First, we relaxed in the morning. A lot from our group got massages, we hung out at the pool, got caught up on the computer and reading. One gal, Carol, our oldest at 76 was not fairing well. Ashok called a physician and he did a ‘hotel call’. He ended up hydrating her with two liters of fluids and some antibiotics. We understand he and his assistant did a nice job, . Total cost: US$90. Not bad! She is recovering well.
The afternoon took us by tuk-tuks to a very busy street bazaar for Gloria to bargain with the merchants. The ride was exhilarating. When you are in a huge intersection with busses, cars, motorcycles, and trucks, your little convertible tuk-tuk seems pretty insignificant. We survived. Speaking of bargaining. Yesterday we were on the elephants to go up to Amer Fort. Guys were everywhere taking our pictures as our elephants trudged up to the Fort. As we were leaving, they were waiting for us to sell us their pictures. That’s fair. We passed, many others paid. However, later in the afternoon, one of the guys found John and Carol below, in a completely different part of the city with the same photos to sell.
But even more surprising, TODAY, the same guy tracked them down on the tuk-tuk and tried to sell them the pictures again! Persistence.
John and Carol, our tour buddies
Gloria ‘doing business’ in a jewelry store
After a noisy, crowded navigation through the bazaar, it was off the to the largest Hindu temple in Jaipur to check out their twice daily ceremony and get sprinkled with holy water. The Brila Temple was built out of white marble in 1985 to honor Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and beauty. No pictures inside, the two deities looked very peaceful, the man deity had four arms. The prayer ceremony was quite interesting. Lots of bell gonging and the Hindus were chanting very loudly. When the monk started throwing holy water out among the faithful (and the tourists), it was quite a shower. We are all now blessed, and wet.
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