The Pink City

The City Palace, Jaipur, India
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After leaving Abhernari, it was about a two hour trip to Jaipur, known as the Pink City because the buildings in the old city are all pink (not hard to deduce that one!).  The guesthouse we ended up staying at was a little further from the center of town, but still in Jaipur, which was quite a large city.  Our driver was a little reluctant to take us there, hoping I think he would be able to take us to a place that he could recommend.  Krishna Palace was in a residential section (unfortunately LP forgot to put a place holder for it, so if you are looking for it, it is behind #54, Shahpura House) with a nice garden out front and a wonderfully attentive owner.

Workers at the City Palace, Jaipur, India
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After checking in, we headed back out with Ram asking him to drop us off at LMB, a more upscale Indian restaurant for lunch within the old city.  However, first we made a quick pit-stop at Spencer's Express, a small upscale grocery store, to pick up some real jam.  LMB was definitely a place to see, quite disco looking inside especially for a somewhat upscale place.  Done with lunch we walked along the streets that had shops on one side of the pavement and with stalls set up on the other side.  As we passed by, we got the constant calls to come look in the shops or at the stalls.  We did stop at one stall where I found some socks, although they weren't very thick and were mens.  We didn't find any women's socks at all and nothing that were woolly.

The City Palace, Jaipur, India
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We made our way to the City Palace nestled within the old city.  The palace was truly pink with white outlining.  Like most of the other structures we had visited, the palace was made up of several building and courtyards.  Inside we visited an art museum that had some interesting miniatures, which did not mean that the picture size was small, but that the drawings within the picture were small.  There were also some miniature scrolls that were truly miniature.  We also stopped at a textile museum that had some beautifully crafted clothes.

The City Palace, Jaipur, India
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Leaving the City Palace, we headed through the back streets to get to MI (Mirza Ismail) Road, one of the main roads in Jaipur.  We stopped to check out the Raj Mandir cinema, an amazingly pinkish meringue looking building that was built back in 1976.  Apparently, it is the number one Hindi cinema in India.  Of course, Nik had to check it out and opted to go see Halle Bol, a drama for 38 Rs (approx $0.97) for the cheap seats.  Supposedly, he amused the guys sitting around him since the movie was in Hindi, although Nik said that they would break into English at key moments, so he was able to follow the plot pretty easily, plus the baddie is always in white.  I was definitely up for seeing a Bollywood movie, but was hoping for something a little more upbeat.

Selling Produce, Jaipur, India
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I in the meantime, had many photos to upload so I headed off to Reliance World that was not too far away.  Once there, I was told that I would be charged for each MB I uploaded which I found insane.  After arguing with the guy for quite some time, he finally gave in to me and said that just this once, he would allow me to upload my photos.  It was a slow process to get started since they had locked all the computers down, so they had to upload all my files on their server before I could upload them to my account.

Back Streets of Jaipur, India
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Nik met up with me after thoroughly enjoying his movie and with a surprise for me, a woolen blanket that he had found - yeah!  We then headed to dinner but had a hard time finding the place due to it being in a residential area and there was a blackout that was going on.  After finishing up dinner, the Chinese couple from the train station to Agra came over and invited us to sit with them and some other folks around the fire.  I had forgotten to mention that we had run into them at Agra fort as well.

Number Hindi Cinema in India, Raj Mandir Cinema, Jaipur, India
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It was close to midnight by the time we got back to the guesthouse, with this area now having a blackout as it was pitch black and I think we stumbled over a worker's body that was sleeping in the hallway as we made our way to our room.