoning, but the food in the hotel at Jaipur did the trick. Ugh. Perhaps the Cipro that’s already in my body will make this sickness less severe.

I went to bed soon after throwing up multiple times and had a night of hallucinations, chills, and hot flashes(can I use this term even though I am not going through menopause?). I ran a fever all night and it really sucked ass.

On top of everything, it was also really loud and noisy into the wee hours of the night. I believe there was a wedding going on just around the corner. Too bad I felt so ill, or I would have peeked my head in and looked to see what it looked like.

To be continued at Jaipur Day 3.